ROUNDS 23 & 24 - MACAU RACE REPORT MULLER IS WORLD CHAMPION FOR THE THIRD TIME

ROUNDS 23 & 24 - MACAU
RACE REPORT

MULLER IS WORLD CHAMPION FOR THE THIRD TIME
Yvan Muller grabbed his third World Touring Car Championship title, beating his Chevrolet team-mate Rob Huff by only three points after 24 rounds.
Until the last race Huff left no stone unturned in the attempt to revert a situation that saw him twenty points behind before the season finale at Macau. However, not even the two victories he obtained today - that made him the most winning WTCC driver on the Guia circuit, with five successes - were enough.
After putting a lot of pressure on Huff during the first race, when he was lying second, Muller was able to maintain concentration, avoiding the risks and pocketing two podium results that were worth the title.
This was the icing on the Chevrolet's cake at the end of a season that was largely dominated by the brand of the GM Group and the Cruze cars admirably prepared and run by RML. Figures say it all: 21 victories out of 24 races, 12 pole positions out of 12, 19 fastest laps out of 24, 256 laps led out of 347.
No wonder then that Muller, Huff and Alain Menu (who had no luck today, being involved in a first race accident that sidelined him for good) filled the championship podium.
A few other drivers showed off today. Gabriele Tarquini and Tom Coronel were able to escort Huff and Muller on the podiums, confirming that they were the best of the rest. Coronel ranked fourth in the final standings and Tarquini fifth.
Like Huff, Michel Nikyær had the difficult task to recover a lot of points in the Yokohama Trophy. Like Huff he won both races. And like Huff he lost the title by a few points (only two) to Kristian Poulsen.
Now the championship faces a 110-day break before the 2012 season kicks off at Monza on March 11.

RACE 1 - HUFF REDUCES GAP TO 13 POINTS
Rob Huff won the first race at Macau, keeping his team-mate and championship leader Yvan Muller at bay during a race that was neutralized twice by the safety car. This result meant that the Briton reduced his gap from Muller to 13 points, keeping alive his chances to be sacred world champion in the second race.
For the whole distance Muller put strong pressure on Huff, changing line at every braking point in the attempt to push him to make a mistake. In spite of this, Huff remained cool and focused, avoiding to open the least of a gap.
Gabriele Tarquini collected another podium result ahead of Tom Coronel, while Michel Nikyær finished in fifth winning the Yokohama Trophy, while Kristian Poulsen clinched the title even before the final race. Joe Rosa-Merszei claimed victory in the Jay-Ten Trophy.

RACE 2 - HUFF WINS, MULLER IS CHAMPION
Rob Huff encored, claiming a second dominant victory, but he lost the world title to Yvan Muller by three points only.
The Briton tried his best to recover the 13-point gap and managed to overtake Michel Nikyær and Tom Coronel (who had taken a fantastic start from the second row) on his way to another race win. However, Muller was in a position to control without taking too many risks.
For six laps, two of them behind the safety car, Huff and Muller were equal for points and the number of victories (eight each); and yet the Frenchman would have been champion because of the second places (eight against six). Eventually Muller settled the situation by moving up to third, ahead of Nikyær.
The latter won again the Yokohama Trophy race, beating Mehdi Bennani who obtained his best result ever - sixth - in WTCC, while Joe Rosa-Merszei claimed his second victory in the Jay-Ten Trophy.

WTCC Guia Race of Macau - Circuito da Guia - 18 / 20 November 2011
www.fiawtcc.com - www.macau.grandprix.gov.mo

