2016 World Touring Car Championship

2016 World Touring Car Championship season
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The 2016 World Touring Car Championship is the thirteenth season of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, and the twelfth since the series was revived in 2005.^[1]
In 2016 a new manufacturer Polestar (with Volvo S60) while Citroën reduced the number of official entries to two, and announced their retirement in 2017. A new team time trial format was introduced for manufacturers, titled Manufacturers Against the Clock (MAC3), consisting in three cars per manufacturer completing 2 laps at the same time (1 in Nürburgring) against the clock. The cars must finish in a 15 seconds gap.

Teams and drivers

Manufacturer TC1 entries Team Car No. Drivers Rounds Lada Sport Rosneft[2] Lada Vesta WTCC[2] 2 Gabriele Tarquini[3] 1–4 7 Hugo Valente[3] 1–4 10 Nick Catsburg[3] 1–4 Honda Racing Team JAS[4] Honda Civic WTCC[5] 5 Norbert Michelisz[5] 1–4 Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team[5] 12 Robert Huff[5] 1–4 18 Tiago Monteiro[5] 1–4 Citroën Racing[6] Citroën C-Elysée WTCC[6] 37 José María López[6] 1–4 68 Yvan Muller[6] 1–4 Polestar Cyan Racing[7] Volvo S60 Polestar TC1 61 Fredrik Ekblom[8] 1–4 62 Thed Björk[8] 1–4 Independent TC1 entries Team Car No. Drivers Rounds Sébastien Loeb Racing[9] Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 3 Tom Chilton[10] 1–4 11 Grégoire Demoustier[11] 1–4 25 Mehdi Bennani[9] 1–4 ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 9 Tom Coronel[4] 1–4 ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 15 James Thompson[12] 2, 4 77 René Münnich[4] 1, 3 TBA Sabine Schmitz 5 Campos Racing[4] Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1[4] 27 John Filippi[13] 1–4 TBA TBA TBA Zengő Motorsport[4] Honda Civic WTCC[4] 55 Ferenc Ficza[14] 1–4 99 Dániel Nagy[14] 1 NIKA Racing[15][4] Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 89 John Bryant-Meisner[4] TBA

Calendar

The provisional 2016 schedule was revealed on 2 December 2015. ^[16] With the confirmation of the 2016 SMP F4 Championship calendar, it was originally confirmed the season would start at the Sochi Autodrom, with the Russian round of the championship switching from Moscow Raceway.^[17] However, on 9 February 2016, the calendar was adjusted, leaving the Russian round at Moscow in June.^[18]

Rnd.	Race	Race Name	Circuit	Date
1	1	JVC Kenwood Race of France	Circuit Paul Ricard	3 April
	2
2	3	Race of Slovakia	Automotodróm Slovakia Ring	17 April
	4
3	5	Race of Hungary	Hungaroring	24 April
	6
4	7	Afriquia Race of Morocco	Circuit International Automobile Moulay El Hassan	8 May
	8
5	9	Race of Germany	Nürburgring Nordschleife	28 May
	10
6	11	Race of Russia	Moscow Raceway	12 June
	12
7	13	Race of Portugal	Circuito Internacional de Vila Real	26 June
	14
8	15	Race of Argentina	Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo	7 August
	16
9	17	JVC Kenwood Race of Japan	Twin Ring Motegi	4 September
	18
10	19	Race of China	Shanghai International Circuit	25 September
	20
11	21	Race of Thailand	Chang International Circuit	6 November
	22
12	23	Race of Qatar	Losail International Circuit	25 November
	24

Results and standings

Races

Compensation weights

The most competitive cars keep a 80 kg compensation weight. The other cars get a lower one, calculated according to their results for the three previous rounds. The less the cars get some good results, the less they get a compensation weight, from 0 kg to 80 kg. For the first two rounds, Citroën C-Elysée WTCC had a 80 kg compensation weight.

Car	Paul Ricard	Slovakia Ring	Hungaroring	Marrakech	Nürburgring	Moscow	Vila Real	Termas de Río Hondo	Motegi	Shanghai	Buriram	Losail
Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	+80 kg	+80 kg	+80 kg	+80 kg
Honda Civic WTCC	0 kg	0 kg	+70 kg	+40 kg
Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	0 kg	0 kg	0 kg	0 kg
Lada Vesta WTCC	0 kg	0 kg	+50 kg	+30 kg
Volvo S60 Polestar TC1	0 kg	0 kg	0 kg	0 kg

