The 19th and 20th rounds of the FIA WTCC will take place at Suzuka, Japan next week. This is the fifth consecutive visit of the World Championship to the Country of the Rising Sun. And the second to the Suzuka International Circuit that celebrates its 50th anniversary since it was built according to Soichiro Honda’s will.
Unlike Formula One, that raced last week on the 5.8-km Grand Prix track, WTCC will run on the East Circuit that is 2.2-km long, but very fast. In terms of elapsed time, last year’s races were among the shortest ever in WTCC history.
With lap times barely exceeding the 54 seconds, the second race lasted only 21 minutes, while the first one had been four minutes longer because of a safety car intervention. For this reason it was decided to increase the race distance by four laps, from 23 to 27.
In 2011 Alain Menu (Chevrolet) and Tom Coronel (BMW) claimed one victory apiece in front of good crowd.