Volkswagen playing catch-up as the CTCC heads to Chengdu

This weekend sees the fifth round of the 2013 China Touring Car Championship taking place at the Chengdu Goldenport Circuit after the Chinese championship’s summer break.

The Chang’an Ford FRD team have a strong advantage after Andy Yan has won the last three rounds of the Championship at Shanghai, Tianma and Ordos, whilst the Shanghai VW 333 Racing team are still chasing their first win since the season opener at Zhuhai when Wang Rue claimed the spoils.

Although Volkswagen won the first race of the season in the rain, the performance of the Polo 1.6T has needed further development in order to compete with FRD’s Focus Focus saloons, powered by the Mountune 1.6 turbo engine developed jointly for the WTCC last season.

The Volkswagen team has recently invited Rob Huff, the reigning World Touring Car champion to test the improved version of their VW Polo race car, with the hopes that the technical advice from the Münnich Motorsport SEAT driver will help them back on the path to victory.

Kia Racing has recently shown improved form this season and began to disrupt the status quo between Ford and VW teams at Ordos. With the right strategy which pushed Huang Chu Han to third in the race, they have greater confidence in challenging the domination of the two front-running teams. G Racing will also attend the race to compete in the privateers’ trophy with their Chevrolet Cruzes.

Qualifying will be held at 16:35 (local time) on 24th August.