The 2012 FIA WTCC Race of China was the penultimate round of the 2012 World Touring Car Championship season and the second running of the FIA WTCC Race of China. It was held on 4 November 2012 at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, China for the first time, as the previous year's race was held at the nearby Shanghai Tianma Circuit. Both races were won by Chevrolet with Alain Menu winning race one and Robert Huff winning race two.

Background Following the previous round in Japan, Yvan Muller and Robert Huff were tied at the top of the drivers' championship on 345 points. Norbert Michelisz was leading the Yokohama Independents' Trophy.

Macanese driver Alex Liu joined Liqui Moly Team Engstler to drive their naturally aspirated BMW 320si. Tom Boardman was the only entry for Special Tuning Racing after the team were unable to find a driver for their second car. 2009 British Touring Car Championship champion Colin Turkington returned to the WTCC with Team Aviva-Cofco who were running a Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T. French SEAT León Supercopa driver Hugo Valente would drive for SUNRED Engineering in a SUNRED SR León 1.6T while Fredy Barth returned to the championship to drive a latest specification SEAT León WTCC for SUNRED under the SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED banner. Son Veng Racing Team entered a Honda Accord Euro R for Kelvin Leong and Look Fong Racing Team ran a naturally aspirated Chevrolet Cruze LT for Eric Kwong. China Dragon Racing entered a Chevrolet Lacetti for Felipe De Souza and a Chevrolet Cruze LT for Kin Veng Ng.

Report

Free Practice Alex MacDowall set the fastest time in Friday testing ahead of the works Chevrolet drivers. Turkington set the fifth fastest time on his return to racing, his first time in a front wheel drive car since 2006. Alain Menu could only manage a time that could only get him up to eleventh.

It was Turkington who was quickest in Saturday's first free practice session in the Team Aviva-Cofco Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T, he set the time early and it went unbeaten for the rest of the 30-minute session. Pepe Oriola brought out the red flag two minutes before the end of the session when he stopped his car on the start-finish straight; fellow SEAT driver Fredy Barth was unable to run in the session.

Menu was on top in free practice two in his Chevrolet, the works trio having spent the session swapping fastest times. Independents' leader Michelisz was fifth fastest, Turkington was eighth after topping the first session and Tiago Monteiro was fifteenth in the Honda Racing Team JAS Honda Civic.

Qualifying Menu claimed his third consecutive pole position of the year, with title rivals Muller second and Huff fourth. Michelisz was the leading independent driver in third. Turkington was fifth on his return to the WTCC, putting ahead of the works Chevrolet trio for race two. A set up change for Gabriele Tarquini in Q2 put him only ninth fastest but with the benefit of a front row start in race two. Barth was 12th on his return, while Monteiro could only manage 17th in the second event for the Honda Civic. James Nash was the quickest of the Team Aon pair in 15th, with teammate Tom Chilton down in 22nd ahead of series debutant Hugo Valente. Liu failed to set a time within the 107% time in his naturally aspirated BMW 320si but was later allowed to race by the stewards.

Warm-Up Huff led a Chevrolet 1–2–3 in the Sunday morning warm up ahead of Muller and Turkington. Independents' points leader Michelisz was fourth and pole sitter Menu was fifth. Liu beached his BMW 320si in the gravel with five minutes to go.

Race One Menu completed a lights to flag victory ahead of Huff but teammate and championship leader Muller retired on the first lap with broken rear suspension. The breakage came in a second corner incident which also saw MacDowall, Turkington, Oriola, Darryl O'Young and Tom Coronel involved in a pile up. Michelisz was issued with a drive through penalty on lap five at a time when there was plenty of action in the midfield. Turkington had dropped to the back of the field on the opening lap but by the end of the race had climbed back up to eighth. Second place for Huff and a non-finish for Muller handed Huff the championship lead. After the race, Valente, Nash, Boardman, Monteiro and Barth were issued with 30-second time penalties for missing the chicane to avoid a pileup, dropping the latter three out of the points. Charles Ng picked up his first point of the season as a result.

Race Two Coronel led away from the start with D'Aste jumping up to second after a slow start for Tarquini. The drivers' door on the Wiechers-Sport car of D'Aste was hanging loose and on the third lap he was an easy target for the Chevrolet trio led by Menu, Coronel was passed a lap later. Turkington was once again fighting back from near the back and he was back up to tenth by lap 6 at the expense of Alberto Cerqui. Menu was leading until the start of lap 8 when Muller out-braked himself and the pair tangled, half-spinning Menu and allowing Huff to pass both of them to take the lead. Muller was second until he was passed by Menu a lap later, the pair swapped places again on lap 11 at the final hairpin. Huff won the race ahead of Muller and Menu with D'Aste the independent winner in sixth. Turkington had climbed up to eighth by the finish. Muller was given a retrospective drive through penalty after the race, dropping him to 13th in the classification.