Fabio Ravaioli - FIA WTCC Media Delegate

ROUNDS 23 & 24 - MACAU QUALIFYING REPORT HUFF AND MULLER SHARE THE FRONT ROW

ROUNDS 23 & 24 - MACAU QUALIFYING REPORT HUFF AND MULLER SHARE THE FRONT ROW The fight for the Drivers' world championship will have an exciting showdown on Sunday at Macau after Chevrolet team-mates and title contenders Rob Huff and Yvan Muller managed to qualify on the front row for Race 1. Huff, who is chasing Muller twenty points behind, claimed his fourth pole position of the season. The first for him after those in the three opening events at Curitiba, Zolder and Monza. This also meant that Chevrolet completed a clean sweep in qualifying, winning twelve pole positions out of twelve events, that were equally shared between their three drivers. Thanks to his advantage, Muller was not obliged to take too many risks and the second position will give the opportunity to control his younger team-mate. For the third Chevrolet man, Alain Menu, qualifying turned to black as he failed to make it to Q2 because of an accident. This enabled Gabriele Tarquini to qualify third and local hero Darryl O'Young to achieve his best qualifying result ever. The session had a curious end, as Huff stopped along the track after posting the fastest lap. It was not because of a mechanical failure, but cramps to his left calf! Q1 - Robert Dahlgren set the fastest time in the first part of the qualifying session, completing a lap in 2:32.881. The Swede ousted Yvan Muller who had posted a provisional fastest time of 2:33.353 in the early minutes. As usual Q1 provided lot of drama, with the drivers fighting to win places for Q2. Some of them took extra risks, like Alain Menu who made contact with Andre Couto car before the Dona Maria Bend while trying to improve from his 13th position. Charles Ng was another victim, crashing into the concrete wall at the Fishermen's Bend just before the chequered flag was waved. The latest minutes saw Darryl O'Young posting the second fastest lap (2:33.177), demoting Muller to third. André Couto moved up to fourth (2:33.954) and Tiago Monteiro failed to make the cut by only 0.088 seconds. The following drivers advanced to Q2: Dahlgren, O'Young, Muller, Couto, Bennani, Tarquini, Coronel, Huff, Nykjær and Engstler who will start on pole for tomorrow's second race. Q2 - Drivers did not even have the time to complete the first lap that they were stopped by the red flag after Robert Dahlgren crashed his Volvo C30 at Paiol. The car caught fire, but the driver managed to come out by himself with a broken thumb. The marshals had to clean the track from the oil spilled by the Volvo engine and the session resumed after 25 minutes. Huff and Muller posted provisional fastest laps on the first attempt: 2:31.868 and 2:32.027 respectively. In the late stages Coronel improved to 2:33.825 that gave him a provisional third place. However, the last tries reshuffled the positions. Muller retook the lead with a lap of 2:31.149, but just for the time Huff crossed the line claiming pole position with the time of 2:30.881. The final drivers to take the flags were Gabriele Tarquini (2:32.147) and O'Young (2:32.519) who qualified third and fourth respectively, with the Chinese racer on pole for the Yokohama Trophy. BARTH AND DAHLGREN ESCAPE HEAVY CRASHS Fredy Barth and Robert Dahlgren escaped heavy crashes at the fast Paiol bend. The Swiss driver hit the concrete wall during the second practice and after the impact remained unconscious inside his car on fire. Marshals and firemen managed to extricate him and extinguish the flames. Barth was conscious and unscathed, although intoxicated for breathing the fire's smoke. He was taken to the hospital, where medical checks excluded brain and cervical damage. Dahlgren crashed during qualifying; he managed to get out by himself of the wrecked car but suffered from a fracture to the third phalanx of his right thumb. The doctors declared both drivers not fit for racing on Sunday. WTCC Guia Race of Macau - Circuito da Guia - 18 / 20 November 2011 www.fiawtcc.com - www.macau.grandprix.gov.mo More information and pictures: www.fiawtcc.com Fabio Ravaioli - FIA WTCC Media Delegate

WTCC: ROUTE TO: DONINGTON PARK

ROUTE TO: DONINGTON PARK
The historical circuit of Donington Park will host the WTCC for the first time next week. The event featuring the championship's 13^th and 14^th rounds will also kick off the second half of the season that will come to an end in Macau on November 20^th.
Before visiting the Leicestershire racetrack, the WTCC Race of the UK had homes in Silverstone (2005) and Brands Hatch (2006 to 2010).
However, Donington Park is not a new venue for the FIA touring cars, as it hosted the European Championship three times between 2002 and 2004. The score in those six races was four wins for BMW (Jörg Müller 2, Dirk Müller and Andy Priaulx), two for Alfa Romeo (Gabriele Tarquini and James Thompson).
Since then the circuit underwent a number of renovations that included the erection of a new pit building with modern facilities.
The WTCC event will be the first FIA World Championship meeting at Donington since the 1993 F1 European Grand Prix.

