The 2017 FIA World Touring Car Championship was a motor racing competition organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile for Super 2000 Cars.2017 Sporting regulations – FIA World Touring Car Championship, www.fia.com, as archived at web.archive.org It was the fourteenth and last season of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, and the thirteenth since the series was revived in 2005.
The Drivers Championship was won by Thed Björk and the Manufacturers Championship by Volvo Polestar.
Teams and drivers TeamCarDriversRounds Manufacturer entries Honda Racing Team JAS Honda Civic WTCC 2 Gabriele Tarquini 7 5 Norbert MicheliszAll 18 Tiago Monteiro 1–6 34 Ryō MichigamiAll 86 Esteban Guerrieri 8–10 Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo S60 Polestar TC1 61 Néstor Girolami 1–9 62 Thed BjörkAll 63 Nick CatsburgAll 64 Yvan Müller10 WTCC Trophy Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 3 Tom ChiltonAll 25 Mehdi BennaniAll 27 John FilippiAll 30 Ma Qing Hua 9 RC Motorsport Lada Vesta WTCC 4 Mak Ka Lok 9 22 Manuel Fernandes 5 24 Kevin Gleason 2–10 26 Filipe de Souza 7–8 68 Yann EhrlacherAll Zengő Motorsport Honda Civic WTCC 8 Aurélien Panis 1–5 66 Zsolt Szabó 6–10 99 Dániel NagyAll ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 9 Tom CoronelAll Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 11 Kris Richard 8, 10 44 Wong Po Wah 9 86 Esteban Guerrieri 1–7 88 Chan Kin Pong 9 ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 12 Robert HuffAll ETCC Entries ineligible to score points Zengő Motorsport SEAT León TCR 105 Anett György 4 108 Norbert Nagy 4 166 Zsolt Szabó 4 Pfister Racing SEAT León TCR 107 Andreas Pfister 4 Rikli Motorsport Honda Civic Type R TCR 112 Peter Rikli 4 191 Christjohannes Schreiber 4 AKK Stefanovski SEAT León TCR 114 Igor Stefanovski 4 LEIN Racing SEAT León TCR 117 Mladen Lalušić 4 137 Fábio Mota 4 Křenek Motorsport SEAT León TCR 122 Petr Fulín 4 Kraf Racing Audi RS 3 LMS TCR 144 Plamen Kralev 4
Team changes Citroën withdrew their factory team from the series in 2016 to concentrate on their 2017 World Rally Championship campaign with the C3 WRC. The C-Elysée WTCC was still available to private entries. Lada also withdrew their factory team at the end of the 2016 season. RC Motorsport then entered the Championship running a pair of Vesta WTCC cars before adding third car at selected rounds. Volvo will expand its campaign to three full-time entries from two full-time entries. All the three cars will be entered by Polestar Cyan Racing. Münnich Motorsport switched to a Citroën C-Elysée WTCC for the 2017 season after racing with a Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 for the last three seasons.
Driver changes Four time champion Yvan Muller retired after 2016. But has been brought out of retirement by Polestar Cyan Racing in order to assist Volvo’s challenge for the season finale in Qatar. Three time champion José María López left WTCC to join Toyota's WEC team in conjunction with a Formula E programme. Following the withdrawal of Lada, Gabriele Tarquini was unable to find a seat and left the series to join Hyundai's development of the i30 TCR. However he made a return at the Race of China for Honda after Tiago Monteiro was forced to withdraw after suffering from the after-effects of a crash in testing in early September. Following the withdrawal of Lada, Hugo Valente left WTCC for TCR. Fredrik Ekblom left Polestar Cyan Racing and returned to the STCC with Kristoffersson Motorsport. Following the withdrawal of Lada, Nick Catsburg joined Polestar Cyan Racing. After competing in two rounds in 2015 and one round in 2016, Néstor Girolami will make his full-time World Touring Car Championship debut in 2017, racing for Polestar Cyan Racing. Ryō Michigami joined Honda Racing Team JAS for a full-season campaign after making his World Touring Car Championship debut at his home race in Japan during the 2016 season. Robert Huff left the Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team to join Münnich Motorsport. John Filippi left Campos Racing to join Sébastien Loeb Racing. Aurélien Panis entered the series, driving for Zengő Motorsport. Yann Ehrlacher entered the series, driving for RC Motorsport. Kevin Gleason entered the series, driving for RC Motorsport.
Rule changes More points will be awarded for the winners of the Manufacturers Against the Clock (MAC3) team time trials (12 rather than 10), optional rallycross-style "joker laps" will be introduced in street-circuits, the second or "main race" on a race weekend will be increased in length to two laps longer than the opening races (with the exception of the Race of Germany at Nürburgring Nordschleife), the points scoring structure will be revised with more points awarded in the main race, and the length of race meetings will be reduced to two days, with testing on Fridays to be abolished and the Free Practice 1 and 2 sessions being increased from 30 to 45 minutes to compensate.
