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Friday, January 23, 2009
MARSH ON STAR TV ASIA
Matthew Marsh chats to Simon Harrison, cameraman for Star TV Asia, at the first practice sesssion for the Daytona 24 Hour sports car race. The footage is scheduled to appear on an upcoming edition of the show Engine Block.
The pair have been interviewing the superstars of this race including three-times NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson and Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti, who graciously conceded he was a one-time wheel polisher for Simon in his race driving days.
Labels: D24 2009, Flex-Box, Macau 2008
Friday, December 05, 2008
WTCC Macau - Simon Harrison's film
Simon Harrison sets high standards for production of motor sport films. His latest effort is a four-and-a-bit-minute summary of my FIA World Championship point scoring weekend with City of Dreams and Wiechers-Sport at the Macau Grand Prix. Take a look (and click on High Quality)...
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
PHOTOS FROM MACAU
Finally I have uploaded a selection of photos from the Macau Grand Prix. They can be viewed by clicking here. There is also the option to watch a slideshow of the pictures.
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
HONG KONG IN THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
My eighth place finish in Sunday's final round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship made history: the point scored was the first ever by a Hong Kong driver in an FIA World Championship.
Additionally I scored 36 points for the Independents' Trophy. This put me in ninth place of the 26 drivers who scored points this year.
And all this with a car which was carrying the maximum success ballast (as a non-series registered car). Car 88 weighed 70 kilos more than my team mate's machine!
It was a good weekend!
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
KUNIMOTO CONQUERS MACAU
Keisuke Kunimoto of Japan has won the Macau F3 Grand Prix. Driving a Dallara TOM'S-Toyota he survived a safety car period to come home ahead of Edoardo Mortara of Italy in a race littered with crashes.
Provisional results:
1 #2 Kaisuke Kunimoto
2 #7 Edoardo Mortara
3 #5 Brendon Hartley
4 #9 Mika Maki
5 #16 Renger van de Zande
6 #30 Laurens Vanthoor
Fastest lap: Hartley 2:12.565
RLT.
Labels: Macau 2008
LETS GET THE PARTY STARTED
Matthew Marsh celebrates with Dominik Greiner and Wiechers-Sport team personnel after finishing second in the Independents class in the WTCC Guia race second leg.
A crowd of photographers and spectators gathered as Matthew posed with the Hong Kong flag and the City of Dreams girls for a seemingly endless photo opportunity, as everybody enjoyed the first world championship point for a Hong Kong driver achieved by finishing eighth overall in the Guia race. Picture Colin Marsh. RLT.
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
MARSH EIGHTH OVERALL, 2ND IN CLASS
Hong Kong driver Matthew Marsh acquitted himself well at international level with eighth overall in the Guia race leg two and second overall in the class. All the hard work is justified as Matthew delivers on the streets of Macau. A cracking professional performance in a strange car, he kept his head when others around him were losing the plot. He came from seventeenth on the grid to eighth overall at the end.
Pic by Philip Newsome. RLT.
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
GUIA RACE TWO GOES TO GRID
After a fifteen minute break the second leg of the Guia race will shortly be underway. Matthew Marsh came to pitlane for a well-deserved drink of water and the competitors are back on track forming up on the race two grid. Another nine laps of the gruelling Guia circuit in hot sunny still conditions are in prospect.
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
TOP THREE FOR MARSH IN GUIA LEG ONE
Matthew Marsh finished seventeenth overall and third in the Independents class in leg one of the World Touring Car Championship held on the Guia circuit here in Macau. He set a best race lap of 2mins 38.379 seconds, moving up from 22nd on the grid to seventeenth overall position. The objective of getting cleanly through to race two has been achieved.
The Independents class was won by Sergio Hernandez of Spain in a BMW 320si, followed home by Franz Engstler of Germany. BMW finished 1-2-3 in the class. Overall winner was Alain Menu in a Chevrolet Lacetti. RLT.