Andy Priaulx won the last FIA ETCC race at Donington Park in 2004

TURKINGTON AT DONINGTON WITH WIECHERS-SPORT
German outfit Wiechers-Sport clinched a sensational last-minute deal, signing 2009 British Touring Car Champion and WTCC race winner Colin Turkington for the British event at Donington Park.
After delivering a great show in Porto with Stefano D'Aste, who led the second race for a couple of laps, the team was forced to replace the Italian driver because of a previous commitment.
Team manager Dominik Greiner commented: "I'm happy we signed Colin for the British event. He knows the track very well and I'm confident that with him we may continue on our positive upward trend that began last week in Porto with Stefano D'Aste who was leading a WTCC race for the first time in the team's history."
Turkington returns to the World Championship after an impressive 2010 season in which he claimed four podium finishes out of ten races, also inheriting his first WTCC victory in the second race at Okayama after Augusto Farfus was excluded because of a technicality. This year Turkington is taking part in the Scandinavian Touring Car Cup where he currently lies sixth.
'I am delighted with this opportunity. It's great to be back racing in front of my British fans on such a fantastic circuit like Donington Park. I have raced there many times in a BMW but this will be my first experience with the new 1.6 turbo engine. I'm really excited to see how this performs and I'm confident we can deliver a strong performance," said the North Irishman.

Colin Turkington returns to WTCC after claiming his first win in Japan last year

BMW AND VOLVO LOSE WEIGHT IN DONINGTON
The BMW 320 TC and Volvo C30 cars will be granted a weight reduction for the next WTCC event at Donington Park.
According to the calculation of the compensation weight based on the lap times set in the three previous events (Hungary, Czech Republic and Portugal) the Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T will be carrying again the maximum weight of 40 extra kilos.
The BMW 320 TC cars will be 20 kilos lighter, 10 kg less than in Porto, while the compensation weight is applied for the first time to the Volvo, after the Swedish car ran with 40kg of extra weight in Brno and Porto, the first two events in which it was fitted with the new 1.6-litre turbo engine. Thus Dahlgren's Volvo, just like all the other cars - SUNRED SR León 1.6T, Dudukalo's SEAT León TDi and Fabiani's BMW 320si - will benefit from a 20kg reduction on its maximum weight.

Compensation weight Donington Park
+ 40 kg Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
+ 20 kg BMW 320 TC
- 20 kg BMW 320 si, SEAT León TDi, SUNRED SR León 1.6T, Volvo C30 Drive

THE SEAT TDI LEAVES THE WTCC STAGE
Aleksei Dudukalo is the last of the SUNRED drivers to switch from the SEAT Le ón TDi to the SUNRED León 1.6T that he will drive from the Donington Park event.
This change marks the exit of the Spanish turbo diesel car from the WTCC stage the boards of which she trod for five years, from the 2007 event in Anderstorp, claiming 32 race wins and making motor sport history for being the first diesel car to win FIA World Championships (2008 with Yvan Muller and 2009 with Gabriele Tarquini).
And besides securing to world titles, the Muller-Tarquini duo also marked the beginning and the end of this outstanding machine's racing career, as the Frenchman claimed her first win at Oschersleben in 2007 and the Italian the last one, two-and-a-half months ago at Zolder.

