In 2009 the WTCC delivered the fan formula it's perfected over the years: big grid smash and grab action, drivers who seem to think they're at a local short-track banger event and 24 races over a big variety of circuits. The series visited smooth permanent race tracks, high voltage street circuits and some of the classic tracks - plus, it could

Watching the teams prepare their cars in the pit lane before sending them out for the Sunday morning warm-up, I was struck by the choreography that directs the relationship between the teams and their drivers. Timetables drive the series - sessions are short, meaning every second counts, so co-ordination between driver and team is vital. However, there's

Rules are made to be broken, but it helps if you know what they are in the first place. Faces in the paddock on Sunday morning were as threatening as the sky. No one was happy about the perceived lack of clarity in WTCC rules or the qualifying penalties. SEAT boss Jaime Puig was particularly vocal and the SEAT news site summed up their weekend. The

Everything said rain for this weekend. Last year, as the final WTCC race finished, I don't think I had ever been so soaked through. Pau sits in its own little ecosystem, perched as it is just north of the Pyrenees, right down in the south-west reaches of France, and the weather seems to do what it likes. Rain and thunderstorms were forecast so,