2017 World Touring Car Championship

The 2017 World Touring Car Championship^[1] is the fourteenth season of the FIA World Touring Car Championship,^[2] and the thirteenth since the series was revived in 2005. For this season, there are a few rules changes.^[3]

Teams and drivers

Manufacturer TC1 entries
Team	Car	No.	Drivers	Rounds
Honda Racing Team JAS[4]	Honda Civic WTCC[4]	5	Norbert Michelisz[4]	1–6
		18	Tiago Monteiro[4]	1–6
		34	Ryo Michigami[4]	1–6
Polestar Cyan Racing[5]	Volvo S60 Polestar TC1[5]	61	Néstor Girolami[5]	1–6
		62	Thed Björk[5]	1–6
		63	Nick Catsburg[5]	1–6
Independent TC1 entries
Team	Car	No.	Drivers	Rounds
Sébastien Loeb Racing[6]	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC[6]	3	Tom Chilton[6]	1–6
		25	Mehdi Bennani[7]	1–6
		27	John Filippi[8]	1–6
Zengő Motorsport[9]	Honda Civic WTCC[9]	8	Aurélien Panis[9]	1–5
		66	Zsolt Szabó[10]	6
		99	Dániel Nagy[11]	1–6
ROAL Motorsport[12]	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1[12]	9	Tom Coronel[12]	1–6
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport[13]	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC[13]	12	Robert Huff[13]	1–6
RC Motorsport[14]	Lada Vesta WTCC[15]	22	Manuel Fernandes[16]	5
		24	Kevin Gleason[15]	2–6
		68	Yann Ehrlacher[14]	1–6
Campos Racing[17]	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1[17]	86	Esteban Guerrieri[17]	1–6

Team changes

• 2016 was the last season in WTCC as factory team for Citroën^[18] and Lada.^[19]
• Volvo will expand its campaign to three full-time entries from two full-time entries. All the three cars will be entered by Polestar Cyan Racing.^[5]
• Münnich Motorsport switched to a Citroën C-Elysée WTCC for the 2017 season after racing with a Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 for the last three seasons.^[13]
• RC Motorsport entered the Championship with two Lada Vesta WTCC ex Lada Sport cars.^[14]

Driver changes

• Four time champion Yvan Muller retired after 2016.^[20]
• Three time champion José María López left WTCC to join Toyota's WEC team^[21] in conjunction with a Formula E programme.^[22]
• Following the withdrawal of Lada, Gabriele Tarquini was unable to find a seat and left the series to join Hyundai's development of the i30 TCR.^[23]
• Following the withdrawal of Lada, Hugo Valente left WTCC for TCR.^[24]
• Fredrik Ekblom left Polestar Cyan Racing and returned to the STCC with Kristoffersson Motorsport.^[25]
• Following the withdrawal of Lada, Nick Catsburg joined Polestar Cyan Racing.^[5]
• After competing in two rounds in 2015 and one round in 2016, Néstor Girolami will make his full-time World Touring Car Championship debut in 2017, racing for Polestar Cyan Racing.^[5]
• Ryo Michigami joined Honda Racing Team JAS for a full-season campaign after making his World Touring Car Championship debut at his home race in Japan during the 2016 season.^[4]
• Robert Huff left the Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team to join Münnich Motorsport.^[13]
• John Filippi left Campos Racing to join Sébastien Loeb Racing.^[8]
• Aurélien Panis entered the series, driving for Zengő Motorsport.^[9]
• Yann Ehrlacher entered the series, driving for RC Motorsport.^[14]
• Kevin Gleason entered the series, driving for RC Motorsport.^[26]

Rule changes

More points will be awarded for the winners of the Manufacturers Against the Clock (MAC3) team time trials (12 rather than 10), optional rallycross-style "joker laps" will be introduced in street-circuits, the second or "main race" on a race weekend will be increased in length to two laps longer than the opening races (with the exception of the Race of Germany at Nürburgring Nordschleife), the points scoring structure will be revised with more points awarded in the main race, and the length of race meetings will be reduced to two days, with testing on Fridays to be abolished and the Free Practice 1 and 2 sessions being increased from 30 to 45 minutes to compensate.^[3]

Calendar

The Monza and Macau circuits return to the WTCC, whereas France, Russia and Slovakia are dropped.

Rnd.	Race	Race Name	Circuit	Date	Supporting
1	1	AFRIQUIA Race of Morocco	Circuit International Automobile Moulay El Hassan	9 April	stand-alone event
	2
2	3	OSCARO Race of Italy	Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza	30 April	European Touring Car Cup
	4
3	5	JVCKENWOOD Race of Hungary	Hungaroring	14 May
	6
4	7	Race of Germany	Nürburgring Nordschleife	27 May	European Touring Car Cup Nürburgring 24 Hours
	8
5	9	Race of Portugal	Circuito Internacional de Vila Real	25 June	European Touring Car Cup
	10
6	11	Race of Argentina	Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo	16 July	stand-alone event
	12
7	13	Race of China	Ningbo International Circuit	15 October
	14
8	15	JVCKENWOOD Race of Japan	Twin Ring Motegi	29 October
	16
9	17	JVCKENWOOD Race of Macau	Guia Circuit, Macau	19 November	TCR China Series China Touring Car Championship
	18
10	19	Race of Qatar	Losail International Circuit	1 December	stand-alone event
	20

