Touring Car Times
WTCC
Photo(s): WTCC MediaThe third meeting of the 2012 FIA World Touring Car Championship takes place in Morocco, around the streets of Marrakech, which will be hosting a WTCC race for only the third time.
With a year out in 2011 due to financial problems, in a year when it was replaced by the ultra-successful Hungarian round at Budapest, the Grand Prix of Morocco is back, and the first of two scheduled street race events on the 2012 WTCC calendar will take place this weekend, with a long wait to the next one in November at Macau.The first race in 2009 saw Chevrolet’s Rob Huff claim the first pole position for the brand new Chevrolet Cruze LT, and would go on to win the race with team-mate Nicola Larini repeating the feat in the second race, sealing a perfect weekend for the car which has now won two World driver and manufacturers’ titles since.
Marrakech is not only a beautiful city, but also one of my favourite circuits and I am
quite proud to have been the first one to ever win a race there back in 2009,” said Huff.
“We must appreciate that on new urban tracks, it is very difficult for organizers to ‘guess’ where incidents can happen and where exactly to locate the cranes. Hopefully, this time they will guess right, but hopefully there won’t be any incidents.”
There was action from the start of the first ever race, with Rickard Rydell’s SEAT León TDI caught up with Jörg Muller’s Team Schnitzer BMW, who in turn had slowed after tapping the back of Alain Menu’s Chevrolet at the second corner. The Swede’s SEAT, sans front-right wheel was stuck on the circuit with the safety car called to slow the field down as the car was recoverd.
In 2010, Gabriele Tarquini claimed pole and the first race victory in the SUNRED SEAT León TDI, with Andy Priaulx taking victory for BMW Team RBM from the reversed grid in race two. That race was not without its dramas either with Norbert Michelisz’s SEAT León TDI stalling on the front row as the Hungarian’s season long achilles’ heel struck again, thankfully fixed these days with the switch to the fast-launching BMW.
Rob Huff crashed out in the melee behind after making contact with Fredy Barth’s SEAT, which also saw the two Bamboo Engineering Chevrolets of Darryl O’Young and Harry Vaulkhard caught up in the accident as well as Proteam’s Sergio Hernández, the eventual independents’ champion.
On the seventh lap, BMW Team RBM driver Augusto Farfus and Chevrolet’s Alain Menu had a coming together with both cars eliminated on the spot, followed by a lengthy safety car period leading to a restart with one lap to go, with Priaulx fending off Muller’s Chevrolet to the chequered flag for his first of six wins that year.
The race is also the home race of Mehdi Bennani, whom has taken part in every round in his home country. Bennani drove in what was planned as a one-off drive for Exagon Engineering in 2009 in their SEAT León at Marrakech, then again attended his home round the following year whilst driving for the full season with Wiechers-Sport in 2010. This year he’ll be with Proteam Racing, his second year with the team, after impressing two weeks ago in Valencia, passing 10 cars after a first lap incident in the first race, and collecting his first Championship points in race two.
However, at the Circuit Moulay El Hassan it is notoriously difficult to overtake at a track which is more-or-less two long straights with three corners and three chicanes and a short bend.
SEAT and BMW’s ‘advantage’ from the first two rounds will also be reduced this weekend with both marques running additional weight making them just 20kg lighter than the pace setting Chevrolets at Marrakech. Chevrolet may have won all four of the rounds so far with Yvan Muller and Alain Menu, but Gabriele Tarquini’s lap times in the newly improved SEAT León WTCC and strong performances from the BMW drivers has seen weight added to both, whilst the new Ford Focus S2000 TC will lose weight this weekend as Tom Chilton and James Nash compete around the Moroccan capital for the first time with Arena Motorsport.
FIA World Touring Car Championship – Race Of Morocco Entry List
No – Driver – Nat – Team – Car
1 – Yvan Muller – FRA – Chevrolet – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
2 – Robert Huff – GBR – Chevrolet – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
3 – Gabriele Tarquini – ITA – Lukoil Racing Team – SEAT León WTCC
4 – Aleksei Dudukalo – RUS – Lukoil Racing Team – SEAT León WTCC
5 – Norbert Michelisz – HUN – Zengő Motorsport – BMW 320 TC
6 – Franz Engstler – GER – Liqui Moly Team Engstler – BMW 320 TC
7 – Charles Kaki Ng – HKG – Liqui Moly Team Engstlr – BMW 320 TC
8 – Alain Menu – SUI – Chevrolet – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
11 – Alex MacDowall – GBR – Bamboo Engineering – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
12 – Pasquale Di Sabatino – ITA – Bamboo Engineering – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
14 – James Nash – GBR – Arena International Motorsport – Ford Focus S2000 TC
15 – Tom Coronel – NED – ROAL Motorsport – BMW 320 TC
16 – Alberto Cerqui – ITA – ROAL Motorsport – BMW 320 TC
18 – Tiago Monteiro – POR – SUNRED Engineering – SR León 1.6T
20 – Darryl O’Young – HKG – Special Tuning Racing – SEAT León WTCC
22 – Tom Boardman – GBR – Special Tuning Racing – SEAT León TDI
23 – Tom Chilton – GBR – Arena International Motorsport – Ford Focus S2000 TC
24 – Isaac Tutumlu – SPN – Proteam Racing – BMW 320 TC
25 – Mehdi Bennani – MOR – Proteam Racing – BMW 320 TC
26 – Stefano D’Aste – ITA – Wiechers-Sport – BMW 320 TC
27 – Gábor Wéber – HUN – Zengő Motorsport – BMW 320 TC
40 – Andrea Barlesi – BEL – SUNRED Engineering – SR León 1.6T
74 – Pepe Oriola – SPN – SUNRED Engineering – SEAT León WTCC
88 – Fernando Monje – SPN – SUNRED Engineering – SR León 1.6T
Race Of Morocco Weekend Timetable
Friday 13th April
13:30 – 14:00 – Testing
Saturday 14th April
09:30 – 10:00 – Free Practice 1
13:15 – 13:45 – Free Practice 2
16:15 – 17:05 – Qualifying
Sunday 15th April
09:00 – 09:15 – Warm Up
12:20 – Race One
15:20 – Race Two
Race Of Morocco Compensation Weights
Car – Weight – Breakdown
Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T – 1,200kg – 1,160 +40kg success ballast
SEAT León WTCC – 1,180kg 1,150 + 30kg success ballast
BMW 320 TC – 1,180kg – 1,160 + 20kg success ballast
SR León 1.6T – 1,170kg – 1,150 + 20kg penalty ballast
Ford Focus S2000 TC – 1,160kg – 1,150 + 30kg penalty ballast -20kg success ballast
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