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WTCC Newsletter #23

MOSCOW TEST - MULLER SETS THE PACE
WTCC competitors had their first taste of the Moscow Raceway during a 30 minute test session that took place on a drying track, following a rainy morning.

Yvan Muller set the fastest time by the end of the session, clocking a last lap of 1:43.598 that demoted Tom Coronel's 1:43.756 to second. Also on his last lap, Gabriele Tarquini was timed at 1:43.935 that was good enough to steal third place from Mehdi Bennani (1:44.187).

Rob Huff ranked in fifth (1:44.234), ahead of Darryl O'Young (1:44.428), Tiago Monteiro (1:44.577) and Pepe Oriola (1:44.611).
James Thompson placed his LADA in ninth (1:44.899) while James Nash rounded out the top ten (1:44.903).

As the track was drying and drivers were getting their bearings, lap times improved significantly. The fastest laps' progression saw 1:45.346 (Muller), 1:45.108 (Muller), 1:44.352 (Tarquini), 1:44.187 (Bennani), 1:43.756 (Coronel), 1:43.598 (Muller).
No incidents were reported, except for Coronel's spin at Turn 15 on his first lap.

WTCC DRIVERS VISIT THE RED SQUARE
Yesterday a group of WTCC drivers visited Moscow's Red Square and posed for pictures in front of the Kremlin and St. Basilius
cathedral.

Yvan Muller, Rob Huff, James Thompson, Mikhail Kozlovskiy, Gabriele Tarquini, Darryl O'Young and Nikolay Karamyshev formed the WTCC representative in the capital of Russia Federation. They were joined by WTCC General Manager Marcello Lotti, Moscow Raceway Project Director Ekaterina Beltsevich and LADA Sport Lukoil Team Principal Viktor Shapovalov.

LAUNCH OF THE WTCC RACE OF RUSSIA
The 2013 WTCC Race of Russia was officially launched yesterday, during a press conference at Moscow's Baltschug Kempinski
hotel that was attended by large representative of local media.

The WTCC representative was formed by six drivers: Yvan Muller, Rob Huff, James Thompson, Mikhail Kozlovskiy, Gabriele Tarquini and Nikolay Karamyshev.

They were joined at the press conference table by WTCC General Manager Marcello Lotti, Moscow Raceway Project Director Ekaterina Beltsevich and LADA Sport Lukoil Team Principal Viktor Shapovalov, Lukoil Motorsport Director Evgeniy Malinovsky and Sergey Ivanov of the Russian National Sporting Authority RAF.

"We are very proud and excited to be in Russia for the first time. We thank RAF and the Moscow Raceway for the strong support in setting up the first WTCC Race of Russia. We are confident that Russian fans will come to the track and enjoy the races," said Lotti.

THOMPSON JOINS 100 RACE CLUB
James Thompson was inducted today in the WTCC 100 Race Club, reserved for those drivers who have taken the start in one hundred World Championship races.

The Englishmen, one of the few current competitors who took part in the inaugural WTCC event back in 2005, reached the 100 mark three weeks ago in the second race at Austria's Salzburgring.

Thompson is the fifteenth inductee in the WTCC 100 Race Club, his admission was celebrated in the paddock of the Moscow Raceway, where WTCC General Manager Marcello Lotti handed him the Club's patch for his racing overall.

FOR HAVEN'S SAKE
Eurosport commentator and touring car expert Martin Haven's column.

Moscow preview - Into the unknown

The FIA WTCC's first trip to Moscow raceway will throw up plenty of interesting challenges for the teams and drivers, not the least of which is the sheer logistical undertaking of travelling to the Russian capital. Or, strictly speaking, close to it, as Moscow Raceway is about as close to Moscow itself as Silverstone is to London...

Throw in an alien language, written with an unknown alphabet and I imagine the Castrol Honda boys will be sticking to their Zengö Motorsport counterparts like glue, as the Hungarians may be able to make decent headway with the locals. Likewise, LADA will never have been so popular, what with their Russian crew members. They'll be everyone's best friends.

So, what about the circuit itself. Well, if it were to be described by a London estate agent, the word ‘Bijou' would doubtless spring up. It's tightly laid-out and pretty narrow for a modern track. Even the guys from World Superbikes, who race there last season, thought it was a tad snug.

The hairpin first turn will be the focus of attention at the rolling start, drivers then being pitched into a series of snaking bends not dissimilar to Sector 2 at the Slovakia Ring. The long back straight, at the end of the lap, will provide perhaps the best overtaking opportunity, terminating as it does in a tight left-hander onto the pit straight.

All of which should make for some pretty close racing, hopefully. Throw in the fact that no-one will have test or race data and we should see the playing field levelled a little. As usual, talent will out: the best engineers and drivers will usually come up with the best answers to the questions everyone will be faced with.

This season may be producing a run-away points leader in Yvan Muller but in almost every other respect, it's one of the most open in years. Every weekend seems to throw up a different cast of characters, as the strong and weak points of various cars come into focus. There's no good reason why we might not see one or perhaps even two new winners this weekend.

Naturally, being in Mother Russia, the LADA team will be hoping for something spectacular. We might not quite see Hungarian
‘Norbi-Fever' levels of adulation for James Thompson and Mikhail Koslovskiy but crowd attendances at the circuit have been very respectable to date and the draw of a Russian manufacturer and Russian driver can only add to that.

The generally slower, tighter nature of the track might play to the Granta's narrow track and smaller size but the team will need a little bit of extra luck to step up onto the podium. They showed plenty of speed in Monza and Marrakech, two circuits with few actual corners but once the going gets twisty, the chassis struggles. But, every weekend is a learning process and the team is working extremely hard behind the scenes to correct its issues, building its knowledge base race by race.

The Russian for luck is удача (udacha); LADA could use just a little this weekend, to really excite the fans.