FIA published the 2012 WTCC sporting regulations

The Sporting Regulations for the 2012 FIA World Touring Car Championship have been published by the FIA and are available for download HERE.

Let’s see what are the major changes compared to the 2011 season.

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.

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.

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.

Art. 47 - 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.

Art. 52 - Race numbers will be moved from the front doors to the rear side windows, above the driver’s name, like on rally cars.

Art. 67 - 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.

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.

The number of turbochargers that may be used on each car is limited to six for the whole season.

Art. 79 - The Compensation Weight system was also slightly revised and 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. The range of application remains between +40kg and -20kg.

Art. 118 - During the qualifying sessions, the number of cars allowed to advance from Q1 to Q2 has been increased from ten to twelve.

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.