Race preview: WTCC ready for innovation at season opener

A new season means new rules and new initiatives in the FIA World Touring Car Championship, which fires up at Circuit Paul Ricard in France next week (1-3 April).

Gone are Race 1 and Race 2, in their place come Opening Race and Main Race with the reverse-grid now used for the first clash of the weekend and the grid for the second event, which runs over an extra lap, based on the results of Qualifying.

And that’s not all. Motorsport history will be made on Saturday 2 April when the inaugural Manufacturers Against the Clock team time trial takes place. Inspired by professional cycling events such as the Tour de France, WTCC MAC3 will put team competition to the fore.

Citroën, Honda and LADA (Polestar will participate when it enters a third car) will nominate three drivers to take part in WTCC MAC3, which follows Qualifying Q3, once all cars have been refuelled and fitted with a new set of tyres.

As soon as a team’s three cars vacate the grid side by side, the clock starts and then stops once the last car completes two flying laps (one lap at the Nürburgring Nordschleife). The fastest team gets 10 points towards the WTCC Manufacturers’ Championship (eight for second, six for third). But failure to get all three cars over the line – or if the second or third car doesn’t finish within a maximum of 15 seconds after the first car – means no points.

The weight increases in the WTCC: As the championship-winning car from 2015, all Citroën C-Elysée WTCCs will carry a maximum 80 kilograms of additional weight, rather than the previous 60, for the first two events of the season. All other cars will start with zero success ballast. There will be a recalculation for the third event with the additional weight adjusted based on performance. This will happen for every event thereafter. However, while in the past there was an adjustment when the lap time difference between cars was more than 0.3 seconds per lap, a 10-kilogram weight reduction will now be made when the is a time difference of 0.1 seconds.

WHO’S ON TRACK IN 2016

Citroën: World champion José María López and Yvan Muller remain in factory C-Elysée WTCCs. Privateer squad Sébastien Loeb Racing expands to a three-car effort with Tom Chilton and Grégoire Demoustier joining Mehdi Bennani.

Honda: Independent champion Norbert Michelisz gets his big factory break, while Rob Huff joins from LADA. Tiago Monteiro stays put but there’s no drive for Gabriele Tarquini…

LADA: Gabriele Tarquini continues in the WTCC at LADA after leaving Honda. Hugo Valente is handed a dream works ride after impressing as a privateer. Nicky Catsburg gets a full season.

Polestar: Volvo’s performance brand begins its long-term WTCC campaign with two S60 Polestar TC1s for Scandinavian Touring Car aces Thed Björk and Fredrik Ekblom.

WTCC Trophy: Bennani, Chilton and Demoustier aside, Tom Coronel is back for WTCC season 12 in his privateer Chevrolet. John Filippi turned 21 in February and gets Yvan Muller as a driver coach. John Bryan-Meisner crosses over from single-seater racing, René Münnich will combine the WTCC with World RX, while Zengő Motorsport will enter two Honda Civics.

THEY SAID WHAT?

Thed Björk (Polestar): “Coming into the WTCC against really good and professional teams will be very interesting. Drivers are always optimistic about what they can do. But we also have to be realistic for the first year. The realistic thing will be to fight and try to get some podiums and maybe a race victory, that would be awesome. From the second year on we want to win the championship, no question about it.”

José María López (reigning WTCC champion, Citroën): “I really, really look forward to the first race of the year because you don’t know what will be your level and you don’t know what is the level of the other drivers. I had a strong year in 2015, which means it has to be the same this year. People expect things from me, it’s normal, because you create your own way. We’ve worked really hard with the team and have had really strong years in 2014 and 2015.”

Tiago Monteiro (Honda): “I don’t want to be too optimistic but we had a very good winter. We have great evolutions on the car, we have a great realignment of the organisation of the team at many different levels. The winter always throws up a lot of question marks. But we are very, very motivated for sure and with three cars, it’s a lot more positive sporting wise and outside of the car as well. It’s very promising.”

Hugo Valente (LADA): “I feel a lot less pressure to be honest than what I have been feeling for the last few years because my objective was to become a factory driver and now I am a factory driver. I always had to prove myself a lot and take every single occasion I had. Sometimes it ended up being great but sometimes it ended up being highs and lows. Now I am driving for a factory team that changes and I feel much more confident.”

Grégoire Demoustier (WTCC Trophy): “Last year was my first year so I had everything to learn. This year will be different. I have two good team-mates with a lot of experience and I am sure they will help me to improve again. I don’t have any particular goals. The goal is to improve and be on the WTCC Trophy podium at some tracks. If I can improve it will be good.”

A LAP OF THE TRACK WITH YVAN MULLER

Home hero Yvan Muller will be carrying the hopes of a nation on his shoulders when he takes to Circuit Paul Ricard for FIA WTCC JVCKENWOOD Race of France. This is the Citroën Total WTCC driver’s guide to a rapid lap of the 3.841-kilometre track:

“At the start we go up to fifth gear and brake more or less 120 metres before Turn 1 in second gear. Immediately you go onto the apex on the right side where you find the traction. You then change up to third gear for Turn 2 and you’re into fourth gear before Turn 3. Turn 3 is important to jump on the kerb on the left side and sacrifice a little Turn 3 for Turn 4, which is an important corner because there is the Mistral straight after this. Turn 4 is taken in second gear but quickly you’re up to third, fourth, fifth and then sixth, flat at around 220kph for T5, or Courbe de Signes. Signes, for me, is probably the most enjoyable corner on the track because you go very fast and then you jump onto the brakes for Turn 6, Double Droite du Beausset where it is a little bit downhill with a bit of camber. On new tyres Signes is completely flat but then you arrive at Double Droite du Beausset, and go down to third gear. It’s a difficult corner because it’s two corners in one and there is some lock-up on the rear axel. You have to place almost three quarters of the car on the second apex of Turn 6 to keep as much to the right part of the track to be well placed for Turn 7. This is a difficult corner as well because at the beginning it’s very open and then it closes and then it opens again. You’re in third gear and then up to fourth for Turn 8 before going down to third gear for Turn 9. You have to keep to the left side and sacrifice a bit the exit of Turn 9 to be well placed for Turn 10 in second gear, which is one of the slowest corners of the season. But that’s the corner that cost me the pole position last year. Until Turn 9 I was going quicker than Sébastien Loeb but he got through faster than me there so I will really try this year not to do the same mistake. The difficulty of this corner is the traction on the exit. Then it’s up to third, fourth and you pass the start/finish line in fifth. Paul Ricard is a short track but fun although I would prefer to go from T2 directly to T5 like it was in the past but it’s not like this now.” Yvan Muller’s perfect passing place: “T1 and T10 but if the driver in front of you does a bit of a mistake then T6 is an opportunity”