The new-for-2014 World Touring Car Championship machines have been testing in Valencia this week, with the FIA revealing a 22-car entry list for the new season.
The Citroen C-Elysse and Honda Civic continued their development at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit and were joined for the first time by the Chevrolet Cruze built by RML to the new TC1 regulations.
TC1 cars make up 16 of the full-time entries for 2014, with a further eight previous-generation cars being entered in the TC2 category.
Three Citroens will be entered on a full-time basis for Yvan Muller, Sebastien Loeb and Jose Maria Lopez, while Ma Qing Hua will drive a fourth car in five rounds later in the campaign. The Chinese driver joined rally legend Loeb behind the wheel in Spain this week.
Honda have rebuilt the Civic to the new regulations and produced four examples for the 2014 season. Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro continue for the official Castrol Honda team while Norbert Michelisz is back for Zengo Motorsport. Joining the Honda fold for this season are Mehdi Bennani and Proteam Racing.
Photo Credit: Honda
RML are building six TC1 versions of the Chevrolet Cruze that has won the last four drivers’ titles. The first two of these were in action in Valencia in the hands of Tom Chilton and Hugo Valente. They will be joined by Tom Coronel and Dusan Borkovic at ROAL Motorsport and Campos Racing respectively, while Rene Munnich and Gianni Morbidelli will line up for All-Iknl.com Munnich Motorsport.
The TC1 entries are completed by three cars from Lada Sport Lukoil, driven by Rob Huff, James Thompson and Mikhail Kozlovskiy. Although absent from Valencia, the team was in action at Magny-Cours last week with the new Granta WTCC.
In TC2, two BMWs have been entered by Liqui Moly Team Engstler – one for team owner and series regular Franz Engstler and one for a yet-to-be-announced driver.
There are also three SEAT Leons from Campos. Corsican John Filippi has been named as the first driver for those, and was also in action in Valencia.
Completing the entry list is Nika Racing, who ran a Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T last year.
Mike Earle’s Onyx Race Engineering project has informed that the FIA that it will not compete in the 2014 season as planned.
Photo Credit: FIA WTCC