The SEAT León TDi claimed her last WTCC victory in Zolder earlier this year

ROB HUFF AIMING FOR FIRST HOME VICTORY Rob Huff arrives to his home event at Donington Park as the Drivers' Championship leader. In the first half of the season the Chevrolet man has built up a comfortable lead of 29 points ahead of his team-mate and reigning world champion Yvan Muller. And there is more. Huff has won six of the twelve races held so far, already matching the record of victories in one season established by Augusto Farfus in 2009 and equalled by Andy Priaulx in 2010. However, he has never won a WTCC race on the British soil. although he was close to do it, especially in 2008 when a blown tyre stopped him on the last lap when he was leading Race 1 at Brands Hatch. "My home record is not too bad - with three podiums - but I miss a victory and I think it's just time I take one. However, my goal remains to win the championship this year, we've had a great start to the season and my priority in Donington will be to score as many points as possible, which is more important than a race win. I can't wait to race in front of my home fans! Their support will be very important and I hope they will cheer for me as much as the Portuguese and Hungarian fans did for Tiago Monteiro and Norbert Michelisz," Huff said. MICHELISZ TAKES LEAD IN YOKOHAMA TROPHY With two victories in the Yokohama Trophy at Porto, Norbert Michelisz stole the point leadership from Kristian Poulsen who experienced his worst weekend of the season. Michelisz collected 21 points out of the possible 23, adding pole position and leaving only the race fastest laps to Javier Villa and Mehdi Bennani. "It was an almost perfect weekend for me. I collected enough points to take the lead in the Trophy and also some important points in the overall championship that enabled me to move up to the seventh position," said the Hungarian racer. In the Yokohama Trophy classification Michelisz has a 5-point margin ahead of Poulsen, with Villa in third, a further 5 points adrift. Michel Nykjær and Franz Engstler were the drivers who scored more points in the weekend after Michelisz: 11 for the Dane and 13 for the German. They are now fifth and sixth respectively in the overall classification. VILLA DROPPED BY FIVE GRID POSITIONS Proteam Racing's Javier Villa will be dropped by five positions on the starting grid for Donington's Race 1, because of the penalty that the Panel of the Stewards imposed to the Spanish youngster for having caused the incident that eliminated Fredy Barth and Aleksei Dudukalo during the first race in Porto. Villa received an additional penalty of 10-grid positions that will remain suspended for the events in the UK and Germany. Other drivers under threat of suspended penalties of 10-grid positions are Norbert Michelisz and Mehdi Bennani. The former following the accident at the start of Budapest's Race 2 (the penalty is suspended until Donington), the latter because of his collision with Stefano D'Aste at the end of Race 2 in Porto (the penalty will remain suspended until Valencia). Fabio Ravaioli - International Press Officer

WTCC: MENU BACK ON POLE AFTER TWO YEARS

ROUNDS 7 & 8 - BUDAPEST QUALIFYING REPORT

MENU BACK ON POLE AFTER TWO YEARS Chevrolet's qualifying domination continued at Budapest, where the blue Cruze cars claimed their fourth pole position out of four events. However, it was Alain Menu who reaped the honours, beating his team-mate Yvan Muller by 0.111 seconds. It was Menu's first pole since Brands Hatch 2009. Proteam Racing's Javier Villa topped the Yokohama Trophy, but more than this he created a surprise by qualifying third overall and best of the BMW drivers. Another surprise - a negative one - was provided by current WTCC leader Rob Huff, the pole man in the three previous race meetings. The Briton set only the 12th fastest lap in Q1 and therefore failed to advance to Q2. Q1 - Javier Villa posted the fastest lap of 1:57.166 midway through the session and only Robert Dahlgren was able to threat his leadership. The Swede lapped in 1:57.207 securing his first trip to Q2 so far in the season. Behind them, all other drivers had to fight hard to make it to Q2 and positions changed at every lap. Norbert Michelisz and Tom Coronel were the last two to secure a place among the top ten, just before the end of the 20-minute Q1. The following drivers qualified for Q2: Villa, Dahlgren, Muller, Tarquini, Michelisz, Monteiro, Coronel, Poulsen, Menu and Bennani, who won pole position for tomorrow's Race 2. Darryl O'Young and Rob Huff were the first two drivers excluded from Q2 as they qualified 11th and 12th respectively. Q2 - Alain Menu settled the pole position matter on his first flying lap, becoming the first WTCC driver to break the 1:57 wall at the Hungaroring. The Swiss driver's 1:56.546 was not to be beaten. Javier Villa set a provisional second fastest lap of 1:56.710, but he was demoted to third by Yvan Muller when the reigning world champion completed his last attempt in 1:56.657. Tom Coronel and Norbert Michelisz tried in vain to squeeze among the top three and eventually had to settle in fourth and fifth positions respectively, with Robert Dahlgren in sixth ahead of Tiago Monteiro, Kristian Poulsen and Gabriele Tarquini. The first nine drivers were all covered by only half-a-second. Mehdi Bennani closed the time sheet in 10th position after spoiling his chances when he ran wide at turn 1. Fabio Ravaioli - FIA WTCC Media Delegate

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.

ROB HUFF WINS SECOND POLE POSITION

Chevrolet’s Rob Huff claimed his second pole position of the season in Zolder. Just like in Curitiba the championship leader emerged as the fastest in Q2, beating his own team-mate Alain Menu and SUNRED’s Gabriele Tarquini by one and two tenths respectively.
Reigning world champion Yvan Muller qualified fourth ahead of Tiago Monteiro, with Kristian Poulsen sixth and best of the Yokohama Trophy.
Tom Coronel was the great disappointed as he failed to move forward to Q2, while Fredy Barth won pole position for Race 2.

