The FIA World Touring Car Championship heads to Suzuka this weekend for the first of three flyaway races in the Far East that will serve to bring the 2013 season to a close.

With Honda having already won this year’s manufacturers’ title, the stage is now set for Yvan Muller, who – barring an atrocious weekend – will secure a record-breaking fourth drivers’ title.

The Circuit

2013 WORLD TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP RACE OF JAPAN

* Denotes event held at TI Aida Circuit, Okayama

The FIA World Touring Car Championship heads east this weekend to the Suzuka International Circuit, which will play host to the first of three rounds in the Far East that make up the final leg of the 2012 season.

This will be the event’s third time running at the Suzuka East Circuit after WTCC organisers announced a switch in venue for the Race of Japan, moving it from its traditional home at the TI Aida Circuit in Okayama to the more accessible Suzuka circuit. Sadly for fans, the race would be run on a much shorter ‘East Circuit’ version of the iconic Grand Prix circuit.

The reason is one of pure practicality: using the full 5.8-kilometre version of the circuit would limit each race to just nine laps apiece, and a lap-time would be well over 2 minutes a pop.

Instead, fans are given two races of 26 laps apiece on the shortened configuration, running around the opening third of the normal layout, before cutting back onto the final corner via an access road that starts near the Dunlop left-hander.

The Players

With this weekend’s being the first of three rounds counting towards the inaugural WTCC Asia Trophy, a host of local-region drivers have signed up for the final Far East flyaway rounds.

No less than five drivers from Macau have signed on across three privateer teams (all entering normally-aspirated Super 2000-specification cars).

Two of the grid’s more-seasoned outfits are fielding extra vehicles for guest drivers, with the works Honda outfit bringing out another Civic WTCC for Takuya Izawa, while the Liqui Moly Engstler team has freighted an extra BMW for regular guest driver Henry Ho.

The Engstler team will be without the services of team owner/driver Franz Engstler, who has been struck down by an as-yet undisclosed illness. His seat will be taken over by Masaki Kano, who has driven for the team in previous seasons.

The grid will also feature two more Japanese drivers: Yukinori Taniguchi makes a one-off return for the Weichers-Sport BMW team, while former open-wheel racer Hiroki Yoshimoto will take over the NIKA Racing Chevrolet seat previously held by Michel Nykjær.

One of Campos Racing’s regular driver, Hugo Valente, won’t be on the grid this weekend, with his SEAT León WTCC to be taken over by as yet-unnamed driver.

Here’s this weekend’s provisional entry list:

No.	Driver		Entrant		Car
1.	Robert Huff		Münnich Motorsport		SEAT León WTCC 1.6T
3.	Gabriele Tarquini		Castrol Honda WTCC Team		Honda Civic WTCC
5.	Norbert Michelisz		Zengõ Motorsport		Honda Civic WTCC
7.	Charles Ka-Ki Ng*		Liqui Moly Team Engstler		BMW 320 TC
8.	Mikhail Koslovskiy		LADA Sport Lukoil		LADA Granta
9.	Alex MacDowall*		Bamboo Engineering		Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
10.	James Thompson		LADA Sport Lukoil		LADA Granta
12.	Yvan Muller		RML		Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
14.	James Nash*		Bamboo Engineering		Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
15.	Tom Coronel		ROAL Motorsport		BMW 320 TC
18.	Tiago Monteiro		Castrol Honda WTCC Team		Honda Civic WTCC
19.	Fernando Monje*		Campos Racing		SEAT León WTCC 1.6T
22.	Tom Boardman*		Special Tune Racing		SEAT León WTCC 1.6T
23.	Tom Chilton		RML		Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
25.	Mehdi Bennani*		Proteam Racing		BMW 320 TC
26.	Stefano D’Aste*		PB Racing		BMW 320 TC
37.	René Münnich*		Münnich Motorsport		SEAT León WTCC 1.6T
38.	Marc Basseng		Münnich Motorsport		SEAT León WTCC 1.6T
45.	TBA		Campos Racing		SEAT León WTCC 1.6T
55.	Darryl O’Young*		ROAL Motorsport		BMW 320 TC
60.	Filipe de Souza*^		China Dragon Racing		Chevrolet Cruze LT
61.	Ng Kin Veng*^		China Dragon Racing		Chevrolet Cruze LT
66.	Jerónimo Badaraco*^		Son Veng Racing Team		Chevrolet Cruze LT
67.	Hiroki Yoshimoto*^		NIKA Racing		Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
68.	Masaki Kano*^		Liqui Moly Team Engstler		BMW 320 TC
74.	Pepe Oriola		Tuenti Racing Team		Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
73.	Yukinori Taniguchi*^		Wiechers-Sport		BMW 320 TC
77.	Mak Ka Lok*^		RPM Racing		BMW 320si
88.	Henry Ho Wai Kun*^		Liqui Moly Team Engstler		BMW 320si
99.	Takuya Izawa^		Honda Racing Team JAS		Honda Civic WTCC

* Denotes Yokohama Independent Trophy competitor.
^ Denotes EuroSport Asia Trophy competitor
Entry list is subject to final FIA confirmation.

Facts, Stats & Predictions

Championship favourite Yvan Muller went into the preceding round at Sonoma with an outside chance of wrapping up a fourth Drivers’ Championship title before the field headed across the Pacific to Japan.

That didn’t quite happen, but it will take a miracle to stop the Frenchman from wrapping it all up this weekend. Following Michel Nykjær’s ousting from the NIKA Racing team, that leaves Gabriele Tarquini as Muller’s sole championship rival, but the veteran Italian would have to outscore Muller by over 35 points in order to take the title fight to the following round in Shanghai.

But Tarquini will have a serious task in front of him. With Honda showing terrific pace last time out in California, that has seen the performance ballast increased on all four Honda Civic entries, which will take them to a mere 20kg less than the weigh the Chevrolet Cruze 1.6Ts have to carry.

The remaining turbo runners with BMW, LADA or SEAT badges will run at their respective minimum base weights, which will very much play into the favour of outgoing champion Rob Huff and 2011 race-winner Tom Coronel, who always performs well in Japan.

This again promises to be a fascinating weekend of touring car action. As always, make sure you visit RichardsF1.com for all of the latest news and analysis from Suzuka!

Richard Bailey RichardsF1.com Editor [Images via FIA WTCC Media]

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Richard Bailey

Founder & Chief Editor at MotorsportM8

Hasn't missed a Grand Prix since 1989. Has a soft spot for Minardi. Tattooed with 35+ Grand Prix circuits.

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