The third season of the FIA World Touring Car Championship will get underway this weekend at the Curitiba circuit in Brazil, and the N.technology Alfa Romeo team, with its all-new driver line-up of returnee James Thompson and Dutch youngster Olivier Tielemans, looking to get right back to the front-running race pace they demonstrated last year at this circuit.

This will be the second time the 3.7 km Autódromo Internacional de Curitiba in Brazil will host the FIA World Touring Car Championship. Last year the world championship visited Curitiba for the first time at the beginning of July; and a record crowd of 34,000 attended two thrilling races that were won by Jordi Gené (SEAT León) – after an exciting fight with pole sitter and local hero Augusto Farfus (Alfa Romeo 156) – and eventual World Champion Andy Priaulx (BMW 320si).

And now it is up to the drivers who will fight the battle to depose Priaulx from the touring car throne that he has occupied for three years. Challenges to the Briton will not only come from his fellow BMW drivers but also from the strong teams entered by SEAT Sport and Chevrolet, while James Thompson with the N.technology Alfa Romeo 156 and 2006 Independent champion Tom Coronel will contend as serious dark horses.

All the ingredients are there for another season made up of twenty-two exciting races. 21 drivers from 11 countries and representing four different car manufacturers – Alfa Romeo, BMW, Chevrolet and SEAT – will compete this year. Amongst the newcomers is Mexican ace Michel Jourdain (SEAT Sport) and two young Spaniards coming from the single-seater GP2 Championship: Félix Porteiro (BMW Team Italy-Spain), who impressed in his maiden race with the team during the the 2006 FIA European Touring Car Cup at Estoril, and Sergio Hernández (Proteam Motorsport).

The latest addition to this impressive list is the 20-year-old Dutchman Olivier Tielemans, signed by Alfa Romeo's N.technology team. The 22-year-old from Holland has experience in single-seaters and touring cars with drives in DTM, Mégane Eurocup and Formula 3000 under his belt.
 

"This is the best drive I have ever been offered so it's fair to say that I am really happy," said Tielemans. "DTM is the highest I have ever competed in before this so I hope to use my experience from there to do well in my new team." The N.technology Alfa Romeo outfit has in fact been right at the centre of the major driver line-up changes this year as last year's number one driver Augusto Farfus has switched to BMW while James Thompson has returned to the Italian team from SEAT.

One big change to the way the races will be run this year has also been made. During their recent extraordinary meeting, the FIA World Motor Sport Council approved a proposal coming from the Touring Car Commission to change the start of the first race of each event of the FIA World Touring Car Championship from standing to rolling. The second race will retain the usual standing start as well as the top-eight reverse grid. This change was agreed by representatives from all the manufacturers who are committed to the championship: Alfa Romeo, BMW, Chevrolet and SEAT.