Q1 – The red flag stopped the session after four minutes only, due to Michel Nykjær’s SEAT hitting the wall at the Villeneuve chicane.
As soon as the session resumed most of the drivers went for a quick lap with Tiago Monteiro posting the fastest for good with the time of 1:38.952.
Yokohama Trophy competitors Kristian Poulsen (1:39.293) and Mehdi Bennani (1:39.328) were second and third fastest respectively, followed by the Chevrolet trio of Yvan Muller, Alain Menu and Rob Huff.
In the dying moments of the session Tom Coronel was desperately trying to make the top-ten. He eventually improved to 1:39.680 that was not enough as he qualified 11^th, only 0.042 seconds behind Fredy Barth in 10^th.
The following drivers qualified for Q2: Monteiro, Poulsen, Bennani, Muller, Menu, Huff, Michelisz (brilliant on his first outing with the BMW 320TC), Tarquini, Engstler and Barth. The latter will start from pole position on the reverse grid for Sunday’s Race 2.
Javier Villa did not post any lap due to a turbo failure.

Q2 – Chevrolet drivers set the pace straight from the beginning, with Huff (1:38.458) and Muller (1:38.738) posting the provisional fastest laps.
Although Huff’s time eventually proved to be out of reach for the rest of the field, Muller’s was beaten by Menu (1:38.598) and Tarquini (1:38.723) who both managed to improve just before the chequered flag was waved.
Despite a spin, Poulsen won pole for the Yokohama Trophy posting a 1:39.398 that beat Michelisz’s 1:39.450 by 0.052 seconds only.

Info: WTCC.com

Foto: AmigosRacing.

PRACTICE 2 – NYKJÆR CHASES WORKS CHEVYS

23 Apr 2011

SUNRED Engineering driver Michel Nykjær continued to impress in the second free practice. After posting the third fastest lap in the morning session, the Dane and his SEAT León TDi car were again the fastest of the Yokohama Trophy and of the rest of the field except Chevrolet’s three works cars.
Yvan Muller, Rob Huff and Alain Menu clocked the three best laps of 1:39.190, 1:39.297 and 1:39.363 respectively, all covered by 0.173 seconds only. But Nykjær was not far behind with a lap of 1:39.518 that was les than two tenths slower than Menu’s.
Nykjær managed to oust Darryl O’Young’s bamboo-engineering Cruze 1.6T from fourth, beating the time of 1:39.597 set by the Chinese driver.
Gabriele Tarquini rounded up the top six with a lap of 1:39.814, followed by Franz Engstler’s BMW (1:39.919). All other competitors remain above the 1:40. mark, beginning from Tiago Monteiro (1:40.005), Robert Dahlgren (1:40.075) and Pepe Oriola (1:40.233).
The hot temperatures made lap times slower than those set in the morning session.
Again some of the drivers tested the run-off areas: Huff at Sterrenwacht, Urs Sonderegger at the Chicane, Fredy Barth at Jochen Rindt, while Fabio Fabiani spun at the first corner.

Info: WTCC.com

Foto: AmigosRacing.

