Alfa Romeo 4C coupe announced as WTCC official safety car

The Alfa Romeo 4C coupe has been announced as the official safety car for the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC).

The 4C WTCC safety car will make its debut with a special livery at the first round of the 2014 championship on April 12-13 at the Moulay El Hassan Circuit in Morocco. It will perform as safety car throughout the 12-round season, which concludes in Macau.

The recognition is linked to the Alfa Romeo 4C winning the prestigious Grand Prize as Most Beautiful Car of 2013 at the 29th International Automobile Festival of Paris. Designed by Alfa Romeo engineers and built at the Maserati plant in Modena, the 4C replenishes some much needed sportiness into the brand.

The Italian lightweight sports car also serves as official safety car of the World Superbike Championship and was recently in Australia for the first round of the season at Phillip Island.

The road going 4C coupe will launch in Australia later this year with pricing starting from just $75,000, while 4C Spider is slated for local introduction in 2015.

Both versions of the 4C will be powered by a 1.75-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder direct-injected engine that generates 177kW of power and 350Nm of torque. Paired with Alfa’s latest-generation “Alfa TCT” dry twin-clutch automatic transmission, it will propel the 895kg sports car from a standstill to 100km/h in just 4.5 seconds before hitting a top speed of 258km/h.

Its feather-light weight is thanks to the use of carbon-fibre, aluminium, SMC (Sheet Moulding Compound) and PUR-RIM (injected polyurethane). Further weight is cut by using lightweight windows that are approximately 15 per cent lighter than usual. Most notably, the Alfa Romeo 4C is built on a carbon-fibre monocoque chassis that weight just 65kg.

The complete 2014 FIA WTCC schedule follows:

12-13 April                Morocco        Moulay El Hassan Circuit
19-20 April                France           Paul Ricard Circuit
3-4 May                 Hungary         Hungaroring
10-11 May             Slovakia      Slovakia Ring
24-25 May             Austria            Salzburgring
7-8 June                  Russia             Moscow Raceway
21-22 June              Belgium              Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
2-3 August                  Argentina        Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo
13-14 September         United States        Sonoma Raceway
11-12 October              China                Shanghai International Circuit
25-26 October              Japan        Suzuka International Circuit
14-16 November         Macau            Da Guia Circuit