The 2013 World Touring Car Championship season was the tenth season of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, and the ninth since the series was revived in 2005. The championship, which was reserved for cars run to Super 2000 regulations, began with the Race of Italy on 23 March and concluded with the Race of Macau in support of the Macau Grand Prix at the Guia Circuit on 17 November, after twenty-four races at twelve events.
Yvan Muller secured the Drivers' Championship title in Japan, with two events remaining in the season. Honda won the Manufacturers' Championship. Chevrolet was the defending manufacturers' champion, but it did not support a team in 2013, and thus was unable to defend its title.
James Nash won the Yokohama Drivers' Trophy for independent entries and RML won the Yokohama Teams' Trophy. The Lukoil Racing Team was the defending Yokohama Teams' Trophy winner, but was unable to defend its title as Lukoil closed their own team to support manufacturer Lada Sport team in 2013.
Teams and drivers
Team
Car
No.
Drivers
Rounds
Manufacturer Teams
Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team
Honda Civic WTCC
3
Gabriele Tarquini
All
18
Tiago Monteiro
All
Lada Sport Lukoil
Lada Granta WTCC
8
Mikhail Kozlovskiy
2–12
10
James Thompson
All
11
Aleksey Dudukalo
1
Independent Teams
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport
SEAT León WTCC
1
Robert Huff
All
38
Marc Basseng
All
Zengő Motorsport
Honda Civic WTCC
5
Norbert Michelisz
All
RML
Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
12
Yvan Muller
All
23
Tom Chilton
All
ROAL Motorsport
BMW 320 TC
15
Tom Coronel
All
NIKA Racing
Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
69
Rickard Rydell
11
Tuenti Racing Team
SEAT León WTCC
74
Pepe Oriola
1–6
Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
7–12
Yokohama Trophy
Liqui Moly Team Engstler
BMW 320 TC
6
Franz Engstler
1–9, 11–12
7
Charles Ng
All
bamboo-engineering
Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
9
Alex MacDowall
All
14
James Nash
All
ANOME
BMW 320 TC
13
Jean-Philippe Dayraut
1
NIKA Racing
Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
17
Michel Nykjær
1–9
Campos Racing
SEAT León WTCC
19
Fernando Monje
1–11
20
Hugo Valente
4–5, 7–9, 11–12
21
Nikolay Karamyshev
6–7
81
Konstantīns Calko
12
Special Tuning Racing
SEAT León WTCC
22
Tom Boardman
1–4, 7, 9–12
Proteam Racing
BMW 320 TC
25
Mehdi Bennani
All
PB Racing
BMW 320 TC
26
Stefano D'Aste
All
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport
SEAT León WTCC
37
René Münnich
All
ROAL Motorsport
BMW 320 TC
55
Darryl O'Young
All
Wiechers-Sport
BMW 320 TC
72
José María López
8
73
Fredy Barth
1–7, 9, 11–12
Eurosport Asian Trophy
China Dragon Racing
Chevrolet Cruze LT
60
Felipe De Souza
10–12
61
Kin Veng Ng
10–12
Chevrolet Lacetti
62
Lam Kam San
12
63
Célio Alves Dias
12
Son Veng Racing Team
Chevrolet Cruze LT
66
Jerónimo Badaraco
10–12
NIKA Racing
Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
67
Hiroki Yoshimoto
10
33
Yukinori Taniguchi
12
Wiechers-Sport
BMW 320 TC
10
Campos Racing
SEAT León WTCC
11
80
Michael Soong
12
Liqui Moly Team Engstler
BMW 320 TC
68
Masaki Kano
10
BMW 320si
70
Jo Merszei
12
88
Henry Ho
10–12
RPM Racing
BMW 320si
77
Mak Ka Lok
10–12
PAS Macau Racing Team
Honda Accord Euro R
79
Eurico de Jesus
12
Honda Racing Team JAS
Honda Civic WTCC
99
Takuya Izawa
10
Guest Drivers
Volvo Polestar Racing
Volvo C30 DRIVe
40
Thed Björk
11
Team changes
Arena Motorsport—who contested the 2012 season as Team Aon—did not compete in 2013 after its owner decided to shut down the team and concentrate its efforts on Formula One team Marussia F1.
Former Formula One driver, team owner and GP2 Series team owner Adrián Campos entered the World Touring car Championship with two SEAT Leóns prepared by Sunred Engineering.
Chevrolet announced that they withdrew from the series to concentrate on other projects. This leaves RML Group without the backing of a manufacturer.
Stefano D'Aste established his own team, PB Motorsport.
Honda entered the series in 2013 for the full season. JAS Motorsport entered two Honda Civic 1.6Ts on behalf of the manufacturer.
After competing in FIA GT1 World Championship, Münnich Motorsport entered the World Touring Car Championship in 2013 with three SEAT León WTCC cars.
