Chevrolet Lacetti Won At Every Street Course In 2007

After the very successful weekend in Valencia,

Spain, the Chevrolet WTCC team is now very much looking forward to the next event in the streets of Pau in the French Pyrenees.

If history is to repeat itself then Chevrolet will again be the team to beat. Indeed, just like in 2007 Chevrolet dominated the first European race of the season, and also last year Chevrolet won at every street course on the calendar, whether it was in France, Portugal or China. By doing so, Chevrolet personifies the WTCC’s official slogan, “Real Cars, Real Racing”, more than any other manufacturer, so it is only natural that Rob Huff, Alain Menu and Nicola Larini are keen to go street fighting again in France.

• QUOTES

Rob Huff: “We had a dream weekend in Valencia, didn’t we? We really got Chevrolet’schampionship bid off the ground after Nic set the tone with second place in Mexico. Actually,both Alain and I were a bit surprised that we walked away with as many points as we did. Andthe effects of the wins show, as I just attended a dealer meeting in Cologne, Germany, wheredealers from all over Europe were absolutely raving about Chevrolet’s WTCC success. As forPau, I will be running with 48 kilos of ballast in the car, so it will be tough on a tight and twistystreet course. Especially on the long uphill straight I expect to struggle, as well as in thebraking zones and under acceleration out of slow corners. So we will have to do our utmost inqualifying and try to bring home as many points as we can. If we can qualify in the top six andthen defend our position in the race we should be able to score in both races. That will be thekey this year: to score as many points as possible at every race weekend as even the littlepoints count at the end of the year.”

Alain Menu: “It will be a bit different from last year for me. In 2007, I deliberately dropped a fewplaces at the previous race to run with just the weight for my championship points in Pau,which was five kilos. Now I’ll be carrying 34 kilos, which will make all the difference. So myobjectives have changed accordingly, since pole position for the first race will be next toimpossible with a heavy car. I thus will try to qualify in the top seven or eight and try to finisheighth and continue the points tally. If we can manage that and get the reversed grid for racetwo we can hope for a potential win and keep the Chevrolet Lacetti’s street record intact. Mindyou, long-term weather forecasts predict rain for next week, so that could mix the field again inqualifying.”ഊ

Nicola Larini: “I am very happy with the team’s result in Valencia but I am still verydisappointed with my personal score and we are still trying to understand why theperformances of my car were not up to the ones of Rob’s and Alain’s. It’s a pity because I reallylike Valencia. In any case, all our attention is now geared towards Pau, another circuit I like andone where I did well last year. I simply say that given the fact I will be relatively light in successballast, I hope I can be in front and clinch the result I have been looking for since a long time.”

Eric Nève: “The Spanish result really launched our 2008 campaign and even allowed us tomove up to second in the manufacturers’ championship, which is a first for Chevrolet. Now wewill have to take the success ballast into account for the next races. The competitiveness of theChevrolet Lacetti was clearly shown by Rob in Valencia, since he scored more points in asingle weekend than any other driver has managed to do so far this year. And with the Lacetti’sstreet course pedigree we can look forward to Pau in a rather confident way. In the paddock,Chevrolet France will be hosting a large number of guests as they did last year, againunderlining the significance of the WTCC programme within the Chevrolet dealer community.Likewise, the Valencia races helped the brand in Spain in the lead-up to the Madrid MotorShow, where one of the race cars is on display.”

PAU RACE SCHEDULE (Local time = CET)

Saturday, 31 st May 200809.00-09.30 Free Practice 111.20-11.50 Free Practice 215.00-15.45 Qualifying

Sunday, 1 st June 200808.30-08.45 Warm up12.05-12.30 Race 1 (19 laps = 52.440kms) (Rolling start)15.50-16.15 Race 2 (19 laps = 52.440kms) (Standing start)

2008 WTCC DRIVERS POINTS STANDINGS (After 6 races of 24)1. G Tarquini (SEAT), 36 points; 2. Y Muller (SEAT), 28; 3. R Rydell (SEAT), 28; 4. J Gené(SEAT), 24; 5. A Priaulx (BMW), 22; 6. J Müller (BMW), 20; 7. R Huff (Chevrolet), 18; 8. A Menu(Chevrolet), 14; 9. T Monteiro (SEAT), 12; 10. T Coronel (SEAT), 10;… 12. N Larini (Chevrolet),6;…

2008 WTCC MANUFACTURERS POINTS STANDINGS (After 6 races of 24)1. SEAT, 90 points; 2. Chevrolet, 60pts; 3. BMW, 59pts; 4. Honda, 6pts.ഊ

SUCCESS BALLAST FOR PAU1. G Tarquini (SEAT), 61kgs; 2. R Huff (Chevrolet), 48kgs; 3. J Gené (SEAT), 39kgs; 4. J Müller(BMW), 35kgs; 5. A Menu (Chevrolet), 34kgs; 6. O Nogues (SEAT), 30kgs; 7. Y Muler (SEAT),28kgs; 8. R Rydell (SEAT), 28kgs; 9. A Priaulx (BMW), 27kgs; 10. T Monteiro (SEAT), 12kgs; 11.T Coronel (SEAT), 10kgs; 12. N Larini (Chevrolet), 9kgs; 13. F Porteiro (SEAT), 9 kgs; 14. AFarfus (BMW), 3kgs; 15. O Tielemans (BMW), 1kgs.

PAU WTCC ON TVIn Europe, qualifying and race 1 will be broadcasted live on Eurosport 2, while the warm-up andrace 2 will be broadcasted live on Eurosport International.