» WTCC: Updated 2017 calendar announced

The FIA World Motor Sport Council has announced a new date for its Argentinian round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, as well as a new location for its Chinese round, after releasing an updated version of its 2017 season calendar.

The changes were announced today at an extraordinary meeting of the FIA WMSC.

The Race of Argentina at Termas de Río Hondo will now take place on the weekend of July 15-16, two weeks earlier than the originally scheduled dates of August 5-6.

The following round in China will also be relocated from the Shanghai International Circuit, as confirmed by the supporting China Touring Car Championship series a month ago. The round will now take place at the new Ningbo International Circuit, occuring a lengthy three months after the series’ visit to South America.

The updated calendar is as follows:

2017 FIA World Touring Car Championship Season Calendar
Date	Event	Location
09 April	Race of Morocco	Circuit International Automobile Moulay El Hassan, Marrakech
30 April	Race of Italy	Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Milan
14 May	Race of Hungary	Hungaroring, Budapest
27 May	Race of Germany	Nürburgring Nordschleife, Nürburg
25 June	Race of Portugal	Circuito Internacional de Vila Real, Vila Real
16 July	Race of Argentina	Termas de Río Hondo, Río Hondo
15 October	Race of China	Ningbo International Circuit, Shanghai
29 October	Race of Japan	Twin Ring Motegi road course, Motegi
19 November	Guia Race of Macau	Guia Circuit, Macau
01 December	Race of Qatar	Losail International Circuit, Lusail

* Subject to final signature of the event’s promoter

Also announced by the WMSC is the previously announced second-tier class, WTCC-2, which was to feature TCN2 (TCR) specification cars to boost the WTCC’s dwindling grid sizes, has been abandoned.

Instead, series organisers have determined that the additional cars won’t be needed, all but confirming that the championship will field the minimum 16 entries required under its commercial agreements with individual event organisers.

“The proposed WTCC 2 category announced at the conclusion of the World Motor Sport Council of 30 November 2016 has been deleted for the 2017 season,” the FIA statement reads.

“This has been done to allow the Touring Car Commission and the Promoter to focus entirely on the main category (TC1) in 2017.”

The FIA WTCC entry list for the TC1 class will be published on March 14. So far, 12 TC1 cars and drivers have been confirmed so far and more are expected ahead of the season’s launch event.

Image via FIA WTCC Media