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Michel Nykjaer returns to the WTCC with NIKA Racing

Michel Nykjaer will return to the World Touring Car Championship this year, driving NIKA Racing's Chevrolet

NIKA announced last week that, following a one-off exploratory outing at Monza in 2012 with Rickard Rydell, it will step up for a full campaign in the WTCC with a single Cruze 1.6LT.

Danish driver Nykjaer finished third in the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship in a NIKA-run works Chevrolet last year.

"I'm thrilled to return to action in the WTCC in 2013, and particularly to do so together with NIKA Racing," he said.

"We have gained huge respect for each other in our STCC programme, and we are definitely ready to take this step.

"The WTCC is incredibly competitive, but I think we have some important ingredients in place for a strong campaign.

"I know the majority of the circuits on the calendar, and the Chevrolet Cruze has been the car to beat over the past few years. I'm immensely motivated to get going."

Nykjaer, 33, has won two Danish Touring Car titles and two European Touring Car Cups. He contested two full WTCC seasons in a SUNRED SEAT, finishing second in the Yokohama Trophy in 2011 and 10th in the overall standings.

Last season he made a one-off appearance in a Bamboo-Engineering Chevrolet at Curitiba, taking a class victory and a runner-up spot.

Also named on a 25-car FIA entry list for the WTCC on Friday was, as expected, Tom Boardman. The Briton is set to continue with his family-run team, Special Tuning Racing.

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
RML                  Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Yvan Muller/Tom Chilton
NIKA Racing          Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Michel Nykjaer
ROAL Motorsport      BMW 320 TC           Tom Coronel/Darryl O'Young
Proteam Motorsport   BMW 320 TC           Mehdi Bennani
Team Engstler        BMW 320 TC           Franz Engstler/Charles Ng
Wiechers Sport       BMW 320 TC           Fredy Barth
PB Motorsport        BMW 320 TC           Stefano d'Aste
ANOME                BMW 320 TC           Jean-Philippe Dayraut*
Munnich Motorsport   SEAT Leon WTCC       R Huff/M Basseng/R Munnich
SUNRED Engineering   SEAT Leon WTCC       Pepe Oriola
Special Tuning       SEAT Leon WTCC       Tom Boardman*
Campos Racing        SEAT Leon WTCC       Fernando Monje/Hugo Valente
*Subject to FIA confirmation

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