The 2012 FIA WTCC Race of China was the penultimate round of the

2012 World Touring Car Championship season The 2012 World Touring Car Championship season was the ninth season of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, and the eighth since its 2005 return. The championship, which was open to Super 2000 cars, began with the Race of Italy at Monza on ...

and the second running of the

FIA WTCC Race of China The FIA WTCC Race of China is a round of the World Touring Car Championship currently held at the Shanghai International Circuit located in Shanghai, China. The 2011 round was first announced to be held at the Guangdong International Circuit, but ...

. It was held on 4 November 2012 at the

Shanghai International Circuit The Shanghai International Circuit () is a motorsport race track, situated in the Jiading District, Shanghai. The circuit is best known as the venue for the annual Chinese Grand Prix which was hosted from 2004 to 2019 and was scheduled again fro ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

for the first time, as the previous year's race was held at the nearby

Shanghai Tianma Circuit Shanghai Tianma Circuit () is a permanent racing circuit located at the junction of A30 motorway and Shenzhuan Road, in Sheshan, Songjiang District, Shanghai, People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China ( ...

. Both races were won by

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

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 ...

winning race one and

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 ...

winning race two.

Background

Following the previous round in

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 ...

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 ...

and

were tied at the top of the drivers' championship on 345 points.

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 ...

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. Macanese driver

Alex Liu The Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars (IFCSS) was founded on August 1, 1989, when over 1000 Chinese student representatives from more than 200 Chinese Students and Scholars Association in major U.S. universities held their ...

joined Liqui Moly Team Engstler to drive their naturally aspirated BMW 320si. Tom Boardman was the only entry for Special Tuning Racing after the team were unable to find a driver for their second car. 2009

British Touring Car Championship The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA TOCA, formally trading as BARC (TOCA) Ltd, is an organiser of motorsport events in ...

champion

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 ...

returned to the WTCC with Team Aviva-Cofco who were running a Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T. French SEAT León Supercopa driver

Hugo Valente Hugo Valente (born 17 June 1992) is a French former auto racing driver. He raced in the World Touring Car Championship for SUNRED Engineering, Campos Racing and the Lada factory team having made his debut in the series at the 2012 FIA WTCC Rac ...

would drive for SUNRED Engineering in a SUNRED SR León 1.6T while

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 ...

returned to the championship to drive a latest specification SEAT León WTCC for SUNRED under the SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED banner. Son Veng Racing Team entered a Honda Accord Euro R for Kelvin Leong and Look Fong Racing Team ran a naturally aspirated Chevrolet Cruze LT for Eric Kwong.

China Dragon Racing Teamwork Motorsport 捷凱車隊 is a racing team which was founded in Hong Kong in 1999. The team works with engineers and engineers from all around the world, with drivers such as 2012 World Touring Car Championship, WTCC champion Rob Huff and d ...

entered a

Chevrolet Lacetti The Daewoo Lacetti is a compact car manufactured and marketed globally by GM Korea since 2002. The first-generation Lacetti was available as a four-door sedan and five-door station wagon, styled by Pininfarina—and five-door hatchback styled b ...

for

Felipe De Souza Filipe Clemente de Souza (born 26 October 1976) is a Macanese race driver. He has competed in the Macau Hotel Fortuna Trophy from 2000 to 2003 with a best finish of fourth in 2003. Since 2003 he has been competing in the Macau Touring Car Champio ...

and a Chevrolet Cruze LT for

Kin Veng Ng Kin Veng Ng (born 12 September 1968) is a Macanese racing driver currently competing in the Macau Touring Car Championship. He is a former World Touring Car Championship driver, who made his debut in 2012. Racing career Ng began his career in ...

Report

Free Practice

Alex MacDowall Alexander "Alex" Hay MacDowall (born 22 January, 1991) is a British auto racing driver. He is currently competing in the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship season for Aston Martin Racing. Racing career Early career MacDowall was born in Car ...

set the fastest time in Friday testing ahead of the works

drivers. Turkington set the fifth fastest time on his return to racing, his first time in a front wheel drive car since 2006.

could only manage a time that could only get him up to eleventh. It was Turkington who was quickest in Saturday's first free practice session in the Team Aviva-Cofco Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T, he set the time early and it went unbeaten for the rest of the 30-minute session.

Pepe Oriola Josep "Pepe" Oriola Vila (born 9 July 1994) is a Spanish racing driver. He became the youngest driver to race in the World Touring Car Championship when he competed in the 2011 season. Oriola is not only the youngest driver to start a WTCC race ...

brought out the red flag two minutes before the end of the session when he stopped his car on the start-finish straight; fellow

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), ...

driver Fredy Barth was unable to run in the session. Menu was on top in free practice two in his Chevrolet, the works trio having spent the session swapping fastest times. Independents' leader Michelisz was fifth fastest, Turkington was eighth after topping the first session 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 ...

was fifteenth in the Honda Racing Team JAS

Honda Civic The is a series of automobiles manufactured by Honda since 1972. Since 2000, the Civic has been categorized as a compact car, while previously it occupied the subcompact class. , the Civic is positioned between the Honda Fit/City and Honda Acc ...

Qualifying

Menu claimed his third consecutive pole position of the year, with title rivals Muller second and Huff fourth. Michelisz was the leading independent driver in third. Turkington was fifth on his return to the WTCC, putting ahead of the works Chevrolet trio for race two. A set up change for

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 ...

in Q2 put him only ninth fastest but with the benefit of a front row start in race two. Barth was 12th on his return, while Monteiro could only manage 17th in the second event for the Honda Civic. James Nash was the quickest of the Team Aon pair in 15th, with teammate

Tom Chilton Thomas James Chilton (born 15 March 1985) is a British racing driver. He has spent most of his career competing in touring car racing; he was a former factory Vauxhall and Honda driver in the British Touring Car Championship, and currently driv ...

down in 22nd ahead of series debutant

. Liu failed to set a time within the 107% time in his naturally aspirated BMW 320si but was later allowed to race by the stewards.

Warm-Up

Huff led a Chevrolet 1–2–3 in the Sunday morning warm up ahead of Muller and Turkington. Independents' points leader Michelisz was fourth and pole sitter Menu was fifth. Liu beached his BMW 320si in the gravel with five minutes to go.

Race One

Menu completed a lights to flag victory ahead of Huff but teammate and championship leader Muller retired on the first lap with broken rear suspension. The breakage came in a second corner incident which also saw MacDowall, Turkington, Oriola,

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 ...

and

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 ...

involved in a pile up. Michelisz was issued with a drive through penalty on lap five at a time when there was plenty of action in the midfield. Turkington had dropped to the back of the field on the opening lap but by the end of the race had climbed back up to eighth. Second place for Huff and a non-finish for Muller handed Huff the championship lead. After the race, Valente, Nash, Boardman, Monteiro and Barth were issued with 30-second time penalties for missing the chicane to avoid a pileup, dropping the latter three out of the points.

Charles Ng Charles Chi-tat Ng (born Ng Chitat) ( zh, t=吳志達, j=ng4 zi3 daat6; born 24 December 1960) is a convicted Hong Kong-born serial killer who committed numerous crimes in the United States. He is believed to have raped, tortured, and murdered ...

picked up his first point of the season as a result.

Race Two

Coronel led away from the start with D'Aste jumping up to second after a slow start for Tarquini. The drivers' door on the

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 ...

car of D'Aste was hanging loose and on the third lap he was an easy target for the

trio led by Menu, Coronel was passed a lap later. Turkington was once again fighting back from near the back and he was back up to tenth by lap 6 at the expense of

Alberto Cerqui Alberto Cerqui (born 20 June 1992, in Brescia) is an Italian racing driver. He has competed in the World Touring Car Championship. Career Single seaters After winning titles in karting, Cerqui graduated to single-seater racing in 2009, racing in ...

. Menu was leading until the start of lap 8 when Muller out-braked himself and the pair tangled, half-spinning Menu and allowing Huff to pass both of them to take the lead. Muller was second until he was passed by Menu a lap later, the pair swapped places again on lap 11 at the final hairpin. Huff won the race ahead of Muller and Menu with D'Aste the independent winner in sixth. Turkington had climbed up to eighth by the finish. Muller was given a retrospective drive through penalty after the race, dropping him to 13th in the classification.

Results

Qualifying

*Bold denotes ''Pole position'' for second race.

Race 1

*Bold denotes ''Fastest lap''.

Race 2

*Bold denotes ''Fastest lap''.

Standings after the round

;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

{{WTCC race, Name_of_race = FIA WTCC Race of China , Year_of_race = 2012 , Previous_race_in_season = 2012 FIA WTCC Race of Japan , Next_race_in_season = 2012 Guia Race of Macau , Previous_year's_race = 2011 FIA WTCC Race of China , Next_year's_race =

2013 FIA WTCC Race of China The 2013 FIA WTCC Race of China was the eleventh round of the 2013 World Touring Car Championship season and the third running of the FIA WTCC Race of China. It was held on 3 November 2013 at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, China. ...

Race of China