Rate it!

1 votes

Alain Menu has predicted that this weekend's World Touring Car Championship round in Okayama will be wide open.

The Championship will resume in Japan for rounds 21 and 22 after a five-week break with Gabriele Tarquini of SEAT Sport leading the Championship by seven points from team-mate Yvan Muller.

BMW Team Germany's Augusto Farfus is the only driver who can still threaten the SEAT men in the title fight but Menu believes that this weekend could see more than just the title contenders contest the victories.

"It is quite difficult to make any prediction about Okayama," he said.

"Okayama is quite a special place, different from any other, and a challenging track, very technical. The first part is pretty fast but the key section is the second one, which has slow corners, where you can lose a lot of time.

"Finding the right balance is not easy, also because at this time of the year, you can be sure of having rain at some point."

This is the Championship's second visit to the demanding racetrack that winds up among the green hills of the Honshu island and hosted Formula 1's Pacific GP in 1994 and 1995.

Last year Rickard Ridell took advantage of wet conditions to win the first race before Tom Coronel became the first non factory driver to win a WTCC race in the second.

LIVE from 04:30 on Sunday on British Eurosport (Sky 410 / Virgin Media 521); Also available on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click on the link under the picture to subscribe

Lee WALKER / Eurosport