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 11 March and ended with the Guia Race of Macau at the Guia Circuit on 18 November, after twenty-four races. Robert Huff won the Drivers' Championship and Chevrolet won the Manufacturers' Championship.
Teams and drivers
The following teams and drivers contested the 2012 FIA World Touring Car Championship.
Driver changes
Changed Teams
Darryl O'Young moved from Bamboo Engineering to join Special Tuning Racing. However, in the tenth round of the championship, he re-joined Bamboo Engineering for the remainder of the season, taking over Pasquale Di Sabatino's car, after Di Sabbitino had been replaced by Michel Nykjær and Robb Holland for the previous two rounds in the championship. Michel Nykjær left the series to join Rickard Rydell in the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship with Chevrolet Motorsport Sweden. However at Curitiba he replaced Pasquale Di Sabatino at Bamboo Engineering.
Entering/Re-Entering WTCC
Former Formula Le Mans champion Andrea Barlesi will join the series with Sunred Engineering. He will be joined by former European F3 Open driver Fernando Monje. Tom Boardman will enter the series for his first full season campaign since 2009. Italian Superstars Series champion Alberto Cerqui will enter the series with ROAL Motorsport. Tom Chilton and James Nash will enter the series with Arena Motorsport. Pasquale Di Sabatino and Alex MacDowall will join the series with Bamboo Engineering, from Auto GP and the British Touring Car Championship respectively. James Thompson will return at selected races with TMS Sport. Gábor Wéber will enter the series with the Zengő Motorsport team, partnering countryman Norbert Michelisz. 2011 STCC champion Rickard Rydell returned to the series with Chevrolet Motorsport Sweden for one-off at Monza. After competing in one-off events, Charles Ng will participate full-time with Engstler Motorsport. Robb Holland joined Bamboo Engineering for the Sonoma round of the championship.
Leaving WTCC, excluding single-entry drivers
Robert Dahlgren left the series to join Polestar Racing in the TTA Racing Elite League. 2011 Yokohama trophy winner Kristian Poulsen announced that he was to retire from motor racing. Fredy Barth left the series due to financial reasons. Fabio Fabiani and Urs Sonderegger are competing in the European Touring Car Cup. Yukinori Taniguchi was left with no drive for the 2012 season. Javier Villa was expected to be driving the second Proteam BMW car, but due to sponsorship issues he was left without a drive, and switched to the Racecar Euro Series.
Calendar
Each meeting consists of two races of approx 50 km each.
Calendar changes
Numerous changes have been made to the 2012 calendar: The Race of Austria will make its debut in 2012 at the Salzburgring. The Race of Belgium, Race of UK, Race of Germany and the Race of the Czech Republic have all been discontinued. The Race of Brazil will not be the opening round of the season for the first time since its debut in 2006. The Race of China will move from the Shanghai Tianma Circuit to the Shanghai International Circuit. The Race of Italy will become the season opening event, with the Race of Spain being brought forward to an April date. The Race of Morocco returns to the calendar after a one-year absence. The Race of Slovakia will make its debut in 2012 at the Slovakiaring, replacing the proposed Race of Argentina. The Race of Portugal will return at Portimão, switching from Porto the previous season and Estoril as it was initially planned. The Race of the United States will make its debut in 2012 at Sonoma Raceway in the aforementioned California city. The circuit was the full layout except for the motorcycle chicane in Turn 10.
Season report
Round One – Italy
Having dominated the previous season, and still being the only factory-supported team in 2012, the factory Chevrolets were expected to dominate qualifying, but instead it was Gabriele Tarquini in his Lukoil SEAT who took a surprising pole position. The leading Chevrolet of defending champion Yvan Muller was second, only six-hundredths behind Tarquini, with his teammates Robert Huff and Alain Menu on the second row. Rickard Rydell, in a one-off outing, took fifth in a fourth Chevrolet supplied by Chevrolet Motorsport Sweden. Pepe Oriola took pole in the Yokohama class by qualifying seventh.