FIA PUBLISHED THE 2012 WTCC SPORTING REGULATIONS

FIA PUBLISHED THE 2012 WTCC SPORTING REGULATIONS

The Sporting Regulations for the 2012 FIA World Touring Car Championship have been published by the FIA.
Let's see what are the major changes compared to the 2011 season.

ONLY 1.6L TURBO CARS ARE ELIGIBLE (Art. 10)
The championship is now reserved for Super 2000 cars powered by 1.6-litre turbo engines.
Old S2000 (2.0L normally aspirated) and S2000D (2.0L turbo diesel) cars may only be allowed to participate on a race-by-race basis, and are no longer eligible to score championship points.
Other cars complying with the technical regulations of national championships may be accepted by the Touring Car Committee.

Only the Super 2000 cars with 1.6-litre turbo engines will be eligible in 2012

RACE DISTANCE STRETCHED TO MAX 60 KM (Art. 11)
The distance of each race may vary between a minimum of 50 km to a maximum of 60, while in the previous years it was limited to a maximum of 50 km.
This change aims to enhance the competition, especially on longer racetracks.

QUALIFYING POINTS AWARDED TO TOP-FIVE (Art. 17)
Although the point scoring system for the races remains based on the usual FIA World Championship scale that rewards the first ten drivers classified, additional points will be awarded to the first five drivers classified in each qualifying session.

QUALIFYING POINTS - 1st: 5 points; 2nd: 4 pts; 3rd: 3 pts; 4th: 2 pts; 5th: 1 point
RACE POINTS - 1st: 25 points; 2nd: 18 pts; 3rd: 15 pts; 4th: 12 pts; 5th: 10 pts; 6th: 8 pts; 7th: 6 pts; 8th: 4 pts; 9th: 2 pts; 10th: 1 point

Should qualifying points were awarded in 2011, they would have had a lesser impact on the final standings. The gap between the first two (Yvan Muller and Rob Huff) would have been stretched from three to five points, while Norbert Michelisz would have moved one place up: from ninth to eighth ahead of Franz Engstler.

REPRIMANDS MAY RESULT IN GRID PENALTIES (Art. 47)
For football players, two yellow cards mean a red card. Now a similar system is also applied in WTCC.
Drivers who receive three reprimands in the same season will be penalised with a drop of ten positions on the starting grid for the first race after the imposition of the third penalty.
The penalty will be applied only in the case two of the reprimands are imposed because of driving infringements.
None of the drivers received three reprimands during the 2011 season; two were imposed to Mehdi Bennani, Gabriele Tarquini and Fredy Barth.

RACE NUMBERS MOVED TO SIDE WINDOWS (Art. 52)
Race numbers will be moved from the front doors to the rear side windows, above the driver's name.
This solution, that has been already adopted in a number of other series, including the World Rally Championship, allows spectators and TV viewers to better recognize the cars and makes more space available for sponsor branding on the cars' bodywork.



In 2012 race numbers will appear on the rear side windows like on rally cars

TYRE LIMITATION SYSTEM IS EASIER AND CHEAPER (Art. 67)From 2012 each competitor will be allowed to use a maximum of 16 new slick tyres on his first participation and a maximum of 20 (12 new) in each of the following events. The number of rain tyres is limited to a maximum of 16 per event.This represents a considerable simplification of the previous regulations that diversified the number of tyres between European and Overseas events, and also gives the competitors the possibility to save money by re-marking tyres that are still in good conditions.ENGINES MUST LAST FOR THE WHOLE SEASON (Art. 73 / 74)Each driver is allowed to use only one engine for the whole season and any change will automatically result in a drop to the back of the grid.In 2011, because it marked the first appearance of the new 1.6-litre turbo power plants, each engine was due to be used for a minimum of six consecutive races before a change was allowed without penalty.The number of turbochargers that may be used on each car is limited to six for the whole season. The use of additional turbochargers will result in a drop to the back of the grid.Engines and turbochargers may be changed without penalty in cases of force majeure.MINOR CHANGE TO THE COMPENSATION WEIGHT (Art. 79)The Compensation Weight system was also slightly revised.The calculation is now based on the fastest lap set in the qualifying session and the average of the two fastest laps set in the races by the best two cars of each model. Until 2011 the two fastest laps of the best two cars set in each race were considered instead of their average.The range of application remains between +40kg and -20kg.TWELVE CARS INSTEAD OF TEN ADVANCE TO Q2 (Art. 118)During the qualifying sessions, the number of cars allowed to advance from Q1 to Q2 has been increased from ten to twelve.Only the cars eligible to score championship points may take part in Q2.In 2011 fifteen different drivers failed to advance to Q2 as they were placed 11th or 12th at the end of Q1. Javier Villa experienced this disappointment four times.TOP TEN OF Q2 REVERSED ON RACE 2 GRID (Art. 129 and 132)The twelve cars qualified for Q2 will fight for the top twelve positions on the starting grid for Race 1.The starting grid for Race 2 will be drawn up by reversing the ten fastest cars of Q2.The cars eliminated at the end of Q1 will fill the positions from 13 onwards on the starting grids for both races.This change is due to enhance competition in both parts of the qualifying session, and especially in Q1, as in 2011 the second grid was made by reversing the top ten in Q1.The list of the cars' technical specifications, including their minimum weights, will be published by the FIA on 15 January 2012.

COUNTDOWN: - 80 DAYS
WTCC RACE OF ITALY - MONZA, 11 MARCH 2012
More information and pictures: www.fiawtcc.com

Fabio Ravaioli - FIA WTCC Media Delegate