Petr Fulín and Kris Richard will face off for one of the biggest prizes in international motorsport when Imola hosts the FIA European Touring Car Cup season finale next weekend (30 September-2 October).

In a winner-takes-all battle for the prize drive at a WTCC race weekend in 2017, Czech Fulín and Swiss Richard are equal on 92 points following an exhilarating campaign, which has included visits to the legendary Nürburgring Nordschleife and Vila Real street circuit, plus Paul Ricard, Slovakia Ring and Magny-Cours.

Fulín, a seasoned ETCC competitor, has triumphed four times so far in his Křenek Motorsport SEAT, while touring car rookie Richard is a five-time victor in 2016 for Honda-backed Rikli Motorsport. However, there can be only one outright winner of the ETCC’s premier Super 2000 Cup and the accompanying prize drive. It means the results of qualifying, which awards points on a 3-2-1 scale to the fastest three will be decisive in the final reckoning, should Fulín and Richard cancel each other out in terms of their race results at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

While the battle for ETCC gold will be firmly in the spotlight in Italy, third place in the final standings is between Richard’s team-mate, the Swiss stalwart Peter Rikli, and Hungarian youngster Norbert Nagy, who drives an older-specification SEAT for Zengő Motorsport. Finland’s Aku Pellinen has been added to the Rikli Honda attack at Imola, while Mladen Lalušić (Serbia), Fábio Mota (Portugal), Christjohannes Schreiber (Switzerland), and Igor Stefanovski (Macedonia) are also entered, as is Germany’s Andreas Pfister, who will make his first start of 2016 in his SEAT. Swiss wildcards Claudio Truffer and Adrian Spescha complete the Super 2000 Cup entry.

SECOND PLACE THE FOCUS IN ETCC S1600: Niklas Mackschin secured the Super 1600 Cup title spoils at the previous round in France where teenagers Kevin Hilgenhövel and Tomáš Korený both took class wins. But despite Mackshin’s second successive category crown, the 21-year-old German has opted against skipping the Imola finale in order to build his experience for the future and battle against his similarly rapid rivals, who also include Andreas Rinke. The German is up against ETH Peugeot team-mate Hilgenhövel in the race to finish second in the final standings with Rinke nine points ahead. Lady drivers Ulrike Krafft (Germany) and Ksenia Niks (Ukraine), plus Daniel Niermann will also challenge for points.

WEEKEND OVERVIEW: The ETCC is returning to Imola for the first time since 2013 and shares the weekend billing with the FIA European Formula 3 Championship and French GT Tour series. Track action begins with testing on Friday, Free Practice and Qualifying follow on Saturday and two 11-lap races take place on Sunday. Race 1 begins at 12h35 local time from a rolling start with the second getting underway from a standing start at 13h35. Both races will be broadcast live on Eurosport 2 and streamed as they happen at FIAETCC.com.

THE ETCC SUPER 2000 TITLE CONTENDERS

Name: Petr Fulín Age: 39 Nationality: Czech Car: SEAT León Cup Racer V2 Team: Křenek Motorsport Points: 92 Wins: 4

It’s a big weekend coming up. Are you ready?
PF: “To be honest I have a lot of racing projects this season and I have been approximately nine weeks without a break so I haven’t had time to be nervous or anything like that. It’s a very nice fight for the title with Kris Richard and we’re equal on points. There is pressure but we will do our best and our team will do too. My team-mate Christjohannes [Schreiber] tested at Imola for two days but at the same time I had another event so I missed this. The break has been long since the last race and there can only be one winner.”

You have previous Imola experience from the ETCC’s last visit in 2013…
PF: “I remember well because it was also the final race of the year. I was in a battle with Peter Rikli but he beat me so it was bad for us. I hope this year will be another story. I like this track, it has a strong history.”

