More details are beginning to emerge about Ford’s return to the World Touring Car Championship, with the news that the Arena Motorsport team – which will front the carmaker’s efforts – will enter three cars for the 2012 season, not two as had originally been predicted.
It is not yet known who will drive for the team, although British Touring Car Championship racer Tom Chilton is widely expected to be in one of the seats after he tested the team’s first 1.6-litre turbocharged runner before Christmas.
Another rumour is that former WTCC title-holder Gabriele Tarquini is in negotiations to drive one of the outfit’s other cars, with the Italian having grown increasingly dissatisfied with his time with SUNRED Engineering in recent years.
What is also known is that Ford has commissioned the Mountune Racing group to build a Global Racing Engine for its 2012 WTCC campaign, which it will also use in the Chinese Touring Car Championship.
The engine design is based on Ford’s 1.6-litre engine used in the World Rally Championship, although Mountune will make extensive modifications to the engine’s internals to make it more suitable for circuit racing.
[Image via LAT]
Richard Bailey
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