The World Touring Car Championship is about to kickstart once again in Monza this weekend. Two races scheduled for Sunday, the 24th of March. A big loss for the series is of course Alain Menu leaving for Porsche Supercup this season after Chevrolet pulled out their manufacturer support from the WTCC. Losing a factory supported seat in the series might have been one of the reasons for that but I bet Alain was as little tired of getting punted off the track by his own teammate. In light of the change of regulations coming 2014 I think we can hope to see Menu back next year.
So 2013 is similar to the situation in Formula 1 at the moment, a stand-still evolutionary year before the big change. More aero and power with less weight has been promised for WTCC 2014 and they'll also scrap the performance balancing system so maybe we'll see the series losing weight penalties once and for all which would be cute indeed. So this year was not supposed to be big in terms of news but it turns out to be quite the opposite. Honda is expected to be strong with their new Civic which Tiago Monteiro put on the podium in Macau while it was still in development phase - it was clear how the car couldn't ride curbs and lacked balance in grip levels in Suzuka, a few races before the season finale, so imagining what they've probably done during the winter makes for a scary image - in a good way though, I'm sure they'll be quick right out of the box and well, having Tarquini on board to drive the car alongside Monteiro is surely a strong package. Having mentioned that, Norbert Michelisz is going to drive a sister car to them with Zengo Motorsport so I'm sure Honda will be getting the attention and all the marketing benefits they seek from World Touring Cars. And in the end, that's what this series is all about and perhaps it's the only reasonable explanation to what Lada are doing over the past years. In and out of the series, no one really understands what's going on with them. Having James Thompson in the car will give them a chance though and Thomspon has given good comments on the new Lada Granta, claiming it's nimble and changing direction well with a good drag due to it's small size, giving a good potential for top speed. It looks good as well, I was amazed by the agressive aero pack they have on the Granta, making it a very nice looking race car in the pack, the livery turned out to be a huge disappointment though. So seeing Ladas in the pointy end (well, at least one of them - still not expecting too many stunning results drom Dudukalo) is maybe not as impossible as it was last time we saw the Russian fighters in the category. They should however decide if they want to be on the grid or not.
Making decisions whether to be on the 2014 grid are seemingly also a bunch of other manufacturers - talk of 9 time World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb joinig the series with Citroen is the big talk, understandably with the unbeatable Frenchman having done track racing before and being known for the reputation of a race driver on gravel, snow and tarmac, not a sideways hooligan. So Loeb knows how to go fast and find grip on a road. It would be huge to see him on the grid. For people who are hesitating that he can be competitive and quickly up to speed, don't forget two things - first, Loeb came into rallying by applying his tarmac knowledge and skills to other surfaces. So he was a black-stuff racer before his row of world titles. The other interesting fact is, Yvan "the touring car champ" Muller is a ten time ice racing champion as well - it's why he doesn't mind if the car is loose and sliding a bit.
What can we expect from the racing in WTCC this year? The ancient SEAT Leon, which still remains one of the most beautiful cars on the grid is without a doubt still a contender despite having no further development for a long time now, apart frome the Oreca 1.6l petrol engine. Rob Huff will be trying to do his title defending from there then. Münnich Motorsport could be a force to reckon with, the drivers are well experienced and have the tools to argue the point but I guess their chances are not fantastic either. The rear-wheel drive camp of BMWs will be spoiling the day for some of the guys for sure, but realistically there are no title contenders there. RML with their two remaining Chevys could do damage though, I think Muller is someone you can never write off and Tom Chilton is not exactly a rookie either, probably not as experienced in putting a championship together though. So Muller vs Tarquini? Looks a lot like it but don't forget there's a lot of drivers who can spring a surprise.
So that's the introduction done with. But where is the series going? Is a cute little ten lap race really the best way to argue the car market for top manufacturers? In 1987 World Touring Car Championship started in Monza as it will this weekend (the race then was on 22nd of March so close enough). Australians Allan Moffat and John Harvey won the race by completing 86 laps in their Holden Commodore SS. The six BMW M3s which finished in the top six positions were disqualifed for being 80kg underweight through the use of carbon fiber body panels. Two drivers and 86 laps, so one driver and 43 laps. Tight TV airtime of the 21st century, ok so let's say 40 laps and a mandatory pit stop. I would pay to watch that.
The problem with World Touring Cars is it's not exactly the toughest day at the office. It's a bit of a show cruise as the field has time to spread themselves wide apart but there's no strategy or a longer perspective to compress it back together. This creates a kind of a sunday drive format in the local go-kart joint with your best friends as there are less and less serious drivers coming in to the series simply because it's not enough of a challenge. It has two sides to it though - we would like to see a longer handful of laps and real racing but we already love the sprint race format pushing cars close to each other having very little time to make their moves, a concrete characteristic of touring car racing. But ultimately, are we about to see a slow death of aesthetics in a top championship. Something the FIA would one day suddenly decide to remove their name from perhaps. I'm not sure of the curses on the series but I'm sure a revision of the format along with new cars and manufacturers would stop the scheme of mediocre drivers in mediocre teams screwing on massive camber degrees until their tires burst on lap 9 before the end of the race. If you take a rough look at the WTCC, it looks a lot like it, with extras.
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