Calendar
The Monza and Macau circuits return to the WTCC, whereas France, Russia and Slovakia are dropped.
Race Race name Circuit Date Supporting 1 1 AFRIQUIA Race of Morocco Circuit International Automobile Moulay El Hassan 9 April stand-alone event 2 2 3 OSCARO Race of Italy Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza 30 April European Touring Car Cup 4 3 5 JVCKENWOOD Race of Hungary Hungaroring 14 May 6 4 7 Race of Germany Nürburgring Nordschleife 27 May Nürburgring 24 HoursEuropean Touring Car Cup 8 5 9 Race of Portugal Circuito Internacional de Vila Real 25 June European Touring Car Cup 10 6 11 Race of Argentina Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo 16 July Campeonato Argentino de Turismo Nacional 12 7 13 Race of China Ningbo International Circuit 15 October China Touring Car ChampionshipF4 Chinese Championship 14 8 15 JVCKENWOOD Race of Japan Twin Ring Motegi 29 October stand-alone event 16 9 17 JVCKENWOOD Race of Macau Guia Circuit, Macau 18 November TCR Chinese Racing CupFIA F3 World CupFIA GT World Cup 18 19 November 10 19 Race of Qatar Losail International Circuit 1 December stand-alone event 20
Results and standings Compensation weights base weight of 1,100 kg Car Marrakech Monza Hungaroring Nürburgring Vila Real Termas deRío Hondo Ningbo Motegi Macau Losail Citroën C-Elysée WTCC +50 kg +50 kg +60 kg +80 kg +80 kg +80 kg +50 kg +40 kg 0 kg +60 kg Honda Civic WTCC 0 kg 0 kg +80 kg +70 kg +50 kg +60 kg +80 kg +80 kg +70 kg +80 kg Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 0 kg 0 kg 0 kg +30 kg +20 kg 0 kg 0 kg +10 kg +10 kg +10 kg Lada Vesta WTCC 0 kg 0 kg 0 kg 0 kg 0 kg 0 kg 0 kg 0 kg 0 kg +10 kg Volvo S60 Polestar TC1 0 kg 0 kg +80 kg +80 kg +80 kg +60 kg +70 kg +70 kg +80 kg +80 kg
Races
Race Race name Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning team Winning manufacturer Report 1 Race of Morocco Volvo Dániel Nagy Campos Racing Chevrolet Report 2 Tiago Monteiro Tiago Monteiro Honda Racing Team JAS Honda Tom Chilton 3 Race of Italy Volvo Thed Björk Tom Chilton Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën Tom Chilton Report 4 Thed Björk Thed Björk Thed Björk Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo Robert Huff 5 Race of Hungary Esteban Guerrieri Tiago Monteiro Honda Racing Team JAS Honda Tom Chilton Report 6 Robert Huff Robert Huff Mehdi Bennani Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën Mehdi Bennani 7 Race of Germany Volvo Tom Chilton Thed Björk Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo Mehdi Bennani Report 8 Nick Catsburg Nick Catsburg Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo Robert Huff 9 Race of Portugal Volvo Norbert Michelisz Mehdi Bennani Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën Mehdi Bennani Report 10 Norbert Michelisz Robert Huff Norbert Michelisz Honda Racing Team JAS Honda Robert Huff 11 Race of Argentina Volvo Thed Björk Yann Ehrlacher RC Motorsport Lada Yann Ehrlacher Report 12 Nick Catsburg Nick Catsburg Norbert Michelisz Honda Racing Team JAS Honda Esteban Guerrieri 13 Race of China Volvo Esteban Guerrieri Esteban Guerrieri Campos Racing Chevrolet Esteban Guerrieri Report 14 Néstor Girolami Zsolt Szabó Néstor Girolami Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo Tom Chilton 15 Race of Japan Honda Tom Chilton Tom Chilton Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën Tom Chilton Report 16 Norbert Michelisz Nick Catsburg Norbert Michelisz Honda Racing Team JAS Honda Mehdi Bennani 17 Guia Race of Macau Honda Robert Huff Mehdi Bennani Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën Mehdi Bennani Report 18 Robert Huff Ma Qing Hua Robert Huff Citroën Robert Huff 19 Race of Qatar Volvo Mehdi Bennani Tom Chilton Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën Tom Chilton Report 20 Esteban Guerrieri Esteban Guerrieri Honda Robert Huff
