World Touring Car Championship
The FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) is an international Touring CarFIA. championship organised by the
History
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.
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 SEAT, BMW, Chevrolet and Lada with special appearances from Honda and Volvo.[citation needed] It features compact and midsize cars based on Group N rules, yet modified to Super 2000 or Diesel 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.
In 2008 it was the first time a FIA sanctioned world championship, in any category, was won by a diesel powered racing car: the SEAT León TDI.
Italian Gabriele Tarquini is the current series champion, winning the second in-a-row WTCC drivers' title for Spanish manufacturer SEAT, continung SEAT's dominance in the WTCC and held since 2008 in both drivers' as well as manufacturers' championships.
The series are based all around the world (with races in Great Britain, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Czech Republic, Brazil, Mexico, Morroco and Macau with former races in Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands and Turkey when it was a European based sport)
Champions
Independents' Trophy winners
FIA World Touring Car Cup winners
See also
References
Autosport, January 14, 1988
External links
| [show] World Touring Car Championship | | | | | | | |
| [show] World Touring Car Champions | | | | | | | |
| [show] Circuits of the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) | | | Current circuits (2010 season) | | | | Former circuits (2005–2009) | | |
[show] World championships between national teams/representatives
Gabriele Tarquini
SEAT
Current season
Schnitzer Motorsport
Eggenberger Racing No. 7
Andy Priaulx
Yvan Muller
Tom Coronel
GR Asia
Paul Radisich
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