From the shortest racetrack to the longest one. From Puebla Amozoc (3.0 km) on the Mexican highland, to Spa-Francorchamps (7.0 km) in the Belgian forest of the Ardennes. After its first ever overseas event, the FIA World Touring Car Championship is now heading back to Europe for rounds 11 and 12 that will take place on Saturday 30th July.

The FIA WTCC cars and parts are already on their way back to Europe. Most of the load was shipped last Thursday from Veracruz, on board the Mexican cargo ship ‘Yucatan’, that is due to dock on the 18th of July in Antwerp, where all the teams will collect their own items. However, six cars have already flown back to Stuttgart. These are the five which were damaged in the series of incidents that happened in Puebla – Jörg Müller’s BMW, Adriano De Micheli’s Honda, Nicola Larini’s Chevrolet and the two Alfa Romeo 156 racers of James Thompson and Gabriele Tarquini – plus Robert Huff’s Chevrolet, that the team will use for a test in view of Spa.

The fight for both, the Drivers’ and the Manufacturers’ titles, is more open then ever. Despite a disappointing Mexican weekend, that left him scoreless, BMW’s Dirk Müller has retained his leadership in the Drivers’ Championship. However his competitors have managed to closed the gap on him. Fabrizio Giovanardi – is currently the driver in the best shape having claimed two wins, three thirds and a final points scoring eighth place, in the last six races – is only two points behind, while Andy Priaulx, Antonio García and Gabriele Tarquini have 5, 8 and 9 point gaps respectively.
 

With a maximum of twenty points to be awarded in the two races at the Belgian meeting, three other drivers have theoretical chances to aim for the lead: SEAT's Rickard Rydell (14 pts behind), James Thompson, whose fourth and fifth place finishes at Puebla move him up the order to just fifteen points adrift, and his Brazilian Alfa Romeo team mate Augusto Farfus, who after scoring no points in Mexico slips back to 18 pts off the top slot.

In the Manufacturers’ Championship, Alfa Romeo have bounced back into contention during the last two rounds (at Mexico and before that at Imola) and are now level-pegging with arch-rivals BMW, and with SEAT also steadily plugging the gap the manufacturer's race is wide open.

Alfa Romeo and BMW now hold a joint series lead wih 129 points each after Mexico, with SEAT closing the gap in third place, 31 points behind. The title fight will be decided between these three carmakers as the other two FIA WTCC manufacturer's are nowhere to be seen yet, Chevrolet, despite consistent scoring have only 32 points, while Ford trail in with just 2 points.