Results

Qualifying Name Team Car Q1 Q2 Points 1 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:54.775 1:54.383 5 2 1 Yvan Muller Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:55.032 1:54.409 4 3 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TCY 1:55.243 1:54.523 3 4 2 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:54.491 1:54.582 2 5 32 Colin Turkington Team Aviva-Cofco Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:55.018 1:54.777 1 6 26 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TCY 1:55.586 1:55.142 7 74 Pepe Oriola Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCCY 1:55.475 1:55.325 8 11 Alex MacDowall bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6TY 1:55.467 1:55.378 9 3 Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC 1:55.266 1:55.451 10 15 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 1:55.246 1:55.720 11 4 Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCCY 1:55.486 1:55.840 12 73 Fredy Barth SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SEAT León WTCCY 1:55.525 1:56.296 13 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TCY 1:55.616 14 20 Darryl O'Young bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6TY 1:55.637 15 14 James Nash Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 1:55.658 16 88 Fernando Monje Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCCY 1:55.734 17 18 Tiago Monteiro Honda Racing Team JAS Honda Civic S2000 TC 1:55.742 18 7 Charles Ng Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 1:55.851 19 16 Alberto Cerqui ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TCY 1:55.973 20 22 Tom Boardman Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCCY 1:56.012 21 6 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 1:56.577 22 23 Tom Chilton Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 1:56.904 23 60 Hugo Valente SUNRED Engineering SR León 1.6TY 1:57.947 24 54 Eric Kwong Look Fong Racing Team Chevrolet Cruze LTY 1:59.352 25 53 Kelvin Leong Son Veng Racing Team Honda Accord Euro RY 2:00.864 26 51 Kin Veng Ng China Dragon Racing Chevrolet Cruze LTY 2:00.969 27 50 Felipe De Souza China Dragon Racing Chevrolet LacettiY 2:01.059 107% time: 2:02.505 — 76 Alex Liu Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 2:04.374 Bold denotes Pole position for second race.

Race 1 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 13 25:12.369 1 25 2 2 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 13 +1.500 4 18 3 26 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TCY 13 +11.192 6 15 4 15 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 13 +13.327 10 12 5 3 Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC 13 +15.653 9 10 6 32 Colin Turkington Team Aviva-Cofco Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 13 +30.125 5 8 7 16 Alberto Cerqui ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 13 +31.463 19 6 8 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 13 +40.183 13 4 9 6 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 13 +40.320 21 2 10 7 Charles Ng Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 13 +44.499 18 1 11 23 Tom Chilton Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 13 +46.076 22 12 22 Tom Boardman Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCCY 13 +56.382 20 13 18 Tiago Monteiro Honda Racing Team JAS Honda Civic S2000 TC 13 +1:00.032 17 14 73 Fredy Barth SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SEAT León WTCCY 13 +1:06.426 12 15 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 13 +1:07.550 3 16 60 Hugo Valente SUNRED Engineering SR León 1.6TY 13 +1:17.406 23 17 53 Kelvin Leong Son Veng Racing Team Honda Accord Euro RY 13 +1:21.551 25 18 54 Eric Kwong Look Fong Racing Team Chevrolet Cruze LTY 13 +1:25.129 24 19 50 Felipe De Souza China Dragon Racing Chevrolet LacettiY 13 +1:27.186 27 20 51 Kin Veng Ng China Dragon Racing Chevrolet Cruze LTY 13 +1:37.603 26 21 76 Alex Liu Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si Y 12 +1 Lap 28 22 74 Pepe Oriola Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCCY 9 +4 Laps 7 Ret 88 Fernando Monje Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCC Y 8 Race incident 16 Ret 14 James Nash Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 7 Engine 15 Ret 20 Darryl O'Young bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6TY 6 Race Incident 14 NC 4 Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCCY 6 +7 Laps 11 NC 11 Alex MacDowall bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 4 +9 Laps 8 Ret 1 Yvan Muller Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1 Race incident 2 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Race 2 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 2 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 13 25:17.714 7 25 2 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 13 +2.698 10 18 3 15 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 13 +4.378 1 15 4 26 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TCY 13 +4.866 5 12 5 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 13 +5.574 13 10 6 3 Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC 13 +20.406 2 8 7 32 Colin Turkington Team Aviva-Cofco Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 13 +25.189 6 6 8 22 Tom Boardman Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCCY 13 +26.741 20 4 9 16 Alberto Cerqui ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 13 +27.167 19 2 10 18 Tiago Monteiro Honda Racing Team JAS Honda Civic S2000 TC 13 +27.342 17 1 11 4 Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCCY 13 +28.113 11 12 20 Darryl O'Young bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6TY 13 +30.937 14 13 1 Yvan Muller Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 13 +31.195 9 14 73 Fredy Barth SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SEAT León WTCCY 13 +32.626 12 15 6 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 13 +35.170 21 16 88 Fernando Monje Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCC Y 13 +35.249 16 17 11 Alex MacDowall bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 13 +35.368 3 18 60 Hugo Valente SUNRED Engineering SR León 1.6TY 13 +41.675 23 19 23 Tom Chilton Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 13 +42.220 22 20 54 Eric Kwong Look Fong Racing Team Chevrolet Cruze LTY 13 +1:15.910 24 21 50 Felipe De Souza China Dragon Racing Chevrolet LacettiY 13 +1:21.126 27 22 51 Kin Veng Ng China Dragon Racing Chevrolet Cruze LTY 13 +1:34.329 26 23 7 Charles Ng Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 12 +1 Lap 18 24 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 12 +1 Lap 8 25 76 Alex Liu Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si Y 11 +2 Laps 28 Ret 53 Kelvin Leong Son Veng Racing Team Honda Accord Euro RY 7 Technical 25 Ret 74 Pepe Oriola Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCCY 6 Technical 4 Ret 14 James Nash Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 0 Engine 15 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Standings after the round

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 1 Robert Huff 390 1 2 Alain Menu 355 2 3 Yvan Muller 349 4 Gabriele Tarquini 236 5 Tom Coronel 196

Yokohama Independents' Trophy standings Pos Driver Points 1 Norbert Michelisz 138 2 Pepe Oriola 126 3 Stefano D'Aste 122 4 Alex MacDowall 95 5 Franz Engstler 82

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 930 2 BMW Customer Racing Teams 602 3 SEAT Racing Technology 569