The 2010 FIA WTCC Race of Japan (formally the 2010 FIA WTCC Kenwood Race of Japan) was the tenth round of the

2010 World Touring Car Championship season The 2010 World Touring Car Championship season was the seventh season of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, and the sixth since its 2005 return. It began with the Race of Brazil at Curitiba on 7 March and ended with the Guia Race of Macau at ...

and the third running of the

FIA WTCC Race of Japan The FIA WTCC Race of Japan is a round of the World Touring Car Championship, which is held at Suzuka Circuit in Japan. It used to be held at the Okayama International Circuit and at Twin Ring Motegi. The race was first run in 2008, with Rickard ...

. It was held at the

Okayama International Circuit Okayama International Circuit (岡山国際サーキット), formerly known as TI Circuit Aida (TIサーキット英田) before 2005, is a private motorsport race track in Mimasaka, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. TI was the abbreviation of "Tanak ...

near Mimasaka,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

on 31 October 2010. The first race was won by

Robert Huff Robert Peter "Rob" Huff (born 25 December 1979) is a British professional racing driver. He currently competes in the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) driving for Zengő Motorsport. He was the 2012 World Touring Car Championship champion and the ...

of Chevrolet RML and race two was won by

Colin Turkington Colin Henry Turkington (born 21 March 1982) is a British racing driver from Northern Ireland who competes in the British Touring Car Championship for Team BMW. He is a 4 time BTCC champion, winning the title in 2009, 2014, 2018 and 2019, havi ...

of Team Aviva-COFCO. The final results were not released until two weeks later due to an appeal by Chevrolet RML against the use of sequential gearboxes by

BMW Team RBM Racing Bart Mampaey (formerly Juma Racing) is a racing team based in Mechelen, Belgium that runs the BMW Team RBM operation in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. Previously the team had been racing in the European Touring Car Championship and World ...

. An

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backst ...

investigation found the use of the gearboxes to be illegal and both of the factory BMW drivers were stripped of all points earned at the event, meaning

Augusto Farfus Augusto Farfus Jr. (born 3 September 1983) is a Brazilian professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver. He lives in Monaco. Early years Born in Curitiba, Farfus first tasted racing in minibike races and won the local championshi ...

was stripped of his race two victory and the win was handed to Turkington. The decision also resulted in

Yvan Muller Yvan Muller (born 16 August 1969 in Altkirch, Haut-Rhin) is a French auto racing driver most noted for success in touring car racing. He is a four-time World Touring Car Champion, winning the title in 2008 with SEAT, in 2010 and 2011 with Chevro ...

of Chevrolet RML securing his second world drivers' championship, his first with Chevrolet.

Background

After the Race of Spain, Muller was leading the drivers' championship with now only

Andy Priaulx Andrew Graham Priaulx, MBE ( born 8 August 1974) is a British professional racing driver from Guernsey. In 2019 he raced for Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK in the FIA World Endurance Championship, and Cyan Racing Lynk & Co in the FIA World Touring ...

Gabriele Tarquini Gabriele Tarquini (born 2 March 1962) is an Italian racing driver. He participated in 78 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on May 3, 1987. He scored a single championship point, and holds the record for the most failed attempts to qualify. He ...

and Huff able to beat him to the title. Sergio Hernández was leading the

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

Independents' Trophy.

SEAT León Eurocup The SEAT León Eurocup was a one-make racing, one-make touring car racing series which uses SEAT Leóns, run by SEAT Sport. Background The championship began in 2008, making its debut at Circuit de Valencia, as a support series for the World To ...

driver

Michaël Rossi Michaël Rossi (born 12 April 1988 in Chambéry) is a French racing driver. Career After racing in karting, Rossi raced in the Championnat de France Formula Renault 2.0 in 2006 driving for both SG Formula and Hexis Racing. However he only score ...

made his

World Touring Car Championship The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sin ...

debut with

SR-Sport Sunred (short for ''Sun Race Engineering Development S.L.'') is a Spanish-based auto racing team and constructor. They are best known for competing in the World Touring Car Championship. Racing History While in the past Sunred had participated in ...

, replacing regular driver

Jordi Gené Jordi Gené Guerrero (born 5 December 1970) is a racing driver who competed in the World Touring Car Championship between 2005 and 2010. His younger brother, Marc is also a ex-racing driver and is currently a Brand Ambassador for the Scuderia Ferr ...

for event. Liqui Moly Team Engstler added a third car for local driver Yoshihiro Ito, joining

Franz Engstler Franz Engstler (born 25 July 1961) is a German auto racing driver. Racing career Born in Kempten im Allgäu, Engstler started racing in the European Hillclimbing Championship and the German Long Distance Cup, which he won. From 1988 he competed ...

and Andrei Romanov.

