WTCC - Monza 2005.

The waiting will come to an end for touring car fans this weekend as the much anticipated World Touring Car Championship finally gets underway at Monza.

For the opening round of the season, 33 drivers are set to do battle around the famous Italian circuit with six different manufacturers represented on the grid with the championship - and the world title that goes with it - the obvious attraction for those involved.

Heading to Monza there is little doubt who everybody wants to beat. As 'defending champion' following his ETCC title success in 2004, Brit Andy Priaulx returns for a crack at the World Title in his BMW 320i but as was the case last season he can expect strong competition from an hugely talented and experienced field.

Much of that competition will come from inside the BMW camp as was the case during the final season of ETCC competition. Jorg and Dirk Muller came close to the title in 2004 with the BMW Team Deutschland squad and will look to build on a promising test at Monza last month when they finished third and fourth in the timesheets. The other two 'works' BMW drivers, Alex Zanardi and Antonio Garcia will also look for a good start to the season - especially Zanardi competing in front of his home fans.

However if the test at Monza is anything to go by then Alfa Romeo are likely to be the team to beat this weekend. With the addition of BTCC champion James Thompson to the team, the Italian manufacturer will launch a four pronged assault on the championship in 2005 - and signalled its intent from the off during the media day and launch by taking four of the top six places on the timesheets.

Then it was Augusto Farfus who set the quickest time, but this weekend it could well be Italian Gabriele Tarquini who finds himself near the front. There is little doubt that Tarquini was disappointed to lose his title to Priaulx last season and the addition of Thompson to what was already a strong driver line-up should drive the team forward, and Thompson himself will be keen to prove his talents on the world stage having collected his second BTCC title by the smallest of margins last season.

The SEAT Sport team has spent the winter busy working on the Toledo Cupra to build on a 2004 season that saw the team secure its first victory. The pace of the car when running in the British Touring Car Championship has shown it to be a strong race package, although the team admits that Monza isn't a circuit that will suit the Toldeo and they aren't expecting Rickard Rydell, Jordi Gene and new boy Peter Terting to fight for victories. Indeed Gene was the only one of the drivers to finish inside the top ten 'during the recent test session, but over the course of the season the SEAT should prove to be a strong competitor at the front of the field.

Chevrolet makes its entry into the championship this weekend, and while the team isn't just there to make up the numbers, they accept that they aren't going to win races straight away. Pre-season testing has been focused on bringing the Lacetti up to speed, but the Monza test suggests there is still work to be done.

This weekend, the aim for the team is simply to get to the finish of the race and bring the car home in one piece - but with drivers of the quality of Alain Menu, Nicola Larini and Rob Huff, Chevrolet will be keen to take advantage of the misfortune of others and battle for points.

Ford and Honda will also be represented on the grid this weekend at Monza with pre-season testing suggesting that Roberto Colciago and Adriano De Micheli could spring a surprise this weekend for the JAS Motorsport team. Colciago in particular was impressive during the media test by putting his Accord Euro-R into the top ten - something the team would be delighted to see repeated this weekend.

The Hotfiel Sport team, and drivers Thomas Klenke and Thomas Jager, will continue the development work of the new Ford Focus and like Chevrolet will be aiming to ensure they complete the weekend without any major problems with any points viewed as a bonus.

With a number of independent runners also in the field, including reigning champion Tom Coronel and young gun Valle M?kel? in the new GR Asia SEAT Toledos and the BMW of Carl Rosenblad, it promises to be an interesting and exciting start to the season.

Heading to Monza, it is certainly anyones guess as to who will end the weekend as the early championship leader.