Stefano d'Aste sets up own World Touring Car team to run his BMW

The long-time BMW racer will continue his association with the German marque by fielding a 320TC under the PB Motorsport banner.

"We have obviously a lot to learn, which is why we prefer to run only one car this year," said d'Aste.

"In these [recent] days I [have been] putting the team together: hiring the staff, buying equipment.

"We are incredibly motivated for this new challenge and this will help us to be ready in time for the first event that is only three weeks away."

D'Aste scored two reversed-grid victories for Wiechers-Sport last year.

The wins were the 39-year-old's first outright successes in the series since entering in 2005. He was Yokohama Trophy champion in '07.

PB Racing will be officially launched on March 9 at the Franciacorta circuit in Brescia.

2013 WTCC line-up so far:

Team                 Car                  Driver(s)
Honda (JAS)          Honda Civic WTCC     Gabriele Tarquini/Tiago Monteiro
Zengo Motorsport     Honda Civic WTCC     Norbert Michelisz
Lada (Russian Bears) Lada Granta          James Thompson/Aleksei Dudukalo
Bamboo-Engineering   Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T James Nash/Alex MacDowall
ROAL Motorsport      BMW 320 TC           Tom Coronel/Darryl O'Young
Proteam Motorsport   BMW 320 TC           Mehdi Bennani/tba
Team Engstler        BMW 320 TC           Franz Engstler/Charles Ng
Wiechers Sport       BMW 320 TC           tba
PB Motorsport        BMW 320 TC           Stefano d'Aste
Munnich Motorsport   SEAT Leon WTCC       Rob Huff/Marc Basseng/Rene Munnich
Tuenti Racing        SEAT Leon WTCC       Pepe Oriola
Special Tuning       SEAT Leon WTCC       tba/tba