Autosportfoto

Race preview: Stakes high as Mighty Macau revs up for WTCR OSCARO #SeasonShowdown

Seven drivers will hope they hold the trump card when the inaugural WTCR - FIA World Touring Car Cup presented by OSCARO heads for a season showdown to savour in Macau - the gambling capital of the world - from 15-18 November.

Gabriele Tarquini tops the pack after 27 all-action races in his BRC Racing Team Hyundai i30 N TCR. But with 79 points covering the top seven and 87 up for grabs from the three counters that make up the Suncity Group Guia Race, the order is likely to be shuffled on a track that has provided the ultimate street-racing challenge for 65 years.

Macau's 6.120-kilometre Circuito da Guia blends twisty turns and narrow blasts with long, wide-open straights and sweeping corners - plus gradient changes - to create one of the most demanding and spectacular street circuits on the planet.

Touring car racing has been held in this Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China for more than half a century, with the famous Guia Race first run in 1972. Having welcomed the WTCC back to its streets last November for the penultimate event of the 2017 campaign when Rob Huff bagged a record ninth win, Macau hosts the WTCR OSCARO season finale with a season-high 31 drivers - representing seven customer racing brands - taking part.

Seven up for #SeasonShowdown
While Gabriele Tarquini is in the title ascendancy with a 39-point advantage over fellow Hyundai racer Yvan Muller, the experienced Italian has no plans to back off, with five other rivals all holding a mathematical chance of becoming the inaugural WTCR OSCARO champion.

"I've been leading this championship since the first race," said the 56-year-old, who is also chasing a first win in Macau. "I'm the oldest guy with everybody behind me. I will fight very hard to win this title but Macau is a lottery and we know it's very difficult."

Frenchman Muller, the most successful driver in World Touring Car history with four FIA titles, said: "Maybe we lost the championship but everything is possible. Until it's not mathematically possible you never give up. Macau is Macau and there are a lot of points [available]."

Sweden's Thed Björk, the 2017 FIA World Touring Car champion, is 14 points behind his YMR team-mate Muller with Spanish Cupra driver Pepe Oriola 11 points further back for Team OSCARO by Campos Racing.

Jean-Karl Vernay (Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team) is fifth in the table, 11 points down on Oriola and 75 adrift of Tarquini. Esteban Guerrieri (ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda) and Norbert Michelisz (BRC Racing Team) complete the seven title contenders, 78 and 79 points behind Tarquini respectively.

Although all seven championship chasers have raced on the Circuito da Guia before, only Muller and Michelisz have won in Macau with Michelisz taking the Guia Race laurels in 2010. With his title chances slim, the Hungarian will be using that triumph as a positive. "I'm not in the best position but in Macau everything can happen," he said.

The Magnificent Seven at a glance:
Gabriele Tarquini (Italy, BRC Racing Team): First position, 291 points
Yvan Muller (France, YMR): Second, 252 points
Thed Björk (Sweden, YMR): Third, 238 points
Pepe Oriola (Spain, Team OSCARO by Campos Racing): Fourth, 227 points
Jean-Karl Vernay (France, Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team): Fifth, 216 points
Esteban Guerrieri (Argentina, ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport): Sixth, 213 points
Norbert Michelisz (BRC Racing Team): Seventh, 212 points

Points are allocated as follows:

Race 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
SQ 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 0
R1 27 20 17 14 12 10 8 6 4 2
R2 25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1
R3 30 23 19 16 13 10 7 4 2 1
Key: SQ = Second Qualifying; R1 = Race 1; R2 = Race 2; R3 = Race 3

Hyundai-powered entrants battle for Teams' title
It's a two-squad race for the battle to win the WTCR - FIA World Touring Car Cup presented by OSCARO for Teams with eight points separating the top two. BRC Racing Team is in front thanks to the combined efforts of its Hyundai-powered drivers Norbert Michelisz and Gabriele Tarquini with Yvan Muller's YMR outfit just behind. Muller came out of retirement to drive one of his two Hyundai i30 N TCRs alongside Thed Björk. YMR has won seven races to BRC's six.

Macau GP winner Couto heads the wildcards
Local racer André Couto, who famously won the Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix in 2000, is one of six wildcard entrants in action at WTCR Race of Macau. A former World Touring Car driver, Couto has been nominated by the TCR China promoter - at the invitation of WTCR promoter Eurosport Events - for the street spectacular as the representative of title-winning entrant MacPro Racing Team. Meanwhile, Filipe de Souza, Lo Kai Fung, Lam Kam San, Kevin Wing Kin Tse and Rui Valente were among a number of drivers to apply to the Macanese ASN, the AAMC, to take part in the three WTCR OSCARO races, which make up the legendary Suncity Group Macau Guia Race. Following a rigorous assessment process, they were selected and their inclusion on the entry list, along with Couto, has been approved by the FIA. Click here to find out more.