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
GUIA GOES TO GRID
We are underway in the first leg of the Guia race here in Macau. Everybody appears to have got through Lisboa and San Francisco successfully on the first lap.
Pic by Phil Newsome. RLT.
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
SMOKY PITSTOP FOR LAU
The Porsche #78 of Ross Bernard Lau blows smoke in the pitlane during the GT race at Macau. RLT.
Labels: Macau 2008
DARRYL TOPS THE SHOW
Darryl O'Young on pole position on the grid for the GT race in Macau. The champion in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia for 2008 he is leading the GT race here in Macau in a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car.
Update: Darryl O'Young has won the GT race in Macau. After a safety car period he stroked home by 2.1 seconds from Danny Watts in another Porsche. RLT.
Labels: Macau 2008
ADVANTAGE MARIENESCU
Mihai Marienescu of Brasov, Rumania has won the Formula BMW race in Macau. In a race that finished under the red flag he won on the countback. After a problematic season in Europe with the Fisichella Team he achieved a great result by standing on the top step of the podium here in Macau.
Pic: Macau Grand Prix. RLT.
Labels: Macau 2008
42nd Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix results
1 #3 Stuart Easton GBR Honda
2 #200 Michael Rutter GBR Ducati
3 #2 John McGuiness GBR Honda
4 #14 Luis Carrera POR Suzuki
5 #34 Michael Barnes USA Honda
6 #11 Stephen Thompson GBR Honda
Hi to Paul Kelsall in the UK - thanks for getting in touch. RLT.
Labels: Macau 2008
ALAIN MENU GRABS TOP SPOT
Alain Menu of Switzerland will start the Guia race from pole position in his RML-run Chevrolet Lacetti. He pipped Andy Priaulx of Great Britain in a BMW with a time of 2 mins 30.285 around the Guia circuit. The car is pictured at the Melco hairpin. Pic: Chevrolet. RLT.
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
THIS IS THE WARM-UP
Sunday morning 07:50 - Matthew Marsh is now on track in the warm-up for the FIA WTCC Canon-Guia Race of Macau at the Macau Grand Prix meeting. He is taking it easy to make sure the car is in one piece for the race which starts at 11:55 with two races of nine laps each.
Described in the South China Morning Post as the only Hong Kong driver to qualify for the World Touring Car Championship he will start fifth in the Independents class. His best lap time in the session was 2 mins 38.887 seconds.
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
CITY OF DREAMS AT THE MACAU GRAND PRIX
A short film introducing the City of Dreams team at the Macau GP 2008
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
IT'S A TOUGH LIFE
Saturday in the Macau GP paddock with the (City of) Dream(s) girls...
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
MACAU F3 QUALIFICATION RACE
Unofficial results:
1 #7 Edoardo Mortara
2 #2 Keisuke Kunimoto
3 #11 Roberto Streit
4 #3 Oliver Turvey
5 #21 Sam Bird
6 #4 Jaime Algersuari
7 #17 Stefano Coletti
8 #6 Marcus Ericsson
9 #28 Daniel Campos-Hull
10 #24 Kei Cozzolino
Labels: Macau 2008
MATTHEW MARSH AND THE CITY OF DREAMS GIRLS
Saturday lunchtime media scrum as Matthew Marsh fronts a promotion for sponsor City of Dreams in the Macau Grand Prix paddock. Pics by Colin Marsh.
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
DIGGING DEEP IN QUALIFYING
Hard on the throttle at Fisherman's Bend.
Pitlane debrief following qualification frenzy.
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
QUALIFYING DEBRIEF
No more damage to the BMW but Matthew's hair shows the strain.
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
FROM THE PITS
Matthew talks about the Free Practice sessions at the Macau Grand Prix
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
MARSH IN THE SHOW
Matthew Marsh has qualified fifth in the Independents class of the WTCC in an unofficial time of 2 mins 36.897.
