FIA World Touring Car Championship
FIA WTCC - Guia Race of Macau - Presented by Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, S.A. Fifth Title-Decider for Macau
The 2009 FIA World Touring Car Championship is set to be decided on the streets of Macau - the fifth year in a row that the Guia Race has crowned the champion of tin-top racing.
This year the main fight is between factory SEAT team-mates Gabriele Tarquini and Yvan Muller. Frenchman Muller sealed his first world title in Macau last year but is up against it to retain his crown, with ex-Formula One driver Tarquini having had the edge of him in the second half of this season.
BMW's lead driver Augusto Farfus remains a long shot heading into the final races of the season, having fallen away from the SEAT team-mates as the FIA WTCC left the European leg of its season behind.
The title will be decided by two nine-lap races on Sunday, November 22, and with just a 15-minute break between the two, the drivers and teams will face their toughest challenge of the season yet on one of the most unique and challenging race tracks in the world.
While the racing so far this year between SEAT team-mates Tarquini and Muller has been limited, with both drivers working to get the best results for the team, Macau could change all that. With the title on the line and the manufacturer's title likely to be decided first, they should be free to have a head-to-head fight for honours.
“Of course this year we have been racing for the team, always getting the best results for the team,” said Tarquini. “I tried not to think too much about the drivers' championship yet, I just wanted to go to Macau with a chance to win it and then everything can be decided in Macau.”
Muller too is looking forward to the decider on a circuit where he has had both good and bad experiences in recent years.
“In 2007, Macau was not so good for me,” recalls the Frenchman. “I had a chance to win the title but I had a fuel pump failure and I lost, that was very hard. But last year I could reach the podium in both races and I won the championship. For me it is a nice circuit, a big challenge and I always enjoy driving at Macau.”
BMW has not enjoyed the same success this year as it has in the past, but its drivers still look forward to ending their seasons on the streets of Macau.
“It's a really special place,” said Andy Priaulx, who sealed three consecutive world titles in Macau between 2005 and 2007. “It's like no other circuit in the world and the challenge for the drivers is unreal. The feeling when you win a race around here is just incredible and I can't wait for the two races.”
SEAT and BMW won't be the only manufacturers competing for glory though, with Chevrolet looking to extend its winning streak at Macau, and Lada continuing to make progress and hoping to score more points in the finale.
Chevrolet won both races at Macau last year with Alain Menu and Robert Huff taking a win each in the final FIA WTCC races for the Lacetti model. The manufacturer has been campaigning its new Cruze car this year, which has been especially competitive on street circuits, and all three works drivers have tasted victory in 2009.
“Our record on street circuits is really good so I'm definitely hoping to continue that in Macau,” said Huff. “We've had another good year on street tracks and the memory of winning at Macau last year is a great one for me - one I'd very much like to repeat this time.”
Several local drivers will join the FIA WTCC field for the Macau races, with the experienced André Couto driving a third SUNRED Engineering SEAT León, and Liu Lic Ka, Henry Ho, and Joseph Rosa Merszei all racing Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMWs.
Japanese racers Nobuteru Taniguchi and Takayuki Aoki also join the FIA WTCC regulars on the Guia Circuit in BMWs.
(2009 Press Release: Macau Grand Prix Committee, October 13, 2009; )
S2000 lap records:
Qualifying - 2:30.285/146.60 kph, Alain Menu (Chevrolet Lacetti), 14 Nov 2008
Race - 2:32.517/144.45 kph, Gabriele Tarquini (SEAT León Tdi), 18 Nov 2007
Read more about the Guia Circuit
Previous winners
| 2004: | Guia Race 1: Jörg Müller (BMW 320i) |
| 2004: | Guia Race 2: Jörg Müller (BMW 320i) |
| 2005: | FIA WTCC Race 1: Augusto Farfus (Alfa Romeo 156) |
| 2005: | FIA WTCC Race 2: Duncan Huisman (BMW 320i) |
| 2006: | FIA WTCC Race 1: Andy Priaulx (BMW 320si) |
| 2006: | FIA WTCC Race 2: Jörg Müller (BMW 320si) |
| 2007: | FIA WTCC Race 1: Alain Menu (Chevrolet Lacetti) |
| 2007: | FIA WTCC Race 2: Andy Priaulx (BMW 320si) |
| 2008: | FIA WTCC Race 1: Alain Menu (Chevrolet Lacetti) |
| 2008: | FIA WTCC Race 2: Robert Huff (Chevrolet Lacetti) |
World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) History
The World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) is an international Touring Car championship organised by the FIA.
The first WTCC, which was open to Group A Touring Cars, was held in 1987 concurrent to the long-running European Touring Car Championship (ETCC).
Additional rounds were held outside Europe at Bathurst in Australia, Calder Park Raceway in Australia (using both the road course and the then newly constructed Thunderdome), Wellington in New Zealand and Mount Fuji in Japan.
The Drivers Championship was won by Roberto Ravaglia in a BMW M3 and the Entrants Championship was won by the Eggenberger Texaco Ford No 7 entry, which was a Ford Sierra.
The WTCC lasted only one year and was a victim of its own success - the FIA feared it would take money away from Formula 1 and stopped sanctioning the Championship[citation needed].
In 1993, with the high popularity of the Supertouring category, the FIA hosted the FIA World Touring Car Cup - an annual event for touring car drivers hailing from national championships all over the world. The 1993 race at Monza was won by Paul Radisich, at the wheel of a Ford Mondeo with no manufacturer title awarded.
The race was run for two more years, (won by Paul Radisich again in 1994 at Donington Park in a Ford Mondeo, manufacturer title went to BMW, and Frank Biela in 1995 at Paul Ricard in an Audi A4 Quattro, and manufacturer title went to Audi).
A similar event was planned for 1996 at the A1 Ring, Austria, but was cancelled due to a low number of provisional entries (10 cars). It was never brought back thereafter.
Third most important FIA championship
In 2001, the ETCC was resumed with support from the FIA. At the request of interested manufacturers, it was changed to the current WTCC beginning with the 2005 season, and is now considered the third most important FIA championship after Formula One and the World Rally Championship.
With rounds at major prestigious circuits, the series is heavily supported by car manufacturers BMW, Chevrolet and SEAT, with Honda also involved, but some manufacturers like Lada and Volvo are interested in the championship and they could enter in a future.
It features compact and midsize cars based on Group N rules, yet modified to Super 2000 regulations, an intermediate level between the slightly modified Super Production cars and the extinct Supertouring class.
Following the trend of recent FIA rules, cost control is a major theme in the technical regulation. Engines are limited to 2000 cc. Many technologies that have featured in production cars are not allowed, including variable valve timing, variable intake geometry, ABS brakes and traction control system.
Frenchman Yvan Muller is the 2008 series champion, winning a first major title for Spanish manufacturer SEAT, breaking the dominance BMW has held over the title since its inception. Also it was the first FIA sanctioned world championship, in any category, won by a diesel powered racing car in the SEAT León TDI.
The series are based in Europe (with races in Great Britain, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Portugal and Czech Republic and former races in Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands and Turkey) but the FIA is extending the championship internationally: now there are races in Brazil, Mexico, Macau and Japan; in 2009 there will be a new race in Morocco and there are some rumours of a race in Russia for 2010 season.
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