Results and standings

Compensation weights

• base weight of 1,100 kg

Races

Race	Race Name	MAC3 winner	Pole Position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team	Winning manufacturer	Independent winner	Report
1	Race of Morocco	Volvo		Dániel Nagy	Esteban Guerrieri	Campos Racing	Chevrolet	Esteban Guerrieri	Report
2			Tiago Monteiro	Esteban Guerrieri	Tiago Monteiro	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	Tom Chilton
3	Race of Italy	Volvo		Thed Björk	Tom Chilton	Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën	Tom Chilton	Report
4			Thed Björk	Thed Björk	Thed Björk	Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo	Robert Huff
5	Race of Hungary	Honda		Esteban Guerrieri	Tiago Monteiro	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	Tom Chilton	Report
6			Robert Huff	Robert Huff	Mehdi Bennani	Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën	Mehdi Bennani
7	Race of Germany	Volvo		Tom Chilton	Thed Björk	Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo	Mehdi Bennani	Report
8			Norbert Michelisz	Nick Catsburg	Nick Catsburg	Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo	Robert Huff
9	Race of Portugal	Volvo		Norbert Michelisz	Mehdi Bennani	Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën	Mehdi Bennani	Report
10			Norbert Michelisz	Robert Huff	Norbert Michelisz	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	Robert Huff
11	Race of Argentina	Volvo		Thed Björk	Yann Ehrlacher	RC Motorsport	Lada	Yann Ehrlacher	Report
12			Nick Catsburg	Nick Catsburg	Norbert Michelisz	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	Esteban Guerrieri
13	Race of China								Report
14
15	Race of Japan								Report
16
17	Guia Race of Macau								Report
18
19	Race of Qatar								Report
20

Championship standings

Drivers' championship

Pos. Driver MAR ITA HUN GER PRT ARG CHN JPN MAC QAT  Pts.  1 Tiago Monteiro 6 11 3 22 1 5 15 134 2 34 5 23 200 2 Thed Björk 2 7 5 11 NC 7 1 45 3 23 6 35 188 3 Norbert Michelisz 5 23 NC 6 NC 4 7 21 7 11 14 12 171 4 Mehdi Bennani 3 65 NC 7 7 12 2 6 1 7 2 5 164 5 Nick Catsburg 4 4 8 44 5 24 6 12 5 45 15 161 159 6 Tom Chilton 7 5 1 Ret 2 3 4 5 4 6 4 7 147 7 Robert Huff Ret 94 2 33 3 101 3 33 6 52 7 9 135 8 Esteban Guerrieri 1 13 4 8 6 63 5 8 Ret 8 3 44 113 9 Néstor Girolami 9 32 NC 55 4 Ret5 Ret DNS 8 9 16 6 69 10 Yann Ehrlacher Ret 12 11 9 8 8 9 9 9 11 1 8 45 11 Tom Coronel 8 8 6 11 9 9 8 7 DNS DNS 9 10 34 12 John Filippi NC 11 7 10 14† 11 10 10 10 10 8 12 15 13 Kevin Gleason 9 13 12 12 12 11 Ret 12 11 13 2 14 Ryo Michigami Ret 10 Ret Ret 11 13 11 Ret Ret 13 10 11 2 15 Aurélien Panis 10 Ret DNS 12 10 14 13 12 11 16† 2 16 Dániel Nagy 11† 14 10 Ret 13 Ret 14 Ret 13 14 12 14 1 17 Manuel Fernandes 12 15 0 18 Zsolt Szabó 13 15 0

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:

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	MAR			ITA			HUN			GER			PRT			ARG			CHN			JPN			MAC			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
1	Honda	2	3	11	2	1	22	1	1	23	2	3	21	2	1	11	2	1	12													574
			4	23		4	44		4	34		4	43		4	33		3	23
2	Volvo Polestar	1	1	32	1	2	11	2	2	11	1	1	12	1	2	22	1	2	31													566
			2	44		3	33		3	42		2	34		3	44		4	44

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 qualification, 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:

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 another for the fastest lap in each race.

Pos. Driver MAR ITA HUN GER PRT ARG CHN JPN MAC QAT  Pts.  1 Mehdi Bennani 2 2 NC 2 4 1 1 3 1 3 2 2 87 2 Tom Chilton 3 1 1 Ret 1 2 3 2 2 2 4 3 87 3 Robert Huff Ret 4 2 1 2 6 2 1 3 1 5 5 87 4 Esteban Guerrieri 1 7 3 3 3 3 4 5 Ret 4 3 1 70 5 Yann Ehrlacher Ret 6 8 4 5 4 6 6 4 6 1 4 47 6 Tom Coronel 4 3 4 6 6 5 5 4 DNS DNS 7 6 40 7 John Filippi NC 5 5 5 10 7 7 7 5 5 6 7 31 8 Kevin Gleason 6 8 8 8 8 8 Ret 7 8 8 12 9 Aurélien Panis 5 Ret DNS 7 7 9 9 9 6 10† 11 10 Dániel Nagy 6† 8 7 Ret 9 Ret 10 Ret 8 8 9 9 9 11 Manuel Fernandes 7 9 2 12 Zsolt Szabó 10 10 0

Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

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

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 car from each team scoring points in each race on the following scale: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.

Pos.	Team	MAR		ITA		HUN		GER		PRT		ARG		CHN		JPN		MAC		QAT		Pts.
1	Sébastien Loeb Racing	2	1	1	2	1	1	1	2	1	2	2	2									108
2	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Ret	3	2	1	2	5	2	1	2	1	4	4									82
3	Campos Racing	1	5	3	3	3	2	3	4	Ret	3	3	1									73
4	RC Motorsport	Ret	4	5	4	4	3	5	5	3	4	1	3									60
5	ROAL Motorsport	3	2	4	5	5	4	4	3	DNS	DNS	5	5									51
6	Zengő Motorsport	4	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	4	5	6	6									41

See also

• 2017 European Touring Car Cup

References

External links

• Official website of the World Touring Cars Championship