2008 World Touring Car Championship

The 2008 World Touring Car Championship season was the fifth World Touring Car Championship season, the fourth since its 2005 return. It began on 2 March, and ended on 16 November, after twenty-four races. The championship, which was open to Super 2000 Cars and Diesel 2000 Cars, was composed of the FIA World Touring Car Championship for Drivers and the FIA World Touring Car Championship for Manufacturers.

Frenchman Yvan Muller won the Drivers title by 26 points from SEAT team-mate Gabriele Tarquini, with Chevrolet's Robert Huff finishing third just a point behind Tarquini. The Manufacturers Championship was awarded to SEAT.

Teams and drivers


The full season entry list.

Note: Macau-based RPM Racing Team had planned to race one Toyota Altezza and one Honda Civic Type-R for Macanese drivers Lei Kit Meng and Jo Rosa Merszei in the final races in Macau. Although car numbers were allocated to them (#64 for Meng (Toyota Altezza) and #65 for Merszei (Honda Civic)), the FIA Touring Car Bureau rejected the entries because neither of these cars had been homologated by the FIA.

Driver changes
Changed Teams
 * Olivier Tielemans: N-Technology → Wiechers-Sport
 * Tom Coronel: GR Asia → SUNRED Engineering
 * Stefano D'Aste: Wiechers-Sport → Scuderia Proteam Motorsport

Entering WTCC including those who entered one-off rounds in 2007
 * Rickard Rydell: No full-time drive → SEAT Sport
 * Ibrahim Okyay: Turkish Touring Car Championship → Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport
 * Viktor Shapovalov: Dutch Supercar Challenge → Russian Bears Motorsport
 * Jaap van Lagen: Porsche Supercup → Russian Bears Motorsport
 * Franz Engstler: Asian Touring Car Series → Liqui Moly Team Engstler
 * Andrey Romanov: Asian Touring Car Series → Liqui Moly Team Engstler

Leaving WTCC
 * Michel Jourdain Jr.: SEAT Sport → No full-time drive
 * Roberto Colciago: SEAT Sport Italia → Italian Endurance Touring Championship
 * Emmet O'Brien: GR Asia → Danish Touring Car Championship
 * Maurizio Ceresoli: GR Asia → No full-time drive
 * Luca Rangoni: Scuderia Proteam Motorsport → Porsche Carrera Cup Italy
 * Miguel Freitas: Racing for Belgium → SEAT León Supercopa Spain

Calendar
A provisional calendar was released in November, 2007.

Sweden was to be included in the calendar for 21 September but the FIA confirmed on 3 May 2008 that the Swedish round at the Scandinavian Raceway was replaced by an Italy round at the revamped Imola Circuit.

Drivers' Championship
The final standings in the 2008 FIA World Touring Car Championship for Drivers were : † — Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.

Drivers' Championship points were awarded on a 10–8–6–5–4–3–2–1 basis to the first eight finishers in each race.

Manufacturers' Championship
Manufacturers' Championship points were awarded on a 10–8–6–5–4–3–2–1 basis to the first eight finishers in each race. However, only the results of the best two cars for each manufacturer were taken into account.

Yokohama Independents' Trophy
The Yokohama Independents' Trophy uses a similar system to the Drivers’ Championship, however double points are awarded at Macau.

Yokohama Teams' Trophy
All the teams taking part in any of the rounds of the 2008 FIA World Touring Car Championship were eligible to score points for the Yokohama Teams' Trophy. Points were awarded to the two best classified cars of each team, providing they were driven by Independent drivers. All other cars of that same team were considered invisible as far as scoring points was concerned.