Six months since the 2016 FIA European Touring Car Cup concluded with a dramatic winner-takes-all finale at Imola, the eagerly anticipated 2017 season powers up at another famous Italian venue this weekend, Monza.

Taking place from 29-30 April, ETCC Race of Monza is the first of six events that make up the WTCC’s official feeder category, run for the first time in 2005.

For 2017, an agreement between motorsport’s world governing body, the FIA, and WSC Ltd, the organisation behind the TCR touring car category, will allow TCR-specification cars to compete in the headlining ETCC 1 category alongside FIA TCN2 and Single Make Trophy-eligible machinery. The TCR Balance of Performance will be applied to all TCR cars.

WHO’S ON TRACK? 
After missing out on title glory in the ETCC’s top class in 2016, Petr Fulín, one of the category’s most successful and loyal drivers, is back to go one better in his Křenek Motorsport SEAT. Quick and experienced in equal measure, Czech Fulín, 40, will face opposition from Hungary’s Norbert Nagy, 22, and Switzerland’s Peter Rikli, who finished third and fourth in last season’s standings. Nagy continues in a Zengő Motorsport SEAT, while the vastly experienced Rikli, 47, will chase the ETCC’s big prize in the Honda Civic run by his brother Erwin’s Rikli Motorsport team, which guided Kris Richard to title joy in 2016. Christjohannes Schreiber will replace his fellow Swiss Richard at Rikli Motorsport having impressed in his rookie ETCC season in 2016. Fábio Mota, another standout ETCC rookie from last year, also returns. Competing under the Lein Racing banner, the Portuguese, 29, gets his hands on a latest-specification SEAT run by Lema Racing. Twenty-year-old Serb Mladen Lalušić partners Mota in his third season of ETCC action. Former FIA European Hillclimb champion Igor Stefanovski, 34, who scored his maiden ETCC win at Imola last October, has established his own team in his native Macedonia to run his SEAT. After spending much of 2016 establishing his Pfister-Racing team, Germany’s ETCC regular Andreas Pfister, 29, is aiming high for 2017. Zsolt David Szabo, 21, will make his ETCC debut with Zengő Motorsport and will be joined by fellow Hungarian and series rookie Anett György, 20. Plamen Kralev last raced in the ETCC in 2014 and returns for 2017 to drive an Audi RS3 LMS for Kraf Racing. The 44-year-old Bulgarian has raced single-seaters and at Le Mans in the past. All SEATS and Kralev’s Audi will run to TCR rules.

WEEKEND OVERVIEW: 
Monza’s third FIA European Touring Car Cup appearance comes four years after the legendary parkland venue last hosted a round of the WTCC’s established feeder category. As well as the WTCC, the ETCC is sharing the billing with the FIA Formula 3 European Championship and the French F4 series. Following testing on Friday, Free Practice and Qualifying take place on Saturday and two nine-lap races run on Sunday. Race 1 begins at 09h00 local time with the second getting underway at 10h05. Race 2 will be broadcast live on Eurosport 2 with both races streamed as they happen at FIAETCC.com.

THEY SAID WHAT?
Petr Fulín: “I really like Monza, although it doesn't make any significant difference where you race. The winter was – as every year – very long and I'm happy to be back in the car.”
Mladen Lalušič: “We’re here in Monza not for the first time, as we had some testing here last month. There we achieved some good times. We some expectations this weekend.”
Norbert Nagy: “I had my first ETCC race here in Monza four years ago. It's a legendary circuit and it's always nice to race here.”
Andreas Pfister: “I like the circuit and I know it since 2012. I've done some mileage here and took good results in the past.”
Christjohannes Schreiber: “Monza is new for me. It's almost an honour to race at such a legendary circuit. Since last year's final Imola race I was looking forward to the start of this year.”

WHAT’S NEW FOR 2017? 
While the ETCC continues to feature at four rounds of the WTCC, including on a combined grid at the Nürburgring Nordschleife in late May, Zolder returns to the calendar after a break of one season and Most hosts the ETCC for the first time at its season-finale meeting in early October. In other changes, the ETCC Super 2000 Cup has been renamed ETCC 1 with the ETCC Super 1600 Cup renamed ETCC 2. The ETCC Nations’ Cup will not be awarded in 2017.

RULES REFRESHER: 
The results of Qualifying will determine the grid order for Race 1 with the results of the first race deciding the starting grid for Race 2, albeit with the top eight finishers lining up in reverse order. However, unlike in previous seasons both races will begin from a standing start. ETCC 1 and ETCC 2 competitors will score points as follows: fastest three drivers in qualifying: 3-2-1. The top eight finishers in each class in each race will score: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. A race-by-race prize fund of €18,000 will be shared among the classified finishers in ETCC 1. Yokohama continues as the ETCC’s tyre partner for 2017.

PROVISIONAL KEY TIMINGS: 
Saturday 29 April: 09h55-10h40: Free Practice; 13h30: ETCC driver family photograph (paddock); 16h00-16h30: Qualifying; 16h35 (approx.): Post-Qualifying press conference (Media Centre) Sunday 30 April: 09h00-09h25: ETCC Race of Monza Race 1 (9 laps); 10h05-10h30: ETCC Race of Monza Race 2 (9 laps);10h30: Race podiums; 10h40 (approx.): Post-Race press conferences (Media Centre) Timings provisional, subject to change

EUROSPORT TV SCHEDULE:
Eurosport 2 will broadcast Race 2 live at 10h05 on Sunday 30 April. Both races will also be streamed live at FIAETCC.com.

ETCC CALENDAR 2017:
28-30 April: Autodromo Nazionale Monza (Italy)*; 12-14 May: Hungaroring (Hungary)*; 25-27 May:Nürburgring Nordschleife (Germany)*; 23-25 June: Circuito Internacional de Vila Real (Portugal) S*; 15-17 September: Circuit Zolder (Belgium)**; 6-8 October: Autodrom Most (Czech Republic); S=street race; *=FIA World Touring Car Championship support race; **=FIA European Truck Racing Championship support race