The ninth round of the 2013 World Touring Car Championship takes place at the Sonoma Raceway with Yvan Muller within striking distance of his fourth title.
Despite the lateness of the deal to race the RML Chevrolet Cruze, the Frenchman has been the class of the field with six victories to his name and just a single zero – picked up last time out at the Termas de Río Hondo, Argentina.
Arriving in California 132 points ahead of nearest rival Michel Nykjær, Muller needs to leave with an advantage of 166 points over Nykjær – a tall order considering the Danish driver has only failed to score twice all season.
Mathematically, the top 9 drivers are still in contention for the title; IF Muller was to fail to score another point between the first race at Sonoma and the finale at Macau, Tom Coronel could end the season as Champion.
One title which is likely to be decided in America is the Manufacturers crown, with Honda holding a dominant advantage over LADA. Honda leads the way by 263 points with 344 up for grabs, and if they lead by 259 points heading to Japan then they secure the title in their first season.
Experienced Honda driver Gabriele Tarquini leads the charge and is the only Honda driver to have taken a victory – he led home a Honda 1-2-3 in Slovakia while the satellite team of Norbert Michelisz and Zengö Motorsport have been regular podium contenders and would be further up the order had it not been for misfortune during the early rounds.
LADA driver James Thompson could have been further up the Championship standings as well had his luck been different – but the experienced Brit is getting the Granta there and has front running pace at all circuits while young team-mate Mikhail Kozlovskiy continues to learn the ropes and improves with each weekend.
The battle for the Yokohama Independents crown is all set to go to the wire with Nykjær and fellow Chevrolet Cruze driver James Nash pulling away from the chasing pack. Nykjær leads the way by 9 points while third placed Alex MacDowall 32 points behind team-mate Nash in the standings, and without a Yokohama Independents’ podium since Austria.
If the action from the maiden WTCC Race of the USA is anything to go by, the crowds will be in for a treat and the weather could add another interest into proceedings and this could help the BMW drivers – Proteam Racing’s Mehdi Bennani led while current Honda driver Norbert Michelisz secured a brace of podium finishes for Zengö Motorsport.
Sonoma could offer another chance for a BMW victory – Jose Maria Lopez was the success story of the previous weekend as he took a maiden victory in the Wiechers-Sport BMW 320TC.
Reigning Champion Rob Huff leads the way for the SEAT’s, the ALL-INKL.com Münnich Motorsport driver has taken a sole victory in his title defence year and took his fourth victory of the year at the circuit last year.
Sonoma Raceway – more questions than answers but potentially, two Championships decided before the Asian leg of the season, and only the second time since the WTCC came back in 2005 that the drivers’ title has been secured before the streets of Macau.