The 2012 World Touring Car Championship put an end to its European leg since the season opener back in March with the last Portuguese round. Then, after a six week break, the series crossed the Atlantic and arrived in South America for the Brazilian round - 15th and 16th races of the championship - at Autodromo Internacional de Curitiba.

The races at Curitiba has been one of regular fixtures since 2006, the second year of the championship and the year Yokohama became the sole tire supplier for the series. The race meeting in 2006 was held in July but it had moved to March and had been the season's opening event for the next five years. But now it got back to the July slot this year.

The factory Chevrolet drivers were utterly dominant throughout the testing and free practice sessions on Friday and Saturday. The situation continued in the qualifying session and Yvan Muller, Alan Menu and Robert Huff were the top three in the final qualifying result in that order.

Race 1 got underway at five past three p.m. on Sunday. But it took two formation laps to begin the race because the field didn't align properly at the end of the first rolling lap. The location of the start line at the track might have affected this, as the line on the 980 meter long pit straight is closer to the last corner than to the first corner.

While the front row starters, Muller and Menu, safely went into the first corner, Huff in third was momentarily threatened by Gabriele Tarquini who started from the fifth grid, just behind the Briton. But, still refusing to give up the drivers' title fight, Huff fended off the Italian's attack and kept the last slot of the Chevrolet's 1-2-3 formation when he entered Turn 1.

Behind them, Tiago Monteiro, who is set to move to the new Honda squad from Suzuka round, was involved in a collision with Alberto Cerqui's BMW at Turn 6. The subsequent damage to their cars was too heavy to continue and both of them eventually dropped out from the race.

The YOKOHAMA Trophy championship leader, Pepe Oriola, was the man to watch in the class. Starting from a rather lowly 14th grid, the young Spaniard gained several positions during the first two laps and formed a close pack with Norbert Michelisz and Tom Coronel.

After putting heavy pressure on Coronel, Michelisz made a move on the Dutchman at the last corner on Lap 4. But, as Oriola also tried to squeeze his car into the inside of Michelisz, the three cars exited the corner nearly abreast of each other. This first round of their battle was won by Coronel but Michelisz had to give way to Oriola in the course of it.

But the second round began soon, of course, which was typical of this championship, and it was particularly so between Oriola and Michelisz because they were the top two in the YOKOHAMA Trophy point standings. On Lap 5, the Hungarian hit back at Turn 1 and they went through the first two corners side by side, pushing physically each other but Oriola narrowly kept his position for a while. But Michelisz's similar attempt on Lap 9 was successful and he got ahead of the Spaniard's SEAT this time.

At the front, there was no position change between the factory Chevrolets but the race leader, Muller, couldn't afford to ease off his pace at all, as his teammates were so close behind him, and he had to manage his tires at the same time. But the championship leader completed the difficult task and claimed another victory.

The YOKOHAMA Trophy was also won by a non-factory Chevrolet driver, Michel Nykjar, followed by his Bamboo-engineering teammate Alex MacDowall. Thus, the first race of the day confirmed the speed of Chevrolet Cruze once again.

Since there are a few hours time difference between Brazil and European countries, the time table of this event was arranged to meet the European TV broadcaster's requirement. Therefore, the intermission between the two races was shorter than usual - less than an hour - and the teams rushed to make everything ready for the second race.

On the starting grids for Race 2, Michelisz and Coronel sat on the front row with their BMW 320 TCs. When the field went into the first corner after the start, they could keep their positions, thanks to the advantage of rear wheel drive cars in the standing start. Behind them, however, Tarquini got very good acceleration and moved up to third from the sixth grid.

At Turn 1 of the second lap, the Italian overtook Coronel from the inside. Now running in second, he started to put relentless pressure on the race leading Michelisz with his SEAT's headlights on as a warning.

But there was an accident on Lap 4, which turned the tide of the race. Charles Ng Ka Ki crashed his BMW at Turn 4 and the Safety Car was required to come out for removing the halted car. The racing resumed from Lap 7 but now Michelisz had no advantage from his rear wheel drive car because, after the Safety Car period, the race was restarted in a similar way with the rolling start. Now the Chevrolet drivers who had superior engines were clearly in advantageous positions.

When the field entered the seventh lap, Michelisz led the race and Tarquini, Huff and Muller followed. But, at the first corner after the restart, the SEAT ace made a move on the leader from the outside and skillfully overtook him. After losing the lead position, Michelisz became the prey of the factory Chevrolet drivers in succession and fell down to fifth.

The fight for the lead became even hotter in the second half of the race. Huff repeatedly tried to find his way to pass Tarquini and kept putting a tremendous pressure on his opponent. But the Italian veteran wouldn't lose his cool and kept the Briton at bay. Their mind games were well worth to watch.

The decisive moment came at the first corner of Lap 11. Just like emulating the Tarquini's overtaking a few laps ago, Huff managed to pass by the Italian's SEAT cleanly from the outside. Then the Briton picked up his pace and started to build a gap with Tarquini.

On Lap 13, Menu followed the teammate's path and moved up to second but Tarquini fended off Muller's repeated attack until the checkered flag fell and secured the third place finish to stop the Chevrolet's total podium domination in both races of the day.

Michelisz claimed the YOKOHAMA Trophy class win by finishing fifth overall, after starting from the pole position. As his main championship rival Oriola failed to score good points in both races in Brazil - the Spaniard was given a 30 second time penalty for over speeding during the rolling start of Race 1, Michelisz now moved up to the top slot of the YOKOHAMA Trophy point standings.

Autodromo Internacional de Curitiba has a 45 year long history since its completion in 1967 and has been one of major race tracks in Brazil. While it has been well maintained and repaired if needed, some parts of the track surfaces are relatively rough. Therefore, it can be said that the track is highly abrasive for tires.

For the first time in six years, the WTCC's Brazilian round got back to the July slot. From 2007 to 2011, the event had been held in March as the season opener. This calendar change meant that the meeting moved from late summer to early winter in Brazil. Consequently, the temperatures were significantly lower than those in the recent years and the air temperature when Race 1 started was only 25 Celsius degrees. The surface temperature, which used to reach almost 50 at mid-day, also stayed around 30. The tires never had a problem, such as severe degradation, even in the summer-time conditions in the past, so the conditions for tires this year was very much easier in terms of temperatures.

But, at this time of year in Brazil, the temperature difference during a day is very large and the low in early morning sometimes drops below 10. Therefore, it was important for the Yokohama's tire service staff not to upset their health to fulfill the task of supporting the race meeting, by wearing appropriate clothing depending on the conditions for example.