Championship standings
Drivers' championship China Race 2 was half-points awarded. Driver MAR ITA HUN GER PRT ARG CHN JPN MAC QAT 1 Thed Björk 2 7 5 11 NC 7 1 45 3 23 6 35 NC 22 4 5 454 5 44 283.5 2 Norbert Michelisz 5 23 NC 6 NC 4 7 21 7 11 14 12 DSQ DSQ 711 522 9 8 255 3 Tom Chilton 7 5 1 Ret 2 3 4 5 4 6 4 7 Ret 34 1 10 8 33 1 5 248.5 4 Esteban Guerrieri 1 13 4 8 6 63 5 8 Ret 8 3 44 1 45 3 44 6 45 10 11 241 5 Nicky Catsburg 4 4 8 44 5 24 6 12 5 45 15 161 3 5 9 22 9 13 8 32 238.5 6 Mehdi Bennani 3 65 NC 7 7 12 2 6 1 7 2 5 NC 11 5 6 1 7 2 Ret 234 7 Robert Huff Ret 94 2 33 3 101 3 33 6 52 7 9 Ret 12†3 8 11 711 7 23 215 8 Tiago Monteiro 6 11 3 22 1 5 15 134 2 34 5 23 200 9 Néstor Girolami 9 32 NC 55 4 Ret5 Ret DNS 8 9 16 6 Ret 11 11 33 13 9 112 10 Yann Ehrlacher Ret 12 11 9 8 8 9 9 9 11 1 8 2 8 2 7 12 14 13 12 90 11 Tom Coronel 8 8 6 11 9 9 8 7 DNS DNS 9 10 7† 9 13 13 2 6 11 11 69 12 John Filippi NC 11 7 10 14† 11 10 10 10 10 8 12 4 6 12 9 11 16 4 9 48 13 Kevin Gleason 9 13 12 12 12 11 Ret 12 11 13 5 7 6 8 10 8 3 14 47.5 14 Ryō Michigami Ret 10 Ret Ret 11 13 11 Ret Ret 13 10 11 DSQ DSQ 10 Ret5 3 15 14 10 2015 Yvan Muller 6 75 16 16 Kris Richard 14 12 12 6 10 17 Filipe de Souza 6 10 16 15 8.5 18 Aurélien Panis 10 Ret DNS 12 10 14 13 12 11 16† 2 19 Dániel Nagy 11† 14 10 Ret 13 Ret 14 Ret 13 14 12 14 DSQ DSQ 15 14 15 11 15 13 1 20 Zsolt Szabó 13 15 DSQ DSQ 17 16 16 10 16 15 1 21 Ma Qinghua 14 12 0 22 Manuel Fernandes 12 15 0 23 Mak Ka Lok 17 17 0 24 Wong Po Wah 18 DNS 0 - Chan Kin Pong WD WD 0 - Gabriele Tarquini DSQ DSQ - ETCC entries ineligible for points - Igor Stefanovski 17 14 - - Petr Fulín 16 16 - - Fábio Mota 18 15 - - Norbert Nagy 19 18 - - Andreas Pfister 23 17 - - Peter Rikli 20 Ret - - Mladen Lalušić 21 21 - - Plamen Kralev 24 19 - - Zsolt Szabó 25 20 - - Anett György 22 Ret - - Christjohannes Schreiber Ret DNS -Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap † – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 75% of the race distance. ‡ – Honda Racing Team JAS was disqualified from the Race of China because of non-compliant fuel injectors.
Championship points were awarded on the results of each race at each event as follows:
Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Opening Race Points 25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1 Main Race Points 30 23 19 16 13 10 7 4 2 1
Notes 1 2 3 4 5 refers to the classification of the drivers after the qualifying for the main race (second race), where bonus points are awarded 5–4–3–2–1.
Manufacturers' Championship Manufacturer MAR ITA HUN GER PRT ARG CHN JPN MAC QAT R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 1 Volvo 1 1 32 1 2 11 2 2 11 1 1 12 1 2 22 1 2 31 1 1 11 2 2 22 2 2 32 1 1 22 908.5 2 44 3 33 3 42 2 34 3 44 4 44 NC 22 4 33 4 44 2 33 2 Honda 2 3 11 2 1 22 1 1 23 2 3 21 2 1 11 2 1 12 DSQ DSQ DSQ 1 1 11 1 1 11 2 3 11 880 4 23 4 44 4 34 4 43 4 33 3 23 DSQ DSQ 3 44 3 23 4 4
Notes Only the two best placed cars of each manufacturer earned points. 1 2 3 4 5 refers to the classification of the drivers in the main race qualification, where bonus points are awarded 5–4–3–2–1. Points were only awarded to the fastest two cars from each manufacturer.
In MAC3 points are awarded if 3 cars of the same manufacturer within a 15 seconds gap. MAC3 points were awarded as follows:
Position 1st 2nd 3rd Points 12 8 6
WTCC Trophy