Overall a good day at the office! Pic above: Create Images
Labels: Macau 2008, PCCA 2008
VAN DAM MUSCLES HIS WAY TO THE FRONT
Carlo van Dam of Holland, in car #1, is the 2008 pole sitter for the Macau F3 Grand Prix. He set a time of 2:11.846 in the dying minutes of the final session.
Labels: Macau 2008
Former Macau GP winner offers advice
.
Matthew Marsh chats to fellow Guia race competitor Andre Couto of Macau.
Pic: Macau GP website
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
GUIA RACE: FREE PRACTICE 2
The second session is currently red-flagged for debris on the circuit. Accident for Tom Coronel. No representative times have been set.
Session resumed.
Matthew Marsh, car #88, hit the barrier at marshal post #5, that is Lisboa Corner, towards the end of the session while on his last flying lap. The car was craned off and delivered back to the paddock. The driver is OK but fed up, the car is relatively unscathed. Matthew had taken Mandarin Oriental bend faster than ever but then slid into the barriers at the 90-degree right at Lisboa.
Independents Class, unofficial practice results:
31 Scuderia Proteam Motorsport, Sergio Hernandez (ESP) BMW 320si, 2:35.502
17 Wiechers-Sport, Takayuki Aoki (JPN) BMW 320si, 2:37.087
29 Russian Bears Motorsport, Jaap van Lagen LADA 110 2.0, 2:37.452
88 Wiechers-Sport, Matthew Marsh (HKG) BMW 320si, 2:39.085
43 Liqui Moly Team Engstler, Andrey Romanov (RUS) BMW 320si, 2:40.195
45 Scuderia Proteam Motorsport, George Tanev (BUL) BMW 320si, 2:40.699
Pictures by Colin Marsh. RLT.
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
GUIA RACE: FREE PRACTICE 1
Independents class top six:
42 Liqui Moly Team Engstler, Franz Engstler (GER) BMW 320si, 2:35.000
31 Scuderia Proteam Motorsport, Sergio Hernandez (ESP) BMW 320si, 2:35.708
17 Wiechers-Sport, Takayuki Aoki (JPN) BMW 320si, 2:36.040
43 Liqui Moly Team Engstler, Andrei Romanov (RUS) BMW 320si 2:38.474
29 Russian Bears Motorsport, Jaap van Lagen LADA 110 2.0, 2:38.657
88 Wiechers-Sport, Matthew Marsh (HKG) BMW 320si, 2:38.825
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
You're a star in Hong Kong, You're a star in Macau...
Matthew Marsh talks to Simon Harrison on the pitwall of the Guia circuit in Macau.
Pic by Colin Marsh. RLT.
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
Carlo van Dam's TOM'S-Toyota tames Macau
One of the favourites in the Macau F3 Grand Prix Carlo van Dam, in car #1, at speed in practice between the armco barriers. Picture by Philip Newsome. RLT.
Labels: Macau 2008
ALORS TARQUINI!
Gabriele Tarquini in the SEAT Leon 2.0 TDI. Pic: Philip Newsome.
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
GLORIOUS GUIA
A thousand thank yous to Macau historian Philip Newsome for this shot from 1960 of American George Baker in the V8-engined "Beast." Baker was an ex-fighter pilot who chewed on a cigar while piloting this fearsome device. The layout of the circuit has changed little down the years. RLT.
Labels: Macau 2008
GUIA GOSSIP II
Friday morning 08:45, Guia circuit: For Matthew Marsh a season that started out at Daytona in January racing a Ferrari against the likes of Juan Pablo Montoya, Helio Castroneves and NASCAR-champion Jimmie Johnson has come down to a contest in Macau in the World Touring Car Championship against the likes of Andy Priaulx, Alessandro Zanardi and Tom Coronel.
The challenge for Matthew today is to further adapt his driving style from the Porsche he customarily drives in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia to the Wiechers-Sport BMW 320si, sponsored by City of Dreams and Flex-Box. The BMW requires more aggression on entry to the corners, needing to be driven hard into the turns and late on the brakes, and slower on exit. From analysing data on other faster cars this approach is shown to be quicker overall and to produce better overall lap times.
