Seat diesel takes the pole again in WTCC
Chevrolet
Seat
BMW
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Chevrolet
PUEBLA, 5th April 2008 – Nicola Larini qualified on the first row for tomorrow’s second round of the 2008 WTCC in Puebla, Mexico. The Italian Chevrolet Lacetti driver headed the provisional standings for most of the qualifying session, but got pipped for pole in the final minutes. A last attempt saw him better his personal time, despite being blocked at one corner, but it fell just short of pole position. After the session got temporarily red-flagged when a competitor blew his turbo, Rob Huff set his fastest time on his last flying lap. After the session, Rob was docked five grid places for failing to start his engine after weight checking. Alain Menu was slightly disappointed with his time but he will nevertheless start from a competitive fifth place.
* QUOTES
Nicola Larini (2nd): “I’m happy to start from the front row, but at the same time I’m disappointed to have been passed so close to the end of the session. I’m sure I could have been faster and pole position was certainly possible, but on my fastest lap I got baulked by Gené and that lost me some concentration and at least two tenths. Then again, I’m surprised to find only one turbodiesel car in front of me. For tomorrow my goal is to bring home as many points as possible for myself and for Chevrolet, but it will be very difficult as this is a very unforgiving track if you go even the slightest bit off-line.”
Alain Menu (4th): “I could maybe have gone a little bit faster, but the car was difficult to drive and it was impossible to match Nic’s times. Compared to this morning the track didn’t change too much, but there were two or three corners where it was more slippery than in the second free practice session. We’ll see what tomorrow brings, as there is always the second race.”
Rob Huff (9th): “That was an entertaining session! On my first lap the tyres felt awful on the first half but they got a bit better in the second half. On my second run I imporoved in the second sector but then the red flag came out when someone blew his engine, so it all had to happen on the last set of tyres. I had to be so aggressive to stitch together that lap you wouldn’t believe it. Since there’s little grip on the track, but plenty on the painted parts in the corners, I was riding the kerbs wherever I could. Unfortunately I lost five grid places when the battery voltage dropped mid-session. The team told me to come in and as I came in I was called to the weight scales and wasn’t able to start the engine after the inspection.”
Huff was competitive in qualifying
Seat
Second pole in a row for SEAT Sport
Jordi Gené has managed to achieve a spectacular pole position at the Mexican race track in Puebla, venue of the second round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, thus clinching SEAT's second pole position of the season. Tom Coronel was third and Rickard Rydell seventh, ahead of the rest of the SEAT León TDI drivers.
Chevrolet drivers Larini and Menu were on top of the sheets during large part of the session, but suddenly Coronel snatched the top spot. Gené and Monteiro were the best qualified SEAT León TDI so far, but just as the Portuguese driver had managed to move up to fourth, a mechanical problem put an end to his efforts forcing a red flag situation on the track with his car being stopped on a dangerous position.
After a short break, the participating drivers went back onto the track and, from among the favourites, only Gené was able to perform an impeccable lap which gave him his first pole position of the season. During these last minutes, Gabriele Tarquini was able to move up to eighth in his only good lap. Monteiro, despite the breakdown, managed to finish among the top ten.
Drivers' statements
Jordi Gené (SEAT León TDI no. 9), 1st: “I’m very happy. It’s been difficult, but we’ve been able to keep a little distance with respect to our rivals. I really needed a result like this, especially after Brazil where I managed to be fast but scored no points. I hope to be lucky tomorrow, to have a good start, and to clinch my first victory. It would be fantastic.”
Rickard Rydell (SEAT León TDI no. 10), 7th: “I’m obviously not happy with the position. I’m the second SEAT Diesel on the grid, behind Jordi who has made a fantastic job. I hope to be able to improve the balance and the performance of the car for the race tomorrow”.
Gabriele Tarquini (SEAT León TDI no. 11), 8th: “We had problems with the gearbox and I was forced to wait twenty-five minutes until we were able to solve them. I’ve been able to make a few good laps that helped me to finish eighth fastest, despite going off-track on new tyres. It's been a complicated practice”.
Yvan Muller: (SEAT León TDI no. 12), 9th: “ Considering the results of the morning’s free sessions, the result isn’t that bad. We’ve had some problems and the result is obviously not the one I wanted, it could be better, but it could have been much worse, too”.
Tiago Monteiro (SEAT León TDI no. 18), 10th: “What happened to me is a shame because I've been among the top three throughout the weekend, especially during the last free session. I thought that I would be able to be in the front row because I’d finished fourth in one of my flying laps, despite the traffic. Destiny just didn’t want things to work out well today.”
Andy Priaulx in qualifying
BMW
Puebla, 5th April 2008. Augusto Farfus (BR) of BMW Team Germany secured sixth place on the grid for the third round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship. At the “Autódromo Miguel E. Abed” in Puebla-Amozoc (MX), the 24-year-old recorded the sixth-fastest time in the dying seconds of the qualifying session, setting a time of 1:41.583 minutes. Due to a penalty for Chevrolet’s Robert Huff (GB), he gained another grid position. Farfus was the only BMW national team driver who succeeded in making it into the top-ten. SEAT driver Jordi Gené (ES) clocked a 1:40.808-minute lap and claimed pole position for the first of Sunday’s two sprint races.
“As we expected, it was a truly difficult qualifying,” said Farfus after the session. “But I’m more than happy with sixth place. We knew that it would be very difficult to fight against the front-wheel drive cars. A big thank you goes to my team. Following the practice sessions, everyone worked extremely hard, and we managed to find the best compromise in terms of set-up.”
Félix Porteiro (ES) of BMW Team Italy-Spain led the way for the remaining quartet of BMW national team drivers by finishing 11th. BMW Team UK’s Andy Priaulx (GB) and Farfus’s team-mate Jörg Müller (DE) followed in 12th and 13th respectively. Alessandro Zanardi (IT) came 15th for BMW Team Italy-Spain. Following an accident in the first free practice session, the 41-year-old had to sit out the second practice in the morning. However, his team repaired his BMW 320si WTCC in time for qualifying.
Nine minutes before the end, the session was red-flagged. Tiago Monteiro (PT) was stranded in the gravel due to a technical problem on his SEAT. Should Monteiro’s car have an engine change, Porteiro, Priaulx, Müller and Zanardi will all gain one place on the starting grid.
Porteiro said: “A few things combine on this circuit: the height of the place, the low grip level and our rear-wheel drive. Consequently, there’s a big gap between us and the top. That’s why you cannot praise Augusto’s performance enough. On almost every other track, this would have earned him pole position. For my first race in Puebla I have clearly set my sight on P8 to have an excellent starting position for race two.”
“This circuit is absolutely unforgiving,” added Priaulx, who is ranked third in the current WTCC drivers’ standings. “You only need to be a little too quick when entering the turns, and you will get punished straight away. On my last run I lost the rear in turn 7. That’s a pity because the performance of the car was good and I could have ended up better. You can see that all cars carrying ballast lie close to each other. Handicap weight has an extreme effect here in Puebla.”
The third round of the World Touring Car Championship will start at 12:20hrs local time on Sunday (18.20hrs BST). Race two will get underway at 15:20hrs (21:20hrs BST). The drivers will have two 16 lap races ahead of them.