Brno: Series preview

ROUTE TO: BRNO, CZECH REPUBLIC

The 13th and 14th rounds of the FIA WTCC will take place next week in the Czech Republic, at Brno's Masaryk Circuit.

This is a traditional meeting for the championship, as Brno hosted the European Touring Car Championship from 2002 to 2004, and then the World Touring Car Championship from 2006.

BMW notched up six victories out of the eight WTCC races; only Chevrolet (Robert Huff won Race 2 in 2006) and SEAT (Gabriele Tarquini in 2008 Race 2) have managed to break the German cars' supremacy.

The 2009 meeting saw a domination of BMW Team Italy-Spain. Alessandro Zanardi won the first race while his teammate Sergio Hernandez claimed his first WTCC victory in the second one. This year Hernandez drives for Proteam Motorsport and is the current leader of the Independents' Trophy. The WTCC will field 22 cars in the Czech Republic, with the addition of the race-by-race entries of Colin Turkington (eBay Motors) and Fabio Fabiani. The latter returns to the wheel of Proteam's third BMW car that he drove in Monza earlier this year.

WINNING CARS STAY ON THE MAXIMUM WEIGHT

The championship's winning cars: BMW 320si, SEAT Leon TDI and Chevrolet Cruze will stay on the maximum 40kg handicap weights at Brno, for the second consecutive event.

The compensation weight was determined by the lap times set in Belgium, Portugal and UK. According to this calculation, the SEAT and the Chevrolet equally share the "honour" of being the fastest cars, only two tenths faster than the BMW.

The Chevrolet Lacetti cars will again have 20kg deducted from their minimum weight, while the old BMWs have lost half of this bonus after Colin Turkington's strong performance at Brands Hatch.

Compensation weight Brno
+ 40 kg BMW 320si, SEAT Leon TDI, Chevrolet Cruze LT
= 0 kg BMW 320si (with sequential gearbox)
- 10 kg BMW 320si (old model)
- 20 kg Chevrolet Lacetti

THE FIA ETC CUP THIS WEEKEND IN AUSTRIA

The FIA European Touring Car Cup resumes this weekend at the Salzburgring for the second race meeting of the season.

Four months after the opening event at Braga, Portugal, the competitors will race the 4.2km Austrian racetrack before facing another break before the finale at Franciacorta, Italy, on October 17th.

Reigning Super 2000 champion James Thompson is leading after the opening event at Braga. At the wheel of his Hartmann Racing Honda Accord, the Briton won the first Portuguese race from Tomas Engstrom and Kristian Poulsen. He grabbed a podium in the second race - won by Cesar Campanico - to take a slim lead.

In Braga both races of the Super 1600 class were won by Jens Lohnig ahead of his German countrymen Carsten Seifert and Florian Heitmeier.

COUNTDOWN: - 9 DAYS to the 2010 FIA WTCC Race of the Czech Republic - 31st July / 1st August, in Brno

-source: wtcc