After competing in two rounds in 2012, Russian car manufacturer Lada announced its intentions to contest races in 2013 with the Lada Granta WTCC, contesting a full season for the first time since 2009. On 15 November it was announced that the marque would enter a two car team for 2013. However, they later announced that they would enter a third car later of the season.
NIKA Racing entered the series for the full season with a Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T having previously entered two rounds of the championship since 2010.* Zengő Motorsport switched from entering a BMW 320 TC to the Honda Civic 1.6T for its 2013 campaign.
Driver changes
Marc Basseng joined the series as a Münnich Motorsport driver, having won the 2012 FIA GT1 World Championship for the team.
Tom Chilton moved to RML.
Aleksei Dudukalo joined Lada for the 2013 season after two years with SEAT.
Robert Huff switched to Münnich Motorsport to defend his championship title, replacing Markus Winkelhock in their lineup.
Alain Menu left the series and moved into the Porsche Supercup.
Tiago Monteiro joined Honda full-time for the 2013 season, having taken part in the final three races of 2012 season debuting the Honda entry.
After a single entry during 2012, René Münnich will make his full-time World Touring Car Championship debut in 2013, racing for Münnich Motorsport.
James Nash races for Bamboo Engineering in 2013 having raced for Team Aon in 2012.
Darryl O'Young left Bamboo Engineering to join Tom Coronel at ROAL Motorsport in 2013.
Gabriele Tarquini deserted Lukoil Racing Team, campaigning with the second Honda entry.
Mid-season changes
Aleksei Dudukalo lost his seat with Lada Sport Lukoil after the Race of Italy. He was replaced by Russian Touring Car Championship driver Mikhail Kozlovskiy, with the team attributing the decision to replace Dudukalo as being a result of Dudukalo's collision with teammate James Thompson during qualifying for the race of Italy, forcing both Lada Granta WTCC cars out of the event.
After the Moscow round, Pepe Oriola switched from his SEAT Leon to run an RML prepared Chevrolet Cruze.
Michel Nykjær split with Nika Racing after the round in Sonoma. He was replaced by Hiroki Yoshimoto.
Calendar
The 2013 championship was contested over twenty-four races, with two races held at each of twelve events throughout the year. The final calendar for the season was released in December 2012.
The Race of Morocco was not included on the provisional calendar for 2013, though the provisional calendar was released with a vacant race date.
The Race of Portugal returned to the Circuito da Boavista in Porto after being held at the Portimão circuit in 2012.
The Race of Spain was originally included on the provisional calendar at a venue to be decided. However, the race was removed from the final calendar released in December 2012.
The Race of Russia made its championship debut at the Moscow Raceway.
The Race of Brazil was dropped before the start of the season, but was later reinstated. It was then dropped from the calendar again when the Argentine round was confirmed.
An additional thirteenth round of the championship was added before the start of the season. In May 2013, it was confirmed the Race of Argentina made its championship debut at the Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo. The race in Argentina was confirmed in June, replacing the Brazilian round.
World Touring Car Championship promoter Eurosport Events organized the Yokohama Drivers' Trophy and the Yokohama Teams' Trophy within the 2013 FIA World Touring Car Championship.
Eligibility for the Yokohama Drivers' Trophy was decided by Eurosport Events, taking into consideration the Team's CV and records, the Driver's CV and records and the car's technical characteristics.
All the teams taking part in the championship were eligible to score points towards the Yokohama Teams' Trophy, with the exception of teams which incorporated a car manufacturer's name in the team's name.
Eurosport Asia Trophy
Pos.
Driver
JPN
CHN
MAC
Pts.
1
Yukinori Taniguchi
17
16
21
23
17
Ret
46
2
Henry Ho
24
21
23
25
19
9
32
3
Felipe De Souza
21
Ret
22
24
20
15
27
4
Kin Veng Ng
22
20
26
26
22
11
24
5
Masaki Kano
19
15
15
6
Jerónimo Badaraco
20
18
24
Ret
25
Ret
15
7
Takuya Izawa
12
22†
13
8
Mak Ka Lok
23
Ret
25
27
27
13
13
9
Célio Alves Dias
23
10
10
10
Michael Soong
18
Ret
8
11
Hiroki Yoshimoto
18
Ret
6
12
Lam Kam San
26
12
5
13
Jo Merszei
21
Ret
4
14
Eurico de Jesus
24
Ret
1
Pos.
Driver
JPN
CHN
MAC
Pts.
† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 75% of the race distance.
Footnotes
Yvan Muller was one of twelve drivers given a grid penalty for unsporting behaviour during qualifying for the first race in Austria and started from thirteenth place. Michel Nykjær started the race from pole as a result, but Muller was entitled to keep the five championship points for pole position.
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