All cars will start the 2013 WTCC season on equal weight

The FIA have confirmed that all models will start the 2013 FIA World Touring Car Championship season on equal weights for the first time.

For 2013, all cars will start at a base weight of 1,150kg, before the compensation ballast system kicks in after two races, when up to 40kg can be placed on the fastest cars and 20kg removed from the slowest.

Last season the Championship winning Chevrolets were all made to start on maximum ballast as a ‘performance penalty’ for winning the title the previous season.

This was a compromise reached after an initial proposal was that the Chevrolets would carry an additional penalty all season of 30kg (bringing the base weight up to 1,180kg). This was reduced to a fixed base weight increase to 1,160kg for the Cruzes, whilst the rear-wheel drive BMWs were brought down to 1,160kg from 1,170kg.

The change for 2013 means the Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T and BMW 320 TC effectively drop 10kg to match the base weights of the Ford Focus S2000 TC, Honda Civic Super 2000 TC and SEAT León WTCC models, which were all of the homologated cars which took part in the 2012 season and are permitted to enter for the full season this year, hence their inclusion on this list.

The Lada Granta Sport was never formally homologated in 2012, and so its base weight will be calculated at a later date.