The FIA WTCC is about to resume after a one month break following the cancellation of the second event of the season that was due to take place at Puebla, Mexico, on April 21st.
The 3rd and 4th rounds of the season will be held on May 1st in Morocco, on Marrakech’s street circuit that will host the championship for the second consecutive time.
The 4.5-km racetrack traced out in the hotel district of Agdal, which lies only a few chilometres South of the Medina, Marrakech’s historical centre, has been slightly modified compared to last year. This has made it possible to get the Grade 2 FIA homologation in order to host the FIA Formula 2 Championship that will complete the weekend’s programme.
In 2009 the WTCC Race of Morocco brought back international racing to North Africa fifty years after the last Formula One Moroccan Grand Prix was held at Casablanca in 1958.
Those races marked the first successes for the new Chevrolet Cruze car. After claiming pole position on Saturday, Rob Huff won the first race from the SEAT cars of Gabriele Tarquini and Jordi Gené. In the second race Nicola Larini scored Chevrolet’s second victory of the day, crossing the line with a slim margin on Yvan Muller’s SEAT and Huff.