Races

Race	Race Name	MAC3 winner	Pole Position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team	Winning manufacturer	Independent winner	Report
1	Race of France	Citroën		Robert Huff	Robert Huff	Castrol Honda	Honda	Mehdi Bennani	Report
2			José María López	Yvan Muller	José María López	Citroën Racing	Citroën	Mehdi Bennani
3	Race of Slovakia	Citroën Honda		Robert Huff	Tiago Monteiro	Castrol Honda	Honda	Mehdi Bennani	Report
4			Yvan Muller	José María López	José María López	Citroën Racing	Citroën	Mehdi Bennani
5	Race of Hungary	Honda		José María López	Mehdi Bennani	Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën	Mehdi Bennani	Report
6			José María López	José María López	José María López	Citroën Racing	Citroën	Tom Chilton
7	Race of Morocco								Report
8
9	Race of Germany								Report
10
11	Race of Russia								Report
12
13	Race of Portugal								Report
14
15	Race of Argentina								Report
16
17	Race of Japan								Report
18
19	Race of China								Report
20
21	Race of Thailand								Report
22
23	Race of Qatar								Report
24

Championship standings

Drivers' championship

Pos. Driver FRA SVK HUN MAR DEU RUS PRT ARG JPN CHN THA QAT  Pts.  1 José María López 6 1^1 5 1^3 14 1^1 106 2 Tiago Monteiro 4 2^2 1 2 12 3^4 94 3 Mehdi Bennani 2 8 2 6 1 8 77 4 Robert Huff 1 6 3 14^5 11 6^3 60 5 Yvan Muller 13 4^3 7 5^1 13 2 54 6 Norbert Michelisz 3 3 6 4^4 DNS 10 53 7 Nick Catsburg 8 5^5 11 3^2 3 13 50 8 Tom Chilton 11 9 9 7 2 5 40 9 Hugo Valente 5 7 12 Ret 6 9 26 10 Gabriele Tarquini Ret Ret 4 13 5 Ret 22 11 Thed Björk 7 Ret DSQ DSQ 16 4^5 19 12 Fredrik Ekblom NC 10 10 8 4 11 19 13 Tom Coronel 9 11^4 15 9 15 7^2 16 14 Grégoire Demoustier 10 13 13 12 7 Ret 7 15 John Filippi 12 12 14 10 8 12 5 16 Ferenc Ficza DNS DNS Ret DNS 9 14 2 17 René Münnich 14 Ret 10 15 1  — James Thompson 16 11 0  — Dániel Nagy WD WD 0 Pos. Driver FRA SVK HUN MAR DEU RUS PRT ARG JPN CHN THA QAT  Pts.

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not participate (DNP) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 75% of the race distance.

Championship points were awarded on the results of each race at each event as follows:

Position[1]	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Points[1]	25	18	15	12	10	8	6	4	2	1

Notes

• ^{1 2 3 4 5} refers to the classification of the drivers after the qualifying for the main race (second race), where bonus points are awarded 5–4–3–2–1.

Manufacturers' Championship

Pos.	Manufacturer	FRA			SVK			HUN			MAR			DEU			RUS			PRT			ARG			JPN			CHN			THA			QAT			Pts.
		M	R1	R2	M	R1	R2	M	R1	R2	M	R1	R2	M	R1	R2	M	R1	R2	M	R1	R2	M	R1	R2	M	R1	R2	M	R1	R2	M	R1	R2	M	R1	R2
1	Honda	3	1	2^2	1	1	2^4																															167
			3	3^5		3	4^5
2	Citroën	1	2	1^1	1	2	1^3																															164
			6	4^3		5	5^1
3	Lada	2	5	5^4	Ret	4	3^2																															89
			6	6		7	7
4	Polestar	DNP	6	7	DNP	6	6																															30
			NC	Ret		DSQ	DSQ
Pos.	Manufacturer	FRA			SVK			HUN			MAR			DEU			RUS			PRT			ARG			JPN			CHN			THA			QAT			Pts.

Notes

Only the two best placed cars of each manufacturer earned points.

• ^{1 2 3 4 5} refers to the classification of the drivers in the main race qualication, where bonus points are awarded 5–4–3–2–1. Points were only awarded to the fastest two cars from each manufacturer.

In MAC3 points are awarded if 3 cars of the same manufacturer within a 15 seconds gap. MAC3 points were awarded as follows:

Position	1st	2nd	3rd
Points	10	8	6

WTCC Trophy

WTCC Trophy points are awarded to the first eight drivers classified in each race on the following scale: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. One point is awarded to the highest-placed WTCC Trophy competitor in qualifying and for another for the fastest lap in each race.