We are currently waiting for first Friday practice for the FIA WTCC Canon - Guia Race of Macau to start with the timetable as follows:
08:45-09:15 - Practice
12:15-12:45 - Practice
15:50-16:35 - Qualifying
This event provides plenty of opportunity to adapt to the Guia track in the BMW, with three practice sessions, qualifying and two 9-lap races. RLT.
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
FIRST PRACTICE TIMES
Picture by Create Images.
Testing - Independents class top six:
31 Scuderia Proteam Motorsport, Sergio Hernandez (ESP) BMW 320si, 2:36.031
42 Liqui Moly Team Engstler, Franz Engstler (GER) BMW 320si, 2:36.201
17 Wiechers-Sport, Takayuki Aoki (JPN) BMW 320si, 2:39.129
88 Wiechers-Sport, Matthew Marsh (HKG) BMW 320si, 2:39.701
27 Russian Bears Motorsport, Kirill Ladygin (RUS) LADA 110 2.0, 2:42.204
45 Scuderia Proteam Motorsport, George Tanev (BUL) BMW 320si, 2:44.516
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
THIS IS THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CALLING
Matthew Marsh talks to Rupert Lloyd Thomas about the difficulties of tackling the Guia circuit in the City of Dreams WTCC BMW 320si.
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
STREET FIGHTING MAN
Matthew said:
"It is so difficult. When its starts to slide it goes away. The quick guys are floating. I think to be quick you have to get it sliding all the time. I followed Zanardi with his rear end alive."
Tyre warmers, slicks and a street circuit: the ingredients for a classic Guia race are in place. Photo by Phil Newsome.
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
MARSH AT THE MELCO
Matthew Marsh at the Melco hairpin on the Guia circuit. Fantastic photograph by Philip Newsome.
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
GUIA RUNNERS
2008 FIA WORLD TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP
Rounds 23 & 24 - MACAU, November 16, Entry List:
1 BMW Team UK, Andy Priaulx (GBR) BMW 320si
2 BMW Team Germany, Jorg Muller (GER) BMW 320si
3 BMW Team Germany, Augusto Farfus (BRA) BMW 320si
4 BMW Team Italy-Spain, Alessandro Zanardi (ITA) BMW 320si
5 BMW Team Italy-Spain, Felix Porteiro (ESP) BMW 320si
6 Chevrolet, Nicola Larini (ITA) Chevrolet Lacetti
7 Chevrolet, Robert Huff (GBR) Chevrolet Lacetti
8 Chevrolet, Alain Menu (SUI) Chevrolet Lacetti
9 SEAT Sport, Jordi Gene (ESP) Seat Leon 2.0. TDI
10 SEAT Sport, Rickard Rydell (SWE) Seat Leon 2.0. TDI
11 SEAT Sport, Gabriele Tarquini (ITA) Seat Leon 2.0. TDI
12 SEAT Sport, Yvan Muller (FRA) Seat Leon 2.0. TDI
13 Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport, Ibrahim Okyay (TUR) BMW 320si
15 N.technology, James Thompson (GBR) Honda Accord Euro R
17 Wiechers-Sport, Takayuki Aoki (JPN) BMW 320si
18 SEAT Sport, Tiago Monteiro (POR) Seat Leon 2.0. TDI
20 SUNRED Engineering Development, Tom Coronel (NED) Seat Leon 2.0. TFSI
27 Russian Bears Motorsport, Kirill Ladygin (RUS) LADA 110 2.0
28 Russian Bears Motorsport, Viktor Shapovalov (RUS) LADA 110 2.0
29 Russian Bears Motorsport, Jaap van Lagen (NED) LADA 110 2.0
31 Scuderia Proteam Motorsport, Sergio Hernandez (ESP) BMW 320si
42 Liqui Moly Team Engstler, Franz Engstler (GER) BMW 320si
43 Liqui Moly Team Engstler, Andrey Romanov (RUS) BMW 320si
45 Scuderia Proteam Motorsport, George Tanev (BUL) BMW 320si
66 N.technology, Andre Couto (MAC) Honda Accord Euro R
69 Thunder Asia Racing, Melvin Choo Kwok Ming (SIN) BMW 320si
80 Chevrolet, Manabu Orido (JPN) Chevrolet Lacetti
81 Liqui Moly Team Engstler, Masaki Kano (JPN) BMW 320i
88 Wiechers-Sport, Matthew Marsh (HKG) BMW 320si
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
CITY OF DREAMS
Matthew Marsh limbers up for first practice in the 2008 edition of the Canon - Guia Race of Macau. Photo: Colin Marsh
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
GUIA GOSSIP
Greetings to Henrik Nielsen, sponsor of car #88, the City of Dreams Flex-Box Wiechers-Sport BMW 320si entered in the World Touring Car Championship, driven this week-end by Matthew Marsh on the Guia circuit. The Canon-Guia Race of Macau consists of two races of 9 laps each, with a 15 minute break between the two legs, starting at 11:55 on Sunday 16th November. RLT.
