24 cars on entry list for Valencia

There will be no round-by-round entries for the second round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship at Valencia next week, though there will still be 24 cars on the grid with Fernando Monje making his debut WTCC appearance for SUNRED.

The full entry list for the second round of the Championship at Valencia features 24 cars, one more than took part at the opening round at Monza.

Fernando Monje joins the field for his home race at Valencia. The 19-year-old has been entered for the full season but will skip the three clashing rounds with the FIA European Touring Car Cup at Monza, Slovakiaring and the Salzburgring, and so will competing in the WTCC for the first time in the #88 SUNRED Engineering SEAT León TDI.

Missing from the grid is the round-by-round entry of Rickard Rydell and Chevrolet Motorsport Sweden, in line with the team’s plan to just do the opening round at Monza as preparation for the start of the 2012 Scandinavian Touring Car Championship in early May.

This reduces the number of Chevrolets on the grid to five, with the three works cars run by RML and the two independent Cruzes of Bamboo Engineering.

SEAT will be fielding eight cars, four SEAT León WTCCs with the latest 1.6 litre turbo engine for Gabriele Tarquini, Aleksei Dudukalo, Darryl O’Young and Pepe Oriola, and four TDI cars for Tom Boardman, Tiago Monteiro, Andrea Barlesi and Fernando Monje.

There are nine BMW 320 TCs which are expected to be among the front runners at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo which has generally favoured the rear-wheel drive BMWs in the past, as well as the two Ford Focus S2000 TCs of Tom Chilton and James Nash.

Entry List for 2012 FIA World Touring Car Championship – Valencia

No – Driver – Nat – Team – Car
1 – Yvan Muller – FRA – Chevrolet – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
2 – Rob Huff – GBR – Chevrolet – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
3 – Gabriele Tarquini – ITA – Lukoil Racing Team – SEAT León WTCC
4 – Aleksei Dudukalo – RUS – Lukoil Racing Team – SEAT León WTCC
5 – Norbert Michelisz – HUN – Zengő Motorsport – BMW 320 TC
6 – Franz Engstler – GER – Liqui Moly Team Engstler – BMW 320 TC
7 – Charles Kaki Ng – HKG – Liqui Moly Team Engstler – BMW 320 TC
8 – Alain Menu – SUI – Chevrolet – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
11 – Alex MacDowall – GBR – Bamboo Engineering – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
12 – Pasquale Di Sabatino – ITA – Bamboo Engineering – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
14 – James Nash – GBR – Arena Motorsport – Ford Focus S2000 TC
15 – Tom Coronel – NLD – ROAL Motorsport – BMW 320 TC
16 – Alberto Cerqui – ITA – ROAL Motorsport – BMW 320 TC
18 – Tiago Monteiro – POR – SUNRED Engineering – SEAT León TDI
20 – Darryl O’Young – HKG – Special Tuning Racing – SEAT León WTCC
22 – Tom Boardman – GBR – Special Tuning Racing – SEAT León TDI
23 – Tom Chilton – GBR – Arena Motorsport – Ford Focus S2000 TC
24 – Isaac Tutumlu – SPN – Proteam Racing – BMW 320 TC
25 – Mehdi Bennani – MOR – Proteam Racing- BMW 320 TC
26 – Stefano D’Aste – ITA – Wiechers-Sport – BMW 320 TC
27 – Gábor Wéber – HUN – Zengő Motorsport – BMW 320 TC
40 – Andrea Barlesi – BEL – SUNRED Engineering – SEAT León TDI
74 – Pepe Oriola – SPN – SUNRED Engineering – SEAT León WTCC
88 – Fernando Monje – SPN – SUNRED Engineering – SEAT León TDI