Pos.	Driver	FRA		SVK		HUN		MAR		DEU		RUS		PRT		ARG		JPN		CHN		THA		QAT		Pts.
1	Mehdi Bennani	1	1	1	1																					45
2	Tom Chilton	4	2	2	2																					29
3	Tom Coronel	2	3	5	3																					25
4	Grégoire Demoustier	3	5	3	6																					19
5	John Filippi	5	4	4	4																					19
6	James Thompson			6	5																					7
7	René Münnich	6	Ret																							0
—	Ferenc Ficza	DNS	DNS	Ret	DNS																					0
—	Dániel Nagy	WD	WD																							0
Pos.	Driver	FRA		SVK		HUN		MAR		DEU		RUS		PRT		ARG		JPN		CHN		THA		QAT		Pts.

WTCC Teams Trophy

All the teams taking part in the championship were eligible to score points towards the Teams Trophy, with the exception of manufacturer teams, with the first two cars from each team scoring points in each race on the following scale: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.

Pos	Team	FRA		SVK		HUN		MAR		DEU		RUS		PRT		ARG		JPN		CHN		THA		QAT		Pts
1	Sébastien Loeb Racing	1	1	1	1																					74
		3	2	2	2
2	ROAL Motorsport	2	3	4	3																					25
3	Campos Racing	4	4	3	4																					21
4	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	5	Ret	5	5																					12
—	Zengő Motorsport	DNS	DNS	Ret	DNS																					0
		WD	WD
Pos	Team	FRA		SVK		HUN		MAR		DEU		RUS		PRT		ARG		JPN		CHN		THA		QAT		Pts

Regulation changes

The sporting regulations were approved by the FIA, at the December 2015 meeting of the World Motor Sport Council.^[19]

Sporting regulations

• The reverse grid race of the weekend was switched from race two to race one, with the length of race two being increased by one lap.
• A new qualifying time trial format was introduced for manufacturers, titled Manufacturers Against the Clock (MAC3), to be held at the end of the regular three-part qualifying session.
• Compensation weight for the most successful car was increased to 80 kg.

References

1. 2016 Sporting regulations – FIA World Touring Car Championship
2. Klein, Jamie (6 December 2015). "Huff expecting major step from Lada in 2016". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
3. "Lada confirms its 2016 WTCC driver line-up". TouringCarTimes (Mediaempire Stockholm AB). 2 February 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
4. "20 car entry announced for the 2016 World Touring Car Championship season". TouringCarTimes (Mediaempire Stockholm AB). 2 March 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
5. "Honda sign Rob Huff, Tiago Monteiro & Norbert Michelisz for 2016". TouringCarTimes (Mediaempire Stockholm AB). 13 January 2016.
6. "Citroën to finish its WTCC programme at the end of 2016". TouringCarTimes (Mediaempire Stockholm AB). 19 November 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
7. "Volvo announce multi-year WTCC programme with the S60 Polestar TC1". TouringCarTimes (Mediaempire Stockholm AB). 13 October 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
8. "Thed Björk and Fredrik Ekblom confirmed as Volvo drivers for 2016". TouringCarTimes (Mediaempire Stockholm AB). 15 December 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
9. "Sébastien Loeb Racing could run three cars in 2016". TouringCarTimes (Mediaempire Stockholm AB). 25 November 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
10. "Tom Chilton signs with Sébastien Loeb Racing for 2016 WTCC". TouringCarTimes (Mediaempire Stockholm AB). 4 February 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
11. "Grégoire Demoustier joins Sébastien Loeb Racing for 2016". TouringCarTimes (Mediaempire Stockholm AB). 3 December 2015. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
12. Hudson, Neil (8 April 2016). "James Thompson makes WTCC return with Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet". TouringCarTimes (Mediaempire Stockholm AB). Retrieved 8 April 2016.
13. "John Filippi present sur la grille du WTCC 2016". Oscaro (Twitter Inc.). 9 February 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
14. "Ferenc Ficza and Daniel Nagy confirmed for Zengo". TouringCarTimes (Mediaempire Stockholm AB). 29 March 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
15. "Nika Racing unveil new colours and intentions for 2016". TouringCarTimes (Mediaempire Stockholm AB). 10 December 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
16. "FIA confirms details of the 2016 WTCC calendar". TouringCarTimes (Mediaempire Stockholm AB). 2 December 2015. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
17. Allen, Peter (8 January 2016). "Dutch F4 concept to form part of SMP series from 2016". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
18. "WTCC 2016 calendar adjusted". World Touring Car Championship. 9 February 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
19. Abbott, Andrew (2 December 2015). "Sporting regulations tweaked for the 2016 WTCC season". TouringCars.Net. Retrieved 2 December 2015.

External links

• Official website of the World Touring Car Championship