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
TOP THIRTY IN THE BIG CASINO - by Rupert Lloyd Thomas
Some thirty top drivers are entered in the 2008 Windsor Arch F3 Macau Grand Prix. Here is my advice to those racers facing the Guia street circuit for the first time. In these troubled economic times it is best to make the most of the opportunity. Do not crash the car in practice before you have learned the track. Having travelled so far it could ruin your week-end. The car needs a compromise set-up giving speed on the seafront straight but with good handling for the twisty stuff in the town. Take care of your tyres. Watch out for the ever-present armco barriers, track debris, safety cars and gung-ho competitors, who want to keep the tow-truck drivers busy. Navigate these hazards and you could win the 55th edition of the Macau Grand Prix. Add a dose of luck and a career in big-time motor racing beckons.
In car #1 is Carlo van Dam, from the Netherlands, in the TOM'S Team Dallara-Toyota. He is the reigning Japanese F3 Champion with a winning habit, nine victories in the series achieving a 50% win average. Never off the podium this year, don't bet against Van Dam in Macau. He is ably backed by Kaisuke Kunimoto who finished runner-up in the Japanese series in 2007. The TOM'S Team got the job done in Macau last year, finishing 1-3, and boast a record of success at the Guia track.
Jaime Alguersuari, from Spain, is the youngest ever British F3 champion. With a victory in the second street race in Bucharest, Rumania, he came from behind to grab the Champion's laurels with a double-win at Donington Park in October. The Red Bull-supported Alguersuari has come into form at the right time for Macau. Oliver Turvey, a Cambridge University engineering undergraduate, is also aboard a Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes. His British F3 campaign was supported by the Racing Steps Foundation, but the title slipped through his fingers at the last round, leaving him second overall. The two other drivers for the crack Carlin squad are New Zealander Brendon Hartley, third overall in the UK, and Marcus Ericsson from Sweden, fifth. Team owner Trevor Carlin cleaned up in the British series finishing 1-2-3-5.
Returnee Italian Edoardo Mortara, in the Signature-Plus Dallara-Volkswagen, was a winner this year at the difficult street circuit in Pau, France, which suggests a credible challenge here. The Signature-Plus team is rounded out by local driver Frankie Cheng Cong Fu and Mika Mäki, from Finland, runners in the Euroseries. Jules Bianchi, in an ART Grand Prix Dallara-Mercedes, won the Masters at Zolder and the first event at Le Mans-Bugatti. Bianchi is the grandson of Mauro Bianchi, winner of the Macau G.P. in an Alpine sportscar back in 1966. Can history repeat itself? Team-mate James Jakes, from Leeds, England, was also a winner in Pau in the Euroseries. Nick Tandy, from Bedford, is the joker in the pack aboard the French-built JTR Marshall Westland Mygale-Mercedes, in a gallant attempt to break the Italian Dallara stranglehold, a longshot at this level.
