Three Japanese drivers will join the World Touring Car Championship for their home event at the Okayama International Circuit.

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Masaki Kano returns to Liqui Moly Team Engstler after taking part in two rounds of the 2008 season.

Seiji Ara and Nobuteru Taniguchi will debut in the championship for Wiechers-Sport and Proteam Motorsport respectively.

An experienced long-distance racer, Ara is one of only two Japanese drivers to have won the Le Mans 24 hours. He is also a race winner for Nissan in the competitive Japanese SuperGT series.

Taniguchi, who will join Felix Porteiro at Proteam Motorsport for Japan and also Macau, is also a well-known SuperGT racer and boasts a couple of national titles in the Super Taikyu series.