Wiechers-Sport Wiechers-Sport is a German auto racing team which is based in Nienburg. The team was first established in 1999, competing in German touring cars. The team currently competes in the World Touring Car Championship. World Touring Car Championship B ...

expanded to two cars to run

Masataka Yanagida Masataka Yanagida (born 4 June 1979, in Tokyo) is a Japanese racing driver. Career The son of successful racing driver Haruhito Yanagida, a runner-up in the Japanese Touring Car Championship, Masataka began his career in karting in 1993. In 199 ...

in addition to full-time driver

Mehdi Bennani Mehdi Bennani ( ar, مهدي بناني, born 25 August 1983) is a Moroccan racing driver who currently competes in the TCR Europe with Sébastien Loeb Racing. He was TCR Europe Champion in 2020 with the Belgian team Comtoyou Racing. He became ...

Scuderia Proteam Motorsport Proteam Motorsport is an Italian auto racing team based in Arezzo that was set up by former driver Valmiro Presenzini in 1997. They are best known for their efforts in the FIA World Touring Car Championship. Their time in the WTCC has seen them be ...

added Japanese racer

Nobuteru Taniguchi is a Japanese racing driver and drifting driver who currently competes in Super GT and D1 Grand Prix. Taniguchi is commonly nicknamed "NOB" (first three letters from his name, meaning "No One Better") or "The Pimp" as a reference to his S15 Silv ...

and Taiwanese driver

Kevin Chen Kevin Nai Chia Chen (Traditional Chinese: 陳乃嘉; born April 2, 1979 in Taipei) is a Taiwanese racing driver, who obtained the first FIA A license by a Taiwanese driver. Career The Californian's career started in the United States as a club ra ...

. Turkington and West Surrey Racing returned to the championship, now racing under the Team Aviva–COFCO banner for the final two rounds of the season. Volvo Olsbergs Green Racing returned for their second event of the year with

Swedish Touring Car Championship Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) was a touring car racing series based in Sweden, but also with rounds in Norway. They began operating in 1996, heavily influenced by the British Touring Car Championship and the success of BTCC racing on Sw ...

runner–up

Robert Dahlgren Robert Dahlgren (born 1 December 1979 in Skellefteå) is a Swedish auto racing driver who currently competes for the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship. He previously competed in Australia and New Zealand for a single season in the V8 Superca ...

behind the wheel. Macanese driver

Henry Ho "Henry" Ho Wai Kun (, born January 12, 1982) is a racing driver from Macau. Career Ho won the Macau Touring Car Championship in 2005, 2008 and 2009.http://www.fiawtcc.com/Drivers_Details.asp?idDriver=61 Profile at fiawtcc.com He also won the ST ...

joined the grid with the Ho Kun Chei / Sports & You Asia team.

Report

Testing and free practice

Huff and Muller led a Chevrolet 1–2 in the test session on Friday with

Alain Menu Alain Menu (born 9 August 1963) is a Swiss racing driver who is currently working for Team BMR as a driving coach. He was one of the most successful touring car drivers of the 1990s, winning the prestigious British Touring Car Championship twice ...

in fourth separated from his teammates by the BMW of

bamboo-engineering Craft-Bamboo Racing is an auto racing team. It was founded in 2014 after the merger of Craft Racing from Hong Kong and Bamboo Engineering from the United Kingdom. Craft Racing was established by Frank Yu in 2009 and was a front running team in ...

Darryl O'Young Darryl Hayden O'Young () is a Canadian-born Hong Kong racing driver. Career Early career O'Young began racing in 1988 at the age of eight. Trained by his father he honed his driving skills in karting winning numerous championships. The highlight ...

in eighth was the fastest independent with returnee Dahlgren in ninth. Farfus topped the first free practice session on Saturday, half a second ahead of Dahlren's

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

. Menu was the leading Chevrolet in third with Huff fourth and

Norbert Michelisz Norbert Michelisz (born 8 August 1984) is a Hungarian auto racing driver and the 2019 winner of the World Touring Car Cup. Career Early career Michelisz was the 2006 Hungarian Suzuki Swift Cup champion, and in 2007 he won the Hungarian Ren ...

the fastest

SEAT A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair (furniture), ...

in fifth.

Kristian Poulsen Kristian Poulsen (born 18 November 1975) is a Danish auto racing driver, who currently competes in touring car racing. Career He made his debut in the FIA World Touring Car Championship in 2008 with a part season. For 2009 he will compete a ful ...

was the leading independent runner. SR–Sport driver

Tom Coronel Tom Romeo Coronel (born 5 April 1972) is a Dutch professional racing driver. Tom's twin brother Tim is also a racer, just like their father Tom Coronel Sr. His most important results are winning the Marlboro Masters of Formula 3 race in 1997, th ...

was fastest in free practice two with Huff second and

Tiago Monteiro Tiago Vagaroso da Costa Monteiro (; born 24 July 1976) is a Portuguese professional racing driver currently competing in the World Touring Car Cup, driving a Honda Civic TCR for Engstler Motorsport. He competed in Formula One between 2005 an ...

third. Engstler was the top independent driver.