From Italy comes the Prema Powerteam with a brace of Dallara-Mercedes for Dutchman Renger van der Zande, 17th in Macau last year, and Stefano Coletti who lives in Monaco and describes himself as Monégasque-Italian, yet to make an impact in the Euroseries. Atte Mustonen, from Heinola, Finland, pilots the Räikkönen Robertson Racing Dallara-Mercedes after a season in British F3. Let us hope he gives team boss Kimi Räikkönen something to smile about. Also with 'Double R,' under the watchful eye of Anthony Hieatt, is Roberto Streit, from Rio de Janeiro, who was 5th in Macau last year, and steps down here from a season in the more powerful Formula Nippon car. They are joined by the experienced home-town favourite Michael Ho, who races for Macau.
Young Max Chilton comes to Macau with a Hitech Racing Dallara-Mercedes, after a season in British F3 where he finished in 10th place overall, and also set fastest lap at the Masters. Chilton is partnered by Walter Grubmuller, from Austria, who finished 18th in the Macau Grand Prix last year. In the third entry from David Hayle's team is Roberto Mehri, from Spain, a winner in Eurocup Formula Renault. Japan-born Italian Kei Cozzolino brings his NOW Motorsport Dallara-Toyota TOM'S to Macau, having made the podium on his debut at Fuji Speedway back in April. Koki Saga, in a Denso Team Le Beausett Dallara-Toyota TOM'S, is a runner in the Japanese Championship.
Masaki Matsushita finished third in the Japanese series and here switches to an Ombra Racing Dallara-Mugen Honda, accompanied by James Winslow, who won the Australian F3 Championship, despite money troubles, and also makes a one-off appearance for this Italian team. Sam Bird, from Roehampton, England, is driving for John Booth's Manor Motorsport in a Dallara-Mercedes; he was 2nd in the feature race in Barcelona in September and top rookie in 6th in Macau last year. He must be aiming to move nearer the front this time. He is joined at Manor Motorsport by Kazuya Oshima, the Japanese Formula 3 champion of 2007 and third in Macau last year, a man who has already seen the view from the podium. Jon Lancaster drives the third Manor Dallara-Mercedes; highlights of his year include 3rd in the Masters at Zolder and a win at the Nurburgring in the Euroseries in July. Manor Motorsport were second here last year and will be a threat this time, having already assisted 2008 F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton on his road to the top.
Two team HBR Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes come from Austria for Daniel Campos-Hull, from Spain, a top-ten runner in Europe and Basil Shaaban, from the Lebanon. Laurens Vanthoor, from Belgium, races an RC Motorsport Dallara-Volkswagen; aged only 17, he has been running in the German ATS Formula 3 Cup, winning at the Sachsenring in September and again at Oschersleben in October. This Milan-based team completes the four-car “powered by Volkswagen” entries.
A notable absentee is Nico Hülkenberg, the Euroseries F3 Champion, not wishing to repeat the disappointment of 2007.
Labels: Macau 2008
Macau Grand Prix
Hot on the heels of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia finale in Bahrain comes the Macau Grand Prix - and my second FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC).
The photograph shows Macau drivers Joe Merzei (left) and Lei Kit Meng with Alex Zanardi at the drivers' briefing this evening (Wednesday).
Today was spent preparing for the weekend.
The nice people from City of Dreams visited the pits and inspected their hospitality area.
Billy Au (from EDJ Karting) assisted the Wiechers Sport team in the preparation of their two BMWs. This included heading into town with a front bumper over his shoulder to find a repair shop where it was repainted (to replace the one damaged in Okayama).
Meanwhile I joined in the fun at a basketball competition between teams from the WTCC, the motorbike GP, the F3 GP and from Fisherman's Wharf (where the competition was held). I am hopeful that my performance on track this weekend will be somewhat more promising than this afternoon 'on court'...
Stay tuned for regular updates from the pits as the weekend develops.
Labels: Macau 2008, WTCC 2008
