WTCC
News from the World Touring Car Championship
NEXT STOP: PUEBLA-AMOZOC, MEXICO
The first overseas event of the 2006 FIA WTCC season has just been put in the archives,
and already a new one is impending. The 11th and 12th rounds of the championship will
be held at the Autódromo Miguel E. Abed located in Amozoc, 20 km from the city of
Puebla, Mexico.
After rounding the mid season buoy, the fights for both the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’
titles are still very close. BMW team UK’s reigning world champion Andy Priaulx is back
in solo lead, having scored four victories and 44 points so far. However he is closely
chased by two SEAT Sport men: his fellow countryman James Thompson (41 points) and
Gabriele Tarquini from Italy (40). Two other SEAT drivers – Rickard Rydell and Yvan
Muller – are sitting in fourth and fifth positions, only 10 and 11 points behind the leader
respectively. BMW Team Germany’s Dirk Müller and SEAT Sport’s Peter Terting are joint
one further point adrift.
The situation in the Manufacturers’ Championship is even closer, with SEAT edging
ahead of BMW by one mere point.
ANDY PRIAULX ON MAXIMUM HANDICAP
Andy Priaulx is the first driver to reach the maximum handicap weight during the current
season. Following his victory in the second race at Curitiba, the Briton will carry 80 kg on
board his BMW 320si in Mexico.
His closest followers in the championship points will drive much lighter cars: Thompson’s
SEAT will be loaded with 60 extra kilos and Tarquini’s with 45. A new entry in the
handicap chart is Gianni Morbidelli whose brilliant second place in Curitiba Race 2 has
resulted in 25 kilos of ballast.
YOKOHAMA CONFIRMED AS WTCC TYRE SUPPLIER
Last Wednesday, following an invitation to tender, the FIA World Motor Sport Council
appointed the Yokohama Rubber Company to supply the control tyre for the 2007 FIA
World Touring Car Championship.
This is the second consecutive year the Japanese manufacturer has won the tender.
"The confirmed appointment is again a great honour for Yokohama. For this year's
events so far, we are proud to have given our contribution to make the series extremely
competitive, with both the front and rear wheel drive cars capable of winning races with
our control tyres. We wish another prosperous year for the championship in 2007 and
we are looking forward to be part of it again," commented Shinichi Mori, General
Manager of Yokohama Motorsport Department.
THE VOYAGE FROM BRAZIL TO MEXICO
The FIA WTCC cars are on their way from Curitiba to Puebla. All the 25 cars and their
relevant spare parts have been placed in 28 containers, forming a convoy of 14 trucks
that drove from the Autódromo Internacional de Curitba to the harbour of Itajai under
the escort of the Policia Federál of the States of Paraná and Santa Caterina.
The precious cargo will sail from Itajai on Friday night, on board the Libra Santos vessel,
which is due to dock in Vera Cruz, Mexico on July 21st.
From Vera Cruz the containers will reach the Puebla-Amozoc circuit on the road.
A further container, full of Yokohama tyres, has been shipped from Europe.
CARS REPAIRED BEFORE DEPARTURE
Both cars – Emmet O’Brien’s BMW and Alain Menu’s Chevrolet – which were involved in
crashes at the last corner during Curitiba’s Race 2, have been already repaired on
Sunday evening.
Although both impacts were spectacular, the tyre wall worked very well and none of the
two cars suffered from massive damages.