History
The first WTCC, which was open to Group A Touring Cars, was held in 1987 concurrent to the long-running European Touring Car Championship (ETCC). Additional rounds were held outside Europe at Bathurst in Australia, Calder Park Raceway in Australia (using both the road course and the then newly constructed Thunderdome), Wellington in New Zealand and Mount Fuji in Japan. The Drivers Championship was won by Roberto Ravaglia in a BMW M3 and the Entrants Championship was won by the Eggenberger Texaco Ford No 7 entry, which was a Ford Sierra. The WTCC lasted only one year and was a victim of its own success - the FIA feared it would take money away from Formula 1 and stopped sanctioning the Championship.
In 1993, with the high popularity of the Supertouring category, the FIA hosted the FIA World Touring Car Cup - an annual event for touring car drivers hailing from national championships all over the world. The 1993 race at Monza was won by Paul Radisich, at the wheel of a Ford Mondeo ahead of Nicola Larini's Alfa Romeo 155, with no manufacturer title awarded. The race was run for two more years, (won by Paul Radisich again in 1994 at Donington Park in a Ford Mondeo, manufacturer title went to BMW, and Frank Biela in 1995 at Paul Ricard in an Audi A4 Quattro, and manufacturer title went to Audi). A similar event was planned for 1996 at the A1 Ring, Austria, but was cancelled due to a low number of provisional entries (10 cars). It was never brought back thereafter.
In 2001, the ETCC was resumed with support from the FIA. At the request of interested manufacturers, it was changed to the current WTCC beginning with the 2005 season, and is now considered the third most important FIA championship after Formula One and the World Rally Championship.
The WTCC uses Super 2000 cars, as cost control is a major theme in the technical regulation. Engines are limited to 2.0 liter. Many technologies that have featured in production cars are not allowed, including variable valve timing, variable intake geometry, ABS brakes and traction control system.
In 2008 it was the first time a FIA sanctioned world championship, in any category, was won by a diesel powered racing car: the SEAT León TDI. Frenchman Yvan Muller won the title after Race 1 in Macau.
Frenchman Yvan Muller is the current series World Champion, fending off tough competition from Gabriele Tarquini and Andy Priaulx to win the first world championship for Chevrolet.
The series are based all around the world (with races in Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Czech Republic, Brazil, Morocco, Japan and Macau with former races in Sweden, France, Netherlands and Turkey when it was a European based sport). In 2012, the WTCC hosted a race event in the United States for the first time at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California where professional Touring Car driver, Robb Holland, became the first American ever to compete in the Championships.
Read more about this topic: World Touring Car Championship
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