Hiroki Yoshimoto, Fredy Barth and Andre Couto will all be back behind the wheel of a Sunred-prepared SEAT Leon between now and the end of the 2012 World Touring Car Championship season.
Former GP2 racer Yoshimoto made his WTCC debut with the Spanish squad at his home event at Suzuka last season and will now make a repeat appearance at the Japanese race weekend on 21 October driving the same Leon powered by Sunred’s 1.6 litre engine that has been raced by Tiago Monteiro so far this season. Monteiro makes his first appearance with the factory Honda team at Suzuka.
Macau local Couto will take over the Sunred-powered machine for his home event. The winner of the Formula 3 Grand Prix in 2000, he has entered the WTCC round every time since it began in 2005 and driven SEATs for the past three years.
Barth will make his return for the events in Shanghai and Macau in a SEAT Leon WTCC model – powered by SEAT’s turbo engine but run by Sunred under the same SEAT Swiss Racing banner he used in his full-season campaigns in 2010 and 2011. His Macau trip last year came to an early end after a fiery crash in practice.
“Macau is a unique racetrack,” said Barth. “I have mixed feelings of hate and love. I love it because is challenging, but on the other hand I never managed to finish a race there. It will be difficult trying to go fast despite last year’s accident. But this is part of being a professional driver and for sure I have to settle the score with the Guia circuit.
“Coming back to WTCC was my goal. And I am delighted we managed to achieve it. I will do my best and I know that my car, powered by the new SEAT turbo engine, is very competitive. Let’s wait and see.”
In addition to Sunred’s additions, there are as usual a number of local entrants for Macau. The China Dragon Racing outfit will enter three Chevrolet Lacettis for Felipe De Souza, who entered last year’s races in a Corsa Motorsport Lacetti, as well as Kin Veng Ng and Celio Alves Dias.
De Souza and Mak will be back for more after their WTCC debuts at Macau last year – Photo Credit: WTCC Media
Joseph Rosa Merszei will drive a Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si for the fourth consecutive year, Mak Ka Lok will be in a RPM Racing Team BMW like last year while Henry Ho Wai Kun will enter his own BMW after previous appearances in 2009 and 2010.
Finally, Eurico De Jesus will make his WTCC debut in a privately-entered Honda Accord Type-R.
| FIA WTCC Guia Race of Macau – Provisional Entry List | |||
| No. | Driver | Team | Car |
| 1 | Yvan Muller | Chevrolet | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T |
| 2 | Robert Huff | Chevrolet | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T |
| 3 | Gabriele Tarquini | Lukoil Racing Team | SEAT León WTCC |
| 4 | Aleksei Dudukalo | Lukoil Racing Team | SEAT León WTCC |
| 5 | Norbert Michelisz | Zengö Motorsport | BMW 320 TC |
| 6 | Franz Engstler | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | BMW 320 TC |
| 7 | Charles Kaki Ng | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | BMW 320 TC |
| 8 | Alain Menu | Chevrolet | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T |
| 11 | Alex MacDowall | bamboo-engineering | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T |
| 14 | James Nash | Team Aon | Ford Forcus S2000 TC |
| 15 | Tom Coronel | ROAL Motorsport | BMW 320 TC |
| 16 | Alberto Cerqui | ROAL Motorsport | BMW 320 TC |
| 18 | Tiago Monteiro | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC |
| 20 | Darryl O’Young | bamboo-engineering | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T |
| 22 | Tom Boardman | Special Tuning Racing | SEAT León WTCC |
| 23 | Tom Chilton | Team Aon | Ford Forcus S2000 TC |
| 25 | Mehdi Bennani | Proteam Racing | BMW 320 TC |
| 26 | Stefano D’aste | Wiechers-Sport | BMW 320 TC |
| 32 | TBA | Special Tuning Racing | SEAT León WTCC |
| 46 | Fredy Barth | Sunred Engineering | SEAT León WTCC |
| 50 | Felipe C. De Souza | China Dragon Racing | Chevrolet Lacetti |
| 51 | Kin Veng Ng | China Dragon Racing | Chevrolet Lacetti |
| 53 | Celio Alves Dias | China Dragon Racing | Chevrolet Lacetti |
| 66 | André Couto | Tuenti Racing Team | Sunred SR León WTCC |
| 74 | Pepe Oriola | Tuenti Racing Team | SEAT León WTCC |
| 77 | Joseph Rosa Merszei | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | BMW 320si |
| 78 | Mak Ka Lok | RPM Racing Team | BMW 320si |
| 80 | Henry Ho Wai Kun | Ho Wai Kun | BMW 320si |
| 81 | Eurico De Jesus | Eurico De Jesus | Honda Accord Type-R |
| 88 | Fernando Monje | Tuenti Racing Team | SEAT León WTCC |