TARQUINI IS FASTEST IN ZOLDER TEST

TARQUINI IS FASTEST IN ZOLDER TEST Gabriele Tarquini kicked off the Belgian weekend in style setting the fastest lap in today's 30-minute test. With ten minutes left on the clock, the Italian driver in his SEAT León Tdi posted a 1:39.848, which he improved to 1:39.726 in the dying moments of the session. Chevrolet man Alain Menu emerged as the second fastest with a lap of 1:39.765, the only other driver to go under the 1:40. Mark. Current championship leader Rob Huff placed third (1:40.050) just ahead of Tom Coronel (1:40.132) and Yvan Muller (1:40.308). The SUNRED duo of Michel Nykjær and Fredy Barth were timed at 1:40.520 and 1:40.694 respectively to be classified sixth and seventh, best of the Yokohama Trophy competitors. The Volvo C30 of Robert Dahlgren set the 10th fastest lap of 1:41.018. The session was disrupted once by the red flag after 17 minutes, when Aleksey Dudukalo's SEAT crashed into the tyre-wall at the Villeneuve chicane. During the last minute Marchy Lee stopped his BMW car at Turn 2 because of a throttle failure, and the session was red-flagged for good. A few drivers received warnings for not respecting the track limits and Kristian Poulsen had one of his fastest laps disallowed for straight-cutting a chicane. Gabriele Tarquini's SEAT set the fastest lap in today's test at Zolder THE WORD TO. GABRIELE TARQUINI "I admit I was surprised by the lap time, taking into account that now there are tyres in the second chicane while last year there was none. On the other hand I have to say that track and weather conditions were nearly ideal, though a little bit too warm for our turbodiesel engine. I went for a set of fresh tyres on my last stint and made good use of them. At the end of a test session you never know what the others did, which tyres they used, how much boost they gave. Therefore we must remain very cautious in evaluating this result. But indeed it was a good start!" WTCC AND INFINEON RACEWAY PLAN EVENT FOR 2012 The FIA World Touring Car Championship and Infineon Raceway have tentatively reached an agreement that would bring the world championship to the Sonoma Valley in September 2012. "Bringing the championship to USA was the next item in our agenda and the last one to fulfill our aim for a really global calendar," said WTCC promoter Marcello Lotti. "So far we had worked to establish our European and South American events, reinforce our presence in Asia and return to Morocco. Now we feel that the time has come to expand to the US market that is a priority for our manufacturers and stakeholders. Infineon Raceway is a modern racetrack with impressive facilities, and I believe it is the ideal location to host a WTCC event. I am very satisfied of the meeting we had with Steve Page that enabled us to find an agreement for submitting to the FIA the proposal to enter the WTCC Race of US in the 2012 calendar." Steve Page, president and general manager at Infineon Raceway, is excited at hosting the first-ever WTCC event in the United States. He met with Lotti earlier this week in Sonoma. "The WTCC offers the kind of door-to-door hard-fought competition that American racing fans really respond to and we're very excited about the opportunity to introduce this series to the North American continent," said Page. "The Infineon Raceway road course is an ideal circuit for these cars and we look forward to introducing Sonoma-style racing to a world-wide audience." Infineon Raceway at Sonoma is due to host WTCC in 2012 MEDIA ACCREDITATION FOR MONZA Rounds 5 and 6 of the 2011 FIA World Touring Car Championship will take place at Monza, Italy, 14th and 16th May. The deadline to apply for media credentials is Tuesday, 3rd May. By order of the FIA, no media credentials will be allocated after the aforesaid deadline. Accreditation forms may be downloaded at the website www.fiawtcc.com . International Press must send applications to Fabio Ravaioli tel +39 335 376260, fax +39 06 39729470, email: media@fiawtcc.com Italian Press must send applications to Gianni Cattaneo tel: 02 7745239, fax: 02 7745201, email: stampa@acimi.it TV and Radio must send applications to Antonios Argyropoulos tel +33 1 40938517; email: antonios@eurosport.com COUNTDOWN: - 2 DAYS WTCC RACE OF BELGIUM - ZOLDER, APRIL 24 Info: WTCC/for autorized and acreditated media press.

NEXT STOP: ZOLDER, BELGIUM

The 3^rd and 4^th rounds of the 2011 FIA WTCC will take place at Zolder next week.
This event marks the opening of the championship’s European season that will come to an end on September 4^th at Valencia, before the final tour to the Far East.
This is the second visit to the 4-km Belgian racetrack after last year’s event that saw Gabriele Tarquini and Andy Priaulx sharing victories for SEAT and BMW.
The WTCC resumes in Zolder after a five-week break that followed the season’s kick off at Curitiba, Brazil.
The Chevrolet team go to Belgium with the aim to defend their leadership in both the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ Championship.
Current leader Rob Huff will be the man to watch. Not only because he won this year’s inaugural race in Brazil, as he also wants to make up from the 2010 disappointment, when Priaulx’s masterly defence driving deprived him of a possible victory in the second race.
Besides Huff’s team-mates at Chevrolet Yvan Muller and Alain Menu, other candidates to shine on the Belgian circuit are Gabriele Tarquini and especially Tom Coronel. The latter will benefit from the enthusiastic support of the many fans that will make the short trip from Netherlands to cheer their favourite driver.

Info and pic: WTCC.com