Honda to make CTCC debut at season finale

The eighth and final round of the 2012 China Touring Car Championship will be held ths weekend at the Shanghai International Circuit, which will see the CTCC’s new factory Honda team join the grid.

The rivalry between Shanghai VW 333 Racing Team and Chang’an Ford FRD team will be intense during this season’s finale. Volkswagen driver Han Han’s victory last time out at Tianma promoted him back up into to second place in the stanings, just two points behind championship leader Rainey He of the Chang’an Ford FRD team. Two of Rainey’s team-mates, Jiang Tengyi and Andy Yan, are also in contention for the title.

This weekend will also see the debut for Honda’s factory team in the CTCC. Led by Honda’s Dong Feng Branch, and with Japanese Mugen Power, the new team introduce a Honda Spirior (known as an Acura TL in the US market and in Europe as the Honda Accord) which is powered by a two-litre naturally aspirated K20 engine.

Li Chi Zong, the young Guangdong driver who competed in GT Asia this year with a Porsche 997 GT3R, will drive the Sino-Japanese built factory race-car.

While Lo Ka Chun, team leader of Kia 778 Autosport, has recently confirmed that his team will enter a Kia K2 1.6T in the final round, in place of one of of their normally aspirated Fortes.

The privateers’ battle will be concentrated between GDTV TSB Racing’s Honda Accords, G Racing’s Chevrolet Cruze 1.6Ts and ASR da Marco’s Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T.

Qualifying will be held at 13:00 (local time) on Saturday 3rd November.