TWO WEEKS TO THE WTCC RACE OF ITALY

TWO WEEKS TO THE WTCC RACE OF ITALY
After Belgium hosted the first European race meeting of the season at Zolder, the World Touring Car Championship will resume in two weeks at Monza, for rounds 5 and 6 of 24.
The Italian event will take place on May 14^th and 15^th, but it will be preceded by a one-day test on Thursday, May 12^th.
In a tentative schedule, WTCC competitors are due to have five sessions of one hour each at their disposal, between 9.00 and 18.00. This will be especially important for Polestar Racing and SUNRED Engineering that have both planned to benefit from the day for completing the first proper test with their new 1.6L turbo engines.
Another important aspect of the event in Monza is that the compensation weight system will be applied for the first time this season in order to balance performance on the track. The weight list for the different model cars - based on the lap times set in the two previous events at Curitiba and Zolder - will be communicated soon by the FIA.

The WTCC will resume in two weeks at Italy's Autodromo di Monza

IBRAHIM OKYAY COMES BACK IN MONZA
Multiple Turkish touring car champion Ibrahim Okyay will return to WTCC on the occasion of the series' next event at Monza.
Okyay will be at the wheel of a BMW 320si car run by the Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport.
The 41-year old from Istanbul claimed five national touring car titles (1999, 2001, 2007, 2009 and 2010) and was a regular competitor in the 2008 FIA World Touring Car Championship (best result 10^th at Macau) and the 2010 FIA European Touring Car Cup (4^th in the Super 2000 Class).
"Although we managed to achieve brilliant results in the ETCC and in Turkey, we are aware of how difficult is to be successful in the WTCC. I don't think that the BMW 320si may be competitive against the 1.6 turbo cars. But it's good to be back in the World Championship, because our plan is to compete in the whole season in 2012 and the races in Monza will help us to understand where we are," Okyay said.

Turkish touring car champion Ibrahim Okyay is ready for WTCC comeback

YOKOHAMA TROPHY PROVIDES THRILLING SHOW Competitors of the Yokohama Trophy are providing a thrilling show inside the WTCC show. In Zolder both races were decided by extremely close battles. In the first one, Kristian Poulsen claimed his second victory of the season, beating newcomer Norbert Michelisz by a tight margin; after the 15-lap race the best five drivers - Poulsen, Michelisz, Michel Nykjær, Javier Villa, Darryl O'Young and Pepe Oriola - were all covered by less than five seconds. In the second race, with Poulsen eliminated by a contact with Tiago Monteiro, O'Young grabbed his first win in the new Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T. The high level of the competition in the trophy was clearly proved by O'Young and Nykjær who were classified in fourth and fifth positions overall, very close to the podium finishers, and by Villa who posted the fastest lap of the race. The trophy classification is also very close, with Poulsen leading by only three points ahead of the Villa- Nykjær duo. Info and Fotos: WTCC.com /Fabio Ravaioli./for acreditated and autorized media press.