Yukinori Taniguchi to race for Wiechers-Sport in Suzuka

Yukinori Taniguchi will return to the World Touring Car Championship grid for his home race next weekend, replacing Swiss driver Fredy Barth who has other commitments with the Emil Frey sports car project.

The 44-year-old last drove in the WTCC in 2011, racing for the full season with bamboo-engineering with the Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T, with a best finish of seventh at his home race netting him his only points finish of the season.

“I am extremely happy to come back to the most exciting race in the world,” said Taniguchi. “With the team and the car I respect their high potential, I will try my best to improve my best result and bring a second WTCC trophy to Japan.”

Taniguchi is the second Japanese driver to be confirmed for the Suzuka weekend, with Super GT regular Takuya Izawa already confirmed at Honda in their third car.

“I’m happy that we’ve signed Yukinori Taniguchi for the races in Japan,” said Wiechers-Sport team manager Dominik Greiner. “Yuke and I are friends since a few years and I look forward to working with him for the first time. I’m sure that he will harmonize well with our team. Yuke knows the Suzuka track very well and I’m confident that he will be quick with our BMW 320 TC.”