Qualifying

Priaulx headed a BMW 1–2 in qualifying with RBM teammate Farfus starting alongside him on the front row. Turkington had set the pace in the first part of qualifying, beating the factory BMW pairing. All the championship contenders made it through to Q2 in addition to Turkington, Farfus, Michelisz, Engstler and debutant Rossi. Dahlgren was among those to drop out in Q1, while the Wiechers–Sport drivers had their times removed for accessing data from their car in parc ferme at the end of the session. At the end of Q2, Priaulx and Farfus had locked out the front row for BMW Team RBM with Huff the next of the title challengers in third. Turkington ended up fourth on his return to the WTCC ahead of Michelisz and Tarquini. Championship leader Muller was eighth while Rossi and Engstler rounded out the top ten.

Warm-Up

Menu was the fastest driver in Sunday morning's warm–up session with Monteiro second and Coronel third, pole sitter Priaulx was fourteenth. Dahlgren was unable to take part as he required an engine change, incurring a ten–place grid drop for race one.

Race One

The race started behind the safety car due to the severe wet conditions, Priaulx led away when the race was started on lap three. Huff passed Farfus immediately to take second place. Monteiro and Engstler slipped off the track at the first corner.

Fredy Barth Frédéric Nicolas "Fredy" Barth (born 5 December 1979 in Lucerne) is an auto racing driver from Switzerland. He currently drives in the World Touring Car Championship. Racing career Early years Barth started out in karting before stepping up to ...

and Poulsen clashed further around the lap, Poulsen spun and took

Stefano D'Aste Stefano D'Aste (born 26 February 1974 in Genoa) is an Italian auto racing driver. His early racing career included competing on motorcycles and the Monza International Rally. He has competed in the World Touring Car Championship between 2004 (wh ...

with him. Huff and he eventually passed Priaulx on lap five. Muller was climbing up from eight on grid and made his way up to third place by the end of the race. Farfus had dropped down to fourth and was engaged in a close battle with Tarquini, who on lap six slid into the gravel trap at Williams and returned to the track in eighth place with only minor damage. At the end of the race, Huff was first with Priaulx second and Muller third.

Yukinori Taniguchi is a Japanese businessperson and auto racing driver. He founded Yuke's, a video game developer company, in Sakai, Osaka in 1993. Early career As a child, Taniguchi became an enthusiastic arcade gamer, spending much time on early arcade games such ...

was the Yokohama Trophy winner in eleventh. The results of the successful appeal by Chevrolet to the FIA over the use of sequential gearboxes by the BMW Team RBM drivers meant Priaulx and Farfus were later disqualified. This promoted the bamboo–engineering drivers into the points with Yukinori Tanaguchi ending up ninth and O'Young tenth. Michelisz was promoted to third to take the first podium finish of his WTCC career.

Race Two

Michel Nykjær Michel Nykjær (born 17 September 1979) is a Danish auto racing driver. Nykjær is a two-time European Touring Car Cup winner. Career Early years Between 1989 and 1993 he spent his early racing years in karting. After a break, he returned to mo ...

started on pole position for race two and led until lap nine when he slid off the track. Tarquini took over the lead of the race but went straight on at the Hobbs turn two laps later and retired, putting him out of championship contention. Farfus then assumed the lead of the race. His teammate Priaulx had spun into retirement after three laps, Yokohama Trophy leader Hernández did likewise after eleven laps. At the end of the race, Farfus took the win with Turkington holding off Muller to second. Nykjær ended up seventh while O'Young in tenth was the independents' winner. After Chevrolet's appeal over the use of sequential gearboxes was taken into account and the BMW Team RBM drivers had been disqualified, Farfus lost the win and the victory was handed to Turkington, his first in the WTCC. Muller moved up to second and secured the drivers' championship title while Huff took the final podium position.

Results

Qualifying

Race 1

*Bold denotes ''Fastest lap''.

Race 2

*Bold denotes ''Fastest lap''.

Standings after the event

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Yokohama Independents' Trophy standings ;Manufacturers' Championship standings * Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of drivers' standings.

References

Results Booklet PDF at MST Systems

External links

World Touring Car Championship official website
{{WTCC race, Name_of_race = FIA WTCC Race of Japan , Year_of_race = 2010 , Previous_race_in_season =

2010 FIA WTCC Race of Spain The 2010 FIA WTCC Race of Spain (formally the 2010 FIA WTCC DHL Race of Spain) was the ninth round of the 2010 World Touring Car Championship season and the sixth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Spain. It was held at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo nea ...

, Next_race_in_season =

2010 Guia Race of Macau The 2010 Guia Race of Macau (formally the 2010 Guia Race of Macau, presented by Sociedade de Jogos de Macau) was the eleventh and final round of the 2010 World Touring Car Championship season and the sixth running of the Guia Race of Macau as a Wo ...

, Previous_year's_race =

2009 FIA WTCC Race of Japan The 2009 FIA WTCC Race of Japan (formally the 2009 FIA WTCC Kenwood Race of Japan) was the eleventh round of the 2009 World Touring Car Championship season and the second running of the FIA WTCC Race of Japan. It was held on 1 November 2009 at the ...

, Next_year's_race =

2011 FIA WTCC Race of Japan The 2011 FIA WTCC Race of Japan was the tenth round of the 2011 World Touring Car Championship season and the fourth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Japan. It was held on 23 October 2011 at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka City, Japan. The first ra ...