FIA WTCC Season so far
28 Jul 2015

The FIA World Touring Car Championship which has the Japanese tyre manufacturer YOKOHAMA as official tyre supplier is currently on the summer break.  With the last race in Portugal’s Vila Real street circuit having been held under scorching heat and among an estimated 180,000 excited fans the leading spot is still belonging to current World Champion and title contender  Jose Maria “Pechito” Lopez. 

Following his victory in race 1 at Vila Real he is now on 322 points and enjoying a bigger lead ahead of second qualified Yvan Muller on 267 points.  Both Citroen Racing team mates are also pursued by another Citroen Racing driver the legendary Rally supremo Sebastien Loeb who is third on 230 points.

Norbert Michelisz is currently on 5^th with Honda’s Gabrielle Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro closely behind.

In terms of the YOKOHAMA Trophy which rewards independent drivers/non-works teams competing the Championship the Hungarian Norbert Michelisz is ahead on 123 points followed by Tom Chilton with 98 points and Mehdi Bennani third with 90 points and Hugo Valente fourth with 80 points.

With eight races over four weekends still left in the Championship and the summer period useful for a small breaks and the logistics involved in moving from Europe to Asia next, Japan, China, Thailand and Qatar could result in some surprises ahead.

The Race of Japan is next at Motegi.  Motegi, which is in the Tochigi Prefecture 145 kilometres north of the capital Tokyo, will have the opportunity of staging WTCC Race of Japan for the first time following four successful seasons at Suzuka and three at Okayama before then. Motegi also hosts the country’s MotoGP round in October and the track layout is set to produce spectacular racing. The Race of Japan, which is also considered YOKOHAMA’s home race will be held from the 11^th-13^th September.