The Hunt is ON!

2006 midseason review

2005 Season review

WTCC - FIA WORLD TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP
Promoted by Eurosport

After an exciting maiden season, the FIA World Touring Car Championship promoted by Eurosport faces its second year in 2006 with two main goals: consolidating its position alongside the only two other world car racing championships - Formula One and World Rally Championship - and keeps on growing in terms of participation, audiences, media coverage and popularity.
Creating a successful game franchise based on the WTCC is another main goal for Eurosport to broaden the reach and target audience of the exciting championship.

The transition from European Championship to World Championship meant a big leap forward in all fields. 53 drivers from 20 different countries and at the wheel of cars built by eight Manufacturers took part in the series, resulting in an average participation of 28.4 cars per event and making the FIA WTCC the international championship with the largest and most varied grids.

A success upheld by the figures: attendance at the track increased by 67.5 per cent compared to the 2004 FIA ETCC, the number of TV viewers grew dramatically from 61 to 319 million, while 274 accredited media persons on the average attended the race meetings.

2006 brings some interesting news that is widening the FIA WTCC’s horizons further.
The Championship expands to Brazil with the event in Curitiba, the involvement of Yokohama as tyre supplier has sparked a lot of interest from the Japanese industry, media and fans, more premier TV channels worldwide are airing the races live or recorded with the added value of the new HD technology.

In brief the FIA WTCC is becoming a real, global event, shaping up for the seasons to come that will see the championship expand into new markets and attract more car manufacturers. For now the focus is on the battle for the succession to the World Champion’s throne, occupied by Andy Priaulx who managed to grab the title on the final race of the season at Macau.
The Briton’s fellow BMW drivers and the six aces of the SEAT armada are the most accredited claimants, but the Alfa Romeo and Chevrolet men are serious dark horses.
While a bunch of top-level privateers will fight for the euro 350,000 prize money at stake in the Independents’ Trophy.
All the ingredients are there for another season made of twenty breathtaking races.

 

Two FIA World Touring Car Champion titles will be awarded at the end of the season:
- the FIA World Touring Car Drivers’ Champion
- the FIA World Touring Car Manufacturers’ Champion

DRIVERS’ TITLE
All drivers taking part in the championship are eligible to score points for the Drivers’ Championship. At each of the twenty races, points are awarded to the first eight drivers classified.

MANUFACTURERS’ TITLE
The registered Manufacturers are eligible to score points for the Manufacturers’ Championship. At each of the twenty races, points are awarded to the two highest-placed cars of each Manufacturer; all the other cars of that same Manufacturer are invisible.

INDEPENDENTS’ TROPHY
Besides the FIA titles, the Championship’s promoter KSO and Yokohama, the championship’s official tyre supplier, will award the:
YOKOHAMA INDEPENDENTS’ TROPHY
"Reserved for the Independent drivers, who are fighting for a euro 350,000 prize money. At each event a total of euro 35,000 is awarded to the best eight drivers according to the sum of the points they have scored in the two races."

The FIA World Touring Car Championship promises to be one of the most exciting motor sport series on the planet. The best of the world’s touring car drivers compete over 10 rounds for the coveted title of FIA World Touring Car Champion.

Because every car has to conform to Super 2000 specification, it’s only the driver’s skill and daring that separates these hotly contested tussles on the tarmac. And just in case it ever gets too predictable, each round is split into 2 sprint-races where the winner of the first race starts at the back of the grid for the second.

It’s not a sport for the faint-hearted, and to win the drivers have got to be willing to take a few risks, share a little paintwork and prepare for the inevitable spin-offs as they push themselves, the cars and each other to the absolute limits. It’s fast, it’s furious, it’s totally addictive. It’s FIA WTCC.

The 2006 FIA World Touring Car Championship consists of:
ten race meetings in 10 countries, across 3 continents.

The WTCC is reserved for FIA Super 2000 cars - real cars, no prototypes - and awards two FIA World titles, Drivers and Manufacturers, as the Formula 1 and World Rally Championships.

The FIA World Touring Car Championship joins the list of the 2 most famous World Championships already organised by the FIA: the Formula One World Championship (F1) and the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC).

 

:: Key figures: 40,700 was the average on-site attendance for the WTCC 2005 events
412,957,000 people read WTCC stories published by the press in 2005

:: Together with Formula One and the World Rally Championship, the WTCC represents one of only three series the FIA has granted World Championship status.

:: Apart from BMW, the following manufacturers are also involved in the series: Alfa Romeo, SEAT, Peugeot and Chevrolet.

:: In 2005, the FIA WTCC emerged from the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) that had been successfully held since 2001. There, BMW succeeded in securing the Manufacturers’ Championship twice. Furthermore, Andy Priaulx clinched the 2004 Drivers’ Championship in a BMW 320i.

:: BMW enters three national teams (BMW Team UK, BMW Team Deutschland and BMW Team Italy-Spain) which are set to continue the successful BMW touring car racing tradition with the new BMW 320si.

:: The 2006 FIA WTCC is made up of ten racing events. These are staged on three continents in ten countries: Italy, France, Great Britain, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, Czech Republic, Turkey, Spain and Macau.

:: There are two rounds held per race weekend, with the top eight of round one contesting round two in reversed starting order.

:: The points system is the same as in Formula One (10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1).

:: The most successful drivers from each weekend (aggregate of both races) are given a weight handicap for the following event. The regulations allow for the possibility of also reducing the weight handicap. Weight handicaps are distributed based on the number of World Championship points won. In 2006, the maximum weight handicap is 80kg.

:: Three vehicle categories are accepted for the FIA WTCC: Touring cars with normally aspirated petrol engines in compliance with FIA Super 2000 regulations, touring cars with turbodiesel engines based on FIA Diesel 2000 regulations (introduced in 2004) and touring cars with normally aspirated petrol engines based on FIA Super Production regulations.

:: The Super 2000 category prescribes a saloon with at least four seats and four doors and a minimum length of 4.2 metres. At least 2,500 series-production versions must have been built within twelve months as part of a model family with an output of at least 25,000 units a year.