The World Touring Car Championship was reborn in 2005 and surprisingly Chevrolet was confirmed as one of the five manufacturers to compete.
Joining the likes of BMW, Alfa Romeo, Seat and even a new Ford effort, but Chevrolet? Nah, surely not.
The American manufacturer was making push into Europe after buying Daewoo and was using the Korean brand’s models rebranded with the famous bow tie.
At the time, the S2000 regulations were booming after being implemented following the demise of Super Touring at the turn of the millennium.
Under the ruling of Marcello Lotti, the world title was spawned out of the European Touring Car Championship, which BMW and Alfa Romeo had dominated as both were joined by Seat in 2003.
Ford’s WTCC effort was little more than a token program run by German squad Hotifel Sport, but Chevrolet’s was significantly more serious.
First of all, respected team Ray Mallock Limited spearheaded the development and operated the Chevrolet operation. General Motors and RML had worked together before in the British Touring Car Championship through John Cleland’s 1995 title winning season, in addition to the transition to the Vectra that followed.
Using the Lacetti, development through 2005 was slow due to a lack of power compared to the seasoned manufacturers, but top 10 results became a regular result for the Chevrolet squad from the sixth round in Belgium onwards.
Gun driver Alain Menu, Italian ace Nicola Larini and young Brit Rob Huff made up the driver line-up, but scored no wins or podiums during the 10-round season to finish a distant fourth in the Manufacturers’ Championship.
The same driver line-up and RML entered the 2006 season with more development under its belt leading to stronger results.
Menu scored the first podium at the opening round held at Monza and three races later, Chevrolet’s maiden win at RML’s home event at Silverstone.
Chevrolet took seven wins in 2007 to overtake Alfa Romeo in the Manufacturers’ Championship and in 2008, Huff was third in the Drivers’ title in what was the last season for the Lacetti.
Debuting the Cruze in 2009 amid a dwindling manufacturer presence in the WTCC, French star Yvan Muller took Chevrolet’s first Drivers’ Championship in 2010 as he added further titles in 2011 and 2013, with Huff doing likewise in 2012.
Huff’s title came in Chevrolet’s final year of factory support, which followed BMW and Seat’s departure at the end of 2011, though the latter fielded semi-factory entries up until 2012.
The World Touring Car Championship changed regulations consistently throughout the early 2010s, with Honda, Lada, Citroen and Volvo entering works teams during this time.
RML designed a Cruze to fit the new TC1 regulations of 2014, but no factory support from came from Chevrolet and it became a popular choice for privateers.
Citroen dominated the title for three seasons before Thed Björk broke the streak in 2017 for Volvo to end the short lifespan of the TC1 regulations ahead of a transition to TCR rules for 2018.
It’s incredible to reflect back to Chevrolet’s WTCC effort and it was Daewoo providing the base for what was to be a successful campaign.