New era goes from strength to strength
With a rulebook designed to promote great racing, a packed grid of star drivers and seven customer brands, the stage is set for a thrilling Macau season showdown with the FIA Formula 3 World Cup and FIA GT World Cup also on the schedule. In an intriguing twist, WTCR - the new name for the FIA World Touring Car Championship from 2018 - gets three races per weekend, plus a second shot at the DHL Pole Position Award due to the scheduling of not one but two qualifying sessions. There's also the ground-breaking TAG Heuer Most Valuable Driver award, which goes to the racer scoring the most points during a weekend, plus the TAG Heuer Best Lap Trophy. In addition to live global television coverage, Race 1 will be shown live in selected territories on Facebook and at wtcr.oscaro.com - website of the WTCR Series Presenting Partner partner and the world's leading online retailer of original automotive spare parts.

Five to watch
1 Kevin Ceccon: Italian Ceccon landed his breakthrough WTCR victory in Suzuka last time out and is strong on street tracks as his performances in Wuhan - and during his stint in single-seaters racing in Monaco - attest.
2 André Couto: A proven winner not just at Macau but also in touring cars, local hero Couto could be an outside bet for top honours.
3 Denis Dupont: The Belgian motorsport federation-backed youngster delivered his season-best performances on the streets of Wuhan so has form when it comes to round-the-houses racing.
4 Yann Ehrlahcer: Having endured a torrid time of late, Yvan Muller's nephew will be desperate to reproduce the kind of form that made him a title contender earlier this season.
5 Filipe Souza: One of the six wildcards, Macanese driver Souza used to marshal on the Circuito da Guia. Now he's become established as a successful and competitive touring car racer.

Provisional key timings:
Thursday 15 November: Free Practice 1: 09h05-09h35; Free Practice 2: 13h30-14h00
Friday 16 November: First Qualifying: 08h50-09h30; Second Qualifying Q1: 13h35-14h05; Second Qualifying Q2: 14h10
14h25; Second Qualifying Q3: 14h35-14h50
Saturday 17 November: Race 1: 14h25 (8 laps)
Saturday 18 November: Race 2: 08h20 (8 laps); Race 3: 11h00 (11 laps)

Who's on the grid?
World Touring Car champions: Thed Björk, Rob Huff, Yvan Muller, Gabriele Tarquini
WTCC Trophy winners: Mehdi Bennani, Tom Coronel, Norbert Michelisz
WTCC race winners: Yann Ehrlacher, Esteban Guerrieri, Ma Qinghua, Pepe Oriola
British Touring Car champions: Muller, Gordon Shedden, Tarquini
DTM champion: Timo Scheider
TCR title winners: Aurélien Comte, Jean-Karl Vernay
Young racing hopefuls: Kevin Ceccon, Denis Dupont, John Filippi, Mato Homola, Norbert Nagy, Aurélien Panis, Zsolt Szabó
International racers: Nathanaël Berthon, Luigi Ferrara, Frédéric Vervisch
Wildcards: André Couto, Lam Kam San, Billy Lo, Filipe Souza, Kevin Tse, Rui Valente

Weekend format explained
In a major change to the previous WTCC race weekend format, each WTCR OSCARO event will consist of three races - an increase from the previous two plus an additional qualifying session. First Qualifying decides the grid for Race 1. The top 10 after Second Qualifying Q2 will decide the first 10 places on the grid for Race 2 but in reverse order with the combined Second Qualifying times deciding the grid for Race 3.

WTCR Race of Macau in numbers
79: The top seven drivers in the standings start WTCR Race of Macau covered by 79 points. With 87 points up for grabs, the title race remains wide open heading to the inaugural season finale.
9: Rob Huff is the most successful racer in Macau history with nine wins. Of his WTCR OSCARO rivals only his Sébastien Loeb Racing team-mate Mehdi Bennani (once), Norbert Michelisz (once) and Yvan Muller (twice) have won the Guia Race previously.
2m31.522s: As well as being Macau's most-winning driver, Rob Huff is also the fastest on the Circuito da Guia in a TCR car. In 2015, Huff lapped the 6.120-kilometree street course in 2m31.522s. Meanwhile, Huff's race lap record stands at 2m34.136s.
14: Fourteen drivers have won races in WTCR OSCARO, while all seven customer racing brands (Alfa Romeo, Audi, Cupra, Honda, Hyundai, PEUGEOT and Volkswagen) have been successful.
9: Of the all-season WTCR OSCARO racers competing at WTCR Race of Macau this year, nine have no prior experience of the Circuito da Guia.

Zdroj: fiawtcr.com