Tom Coronel, John Filippi and Mehdi Bennani all have engine penalties

Three drivers already know where they will start the first World Touring Car Championship race at the Nürburgring Nordschliefe before even testing took place, with ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel, Campos Racing’s John Filippi and Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani all having changed engines before the weekend.

The two Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1s of Coronel and Filippi are the latest two cars to make the switch to the new evolution of car builder RML’s Global Racing Engine, joining team-mates Tom Chilton and Hugo Valente respectively who fitted the upgrade in Morocco back in April.

This leaves Craft-Bamboo’s Grégoire Demoustier and the two Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet Cruzes of Stefano D’Aste and Sabine Schmitz the only Chevrolet drivers with the original spec engine this weekend in Germany.

The privateer Citroën C-Elysée WTCC of Mehdi Bennani has also had its engine changed this weekend after overheating at the Hungaroring two weeks ago. Engine changes in the WTCC force cars to go to the back of the grid for the next race, meaning Coronel, Filippi and Bennani will start last for race one, but qualifying will still be key as it will still influence their starting positions for race two.