What about your title rival Kris Richard – has he surprised you this year?
PF: “I said to everybody he would be the strongest competition. He had some bad luck in the first race at Paul Ricard but came through well in the second race with the fastest lap. We was 10 kilograms more heavy when I first met him but I think he has understood what was needed to drive at this level. I have respect for Kris. He’s very fast and it’s been a very nice fight.”

Name: Kris Richard Age: 21 Nationality: Swiss Car: Honda Civic FB Team: Rikli Motorsport Points: 92 Wins: 5

What are your feelings ahead of the Imola weekend?
KR: “I am definitely a little bit excited but also a little bit nervous. But I have some very good people behind me. I can prepare myself mentally very good. For me it’s very important to win this title. I am totally a newcomer in this sport and it will help a lot for me to go forward in this sport, to find the sponsors again for next year and to go further in touring cars.”

How will you prepare for the event?
KR: “I prepare myself with a lot of cycling and running because when you are fitter it benefits in the car when you have a good and healthy condition. I was at Imola recently, we did a little roll out test and for me it was perfect to learn the track because I have never been there before. It’s a really nice track with some fast corners and I really like it. Obviously many things have happened there with Senna dying and there are many things from the fans to remember him, especially at the place where he had his accident.”

And what about Petr Fulín – how strong a rival is he?
KR: “He’s a big rival of course. He’s a very, very good driver and I also follow the results of the other races he does. He’s one of the best in touring cars and I hope we see some nice fights and a good race overall.”

BIG YEAR FOR ETCC: It’s a big year for the ETCC with a new two-tiered structure in place to streamline the competition. The headlining Super 2000 Cup is for the FIA’s new TCN2 category, plus the TC2T, TC2 and Single Make Trophy class, while the Super 1600 Cup caters for cars such as Ford’s Fiesta and Peugeot’s 207. And there are two big prizes at stake with the S2000 champion winning a WTCC race weekend in 2017, while the S1600 champion gets a test in a new-generation TCN2 car.

RULES REFRESHER: While the results of Qualifying will determine the grid order for Race 1, the results of the first race will decide the starting grid for Race 2, albeit with the top eight finishers lining up in reverse order. S2000 Cup and the S1600 Cup 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 €25,000, jointly awarded by tyre partner Yokohama, will be split between S2000 and S1600 competitors.

PROVISIONAL KEY TIMINGS:  Friday 30 September: 16h25-16h55: Testing Saturday 1 October: 14h10-14h45: Free Practice; 17h00-17h30: Qualifying; 17h40 (approx.): Post-Qualifying press conference (Media Centre) Sunday 2 October:12h35-13h00: ETCC Race of Imola Race 1 (rolling start); 13h35-14h00: ETCC Race of Imola Race 2 (standing start); 14h10: Race 1 and Race podiums; 14h25 (approx.): Post-Race press conferences (Media Centre). Timings provisional and subject to change

EUROSPORT TV SCHEDULE: Eurosport 2 will broadcast both races live at 10h35 and 13h35 CET on Sunday 2 October. Both races will also be streamed live at FIAETCC.com.

PROVISIONAL STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 10 OF 12: Super 2000: 1 Fulín and Richard 92; 3 Rikli 57; 4 Nagy 54; 5 Manuel Fernandes and Lalušić 40; etc. Super 1600: 1 Mackschin 116; 2 Rinke 74; 3 Hilgenhövel 65; 4 Korený 56; 5 Niermann 33; 6 Krafft 32; etc. (Full standings: https://www.fiaetcc.com

ETCC CALENDAR 2016: 1-3 April 2016: Circuit Paul Ricard (France); 15-17 April 2016: Slovakia Ring (Slovakia); 26-28 May 2016: Nürburgring Nordschleife (Germany); 24-26 June 2016: Circuito Internacional de Vila Real (Portugal) S; 8-10 July 2016: Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours (France)*; 30 September-2 October 2016: Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola (Italy)** S=street race; * =GT Tour; ** =FIA European F3, GT Tour