2012 World Touring Car Championship season

The 2012 World Touring Car Championship season was the ninth season of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, and the eighth since its 2005 return. The championship, which was open to Super 2000 cars, began with the Race of Italy at Monza on 11 March and ended with the Guia Race of Macau at the Guia Circuit on 18 November, after twenty-four races. Robert Huff won the Drivers' Championship and Chevrolet won the Manufacturers' Championship.

The following teams and drivers contested the 2012 FIA World Touring Car Championship.

Each meeting consists of two races of approx 50 km each.

Numerous changes have been made to the 2012 calendar:

Having dominated the previous season, and still being the only factory-supported team in 2012, the factory Chevrolets were expected to dominate qualifying, but instead it was Gabriele Tarquini in his Lukoil SEAT who took a surprising pole position. The leading Chevrolet of defending champion Yvan Muller was second, only six-hundredths behind Tarquini, with his teammates Robert Huff and Alain Menu on the second row. Rickard Rydell, in a one-off outing, took fifth in a fourth Chevrolet supplied by Chevrolet Motorsport Sweden. Pepe Oriola took pole in the Yokohama class by qualifying seventh.

The standing start for Race 1 saw no incidents in the first chicane, but that was not the case later in the lap as Huff and Menu touched while battling for third, and went into the gravel. Both drivers lost out, Huff dropping to sixth and Menu well outside the top ten. Tarquini and Muller soon began a battle for the lead, which eventually ended up in Muller's favour after Tarquini made a mistake on lap 4. Rydell ran third briefly, but was passed by a recovering Huff mid-race, and the Brit then passed Tarquini as the latter struggled with fading tyres. Muller started off his title defence with a win ahead of Huff, Tarquini and Rydell. Sixth place was enough for Pepe Oriola to win the Yokohama trophy.

...
Wikipedia