Route to: Valencia, Spain

The 3rd and 4th rounds of the FIA WTCC will take place in Spain, at Valencia’s Circuit Ricardo Tormo next week. This is the eighth consecutive visit of the World Championship to the Spanish stadium-like racetrack.

This year the WTCC Race of Spain has been moved again to the beginning of the season, after being held in September in 2009 and 2010.

The 4km circuit does not seem to suit any particular car, as Manufacturers shared honours in the previous years. SEAT scored four victories on its home soil, just like Chevrolet that won both races in 2011 with Yvan Muller. BMW and Alfa Romeo won three times apiece.

Taking into account the potential they showed in Monza, claiming pole position and fighting with the Chevrolet Cruze cars for victory in Race 1, Gabriele Tarquini and his SEAT León seem able to try and score a first success for Lukoil Racing Team and SEAT Sport’s new 1.6L turbo engine.

And we shouldn’t forget a group of young Spaniards that will be worth watching: Pepe Oriola who drives a SEAT like Tarquini’s and managed to chase the top drivers at Monza, Fernando Monje who faces his maiden WTCC appearance in a SEAT León TDi after dominating the FIA European Touring Car Cup opening rounds at Monza, and Isaac Tutumlu at the wheel of a Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC.