Route to Okayama, Japan

The 19th and 20th rounds of the FIA WTCC will take place on October 31st at Okayama International Circuit, Japan.

This is the third time the championship has visited this demanding racetrack that winds up among the green hills of the Honshu island and hosted the Pacific Formula 1 Grand Prix in 1994 and 1995.

Very wet weather plagued both the 2008 and 2009 events, however this did not prevent exciting races and a large attendance.
Incidents on the wet track and safety car interventions have been standard features in the previous year’s races. In 2008 pole sitter Augusto Farfus and Gabriele Tarquini were involved in a first turn incident at the start of the first race. The year after Tarquini lost his lead driving wide when Race
1 took the start behind the safety car.

SEAT won both races in 2008, with Rickard Rydell’s León TDI and Tom Coronel’s petrol-powered León. The latter became the first (and only so far) non factory driver to win a WTCC race.

Last year BMW drivers made a double, with Andy Priaulx and Augusto Farfus claiming one victory apiece.