WTCC/News

F1 AND WTCC CARS RAN DOWNTOWN BUDAPEST The city of Budapest and Hungary’s motorsport fans enjoyed a tasty appetizer to this week’s WTCC event last Tuesday, when a McLaren F1 and four WTCC cars ran along the streets of the capital city. The spectacular event was organized by the Hungaroring to promote both the Formula One Grand Prix and the WTCC races. Hungarian drivers Norbert Michelisz and Gábor Wéber with their Zengö Motorsport BMW 320 TC cars, Tom Boardman in his Special Tuning Racing’s SEAT León TDi and Pasquale Di Sabatino’s Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T took turns with Jenson Button’s McLaren F1 to accelerate on a four-kilometres street-course from the central Erzsébet tér (Elizabeth square) and along Bajcsy-Zsilinszky and Alkotmány utca. In a sunny and hot afternoon nearly 500,000 spectators crowded along the streets to watch the racing cars at speed.

THOMPSON TESTED THE LADA AT MAGNY-COURS The WTCC LADA Granta Sport moved its first steps Tuesday at Magny-Cours, close to the ORECA workshop where the Russian car has been prepared before its maiden appearance in the World Championship this weekend at the Hungaroring. The test was short and the Granta, driven by James Thompson, ran without any technical problems. “I was very pleased with the results of this first test,” said the Englishman who will drive the LADA Granta Sport at Budapest and then again in the Algarve, “Everybody at LADA Sport and ORECA has worked tirelessly on the project, and it was fantastic to be back behind the wheel. Our first test was very encouraging. Both the engine and chassis performed well and big progressive steps can be made from this point onwards. I'm very excited for this weekend in Hungary, to measure ourselves against the competitors is essential for our development year, especially as we need to be fully prepared for the next season.”  As the Russian car has been accepted according to art 10 B) of the Sporting Regulations, on the basis of a national homologation, Thompson is not eligible to score points in the drivers’ championship, nor to qualify for Q2.

SEAT CARS LADEN BY MAXIMUM BALLAST Following the brilliant performance – and first victory – of the SEAT León WTCC last weekend at the Slovakia Ring, the Spanish car will be laden by the maximum 60-kilo compensation weight at the Hungaroring. This means an increase of 20 kilos compared to the Slovak event and also that the SEAT cars will be on the same weight as the BMW 320 TC and the Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T that remains the reference car according to the calculation based on the lap times set in the three previous events (Spain, Morocco and Slovakia). Time gaps among these three cars are extremely close, with the BMW and SEAT slower than the Chevrolet by one and two tenths of a second respectively. The other cars will benefit from reductions of their minimum weights: 10 kilos for the Ford Focus S2000 and 20 kilos for the SEAT León TDi and SUNRED León 1.6T. The newcomer LADA Granta Sport has been accepted according to art 10 B) of the Sporting Regulations, meaning that it will receive a ballast of 20 kg. Compensation weight Hungaroring+ 40 kg         Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T, BMW 320 TC, SEAT León WTCC± 0 kg           LADA Granta Sport (+ 20 kg, art 10 B)- 10 kg          Ford Focus S2000- 20 kg          SEAT León TDi, SUNRED León 1.6T

EUROSPORT TV PROGRAMMES FROM HUNGARORING * Saturday, 5 May - 14.00/14.45 : WTCC Qualifying – LIVE, Eurosport 2 Sunday, 6 May - 08.45/09.15 : WTCC Warm Up – LIVE, Eurosport 1 Sunday, 6 May - 11.00/12.00 : WTCC Race 1 – LIVE, Eurosport 1 Sunday, 6 May - 14.15/15.15 : WTCC Race 2 – LIVE, Eurosport 1 Tuesday, 8 May - 23.30/00.00 : Inside WTCC, Eurosport 1  * all times CET Fabio Ravaioli/Media Delegate.