#wtcc

Honda has released the first official photos of its 2014 Civic WTCC race car and although it’s covered with plenty of camouflage, the Civic is looking nice and mean.

Possibly joining Citroen and Honda in the 2014 World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) season are automakers Subaru and Renault.

A 300-hp turbocharged four cylinder might find it’s way into the next Civic Type-R.

Honda‘s new Civic race car has just undergone its first tests for the FIA World Touring Car Championship, using a new engine that could foreshadow the brand’s future.

Honda has revealed a new engine in Europe that is certain to get its loyal fan base of enthusiasts hitting VTEC. Unfortunately, there are no plans to slide it under the hood of a production car – at least for now.

Today, Chevrolet announced that 2012 will be the final year that the company will compete in the World Touring Car Championship.

Increasing motorsports exposure, Honda announced its plans to enter its newly redesigned European 2012 Honda Civic into the 2012 FIA World Touring Car Championship ( WTCC).

The World Touring Car Championship, a popular series in Europe, is planning to come to North America as a book-end to its usual race in Brazil. So far, the location of such an event is undecided.

In a move that would have been unthinkable in the last decade, but is hardly surprising in this era, BMW has announced that it is abandoning factory support for the World Touring Car Championship.

The move comes after BMW’s  withdrawl from Formula 1 at the end of the 2009 season, and a change in management at BMW Motorsport. BMW will still offer the 320 TC to independent teams, leaving Chevrolet and Volvo as the only factory-supported outfits in the series.

BMW will still support European endurance racing with their M3 and Z4 programs, as well as an upcoming DTM effort, a WRC team for its MINI division and driver development programs.

Hit the jump to see the official press release

[Source: BMW]

Volvo is set to enter the World Touring Car Championship in 2011, and while the brand isn’t normally associated with motorsports, the Volvo 850 wagon had a previous campaign in the British Touring Car Championship, where it was famous for being a station wagon, and having a penchant for going up on three wheels.

Now, Volvo is planning to return to touring cars with a WTCC entry based on the S60. A successful season in the Swedish Touring Car Championship spurred Volvo on to the idea of taking their race program to the rest of Europe, and with top rivals SEAT and BMW scaling back their efforts, we’d say that the Swedes have a decent shot of winning.

[Source: Volvo]

Hit the jump to see the official press release

Chevrolet has a lot of experience stuffing bigger engines into Corvettes, Camaros and other factory hot rods, but this may well be the first and last time the subcompact Spark gets the same treatment.