IN UNLUCKY DEBUT   - Sanction Deprives Larini of 5th in Race 1, Fastest Lap for Menu in Race2

The Race of Brazil that opens the World Touring Car Championship once again did not bring luck to the Chevrolet team, as a number of race circumstances prevented the team to score points in Curitiba, but the good news is that the new Chevrolet Cruze showed good pace and excellent potential throughout the week-end.

Nicola Larini finished an excellent fifth in Race 1, but he subsequently lost the position and the points after the race when the Stewards inflicted him an arguable penalty of 30 seconds for not keeping his line during the restart phase after a period under safety-car along with 4 other competitors. Alain Menu was the innocent victim of the Curitiba first lap contact and Rob Huff was stopped by a broken throttle cable.

In Race 2, on a rain soaked track, the three Cruzes showed excellent pace (Alain Menu scored the fastest lap of the race) but having to start at the back of the grid, and having driven well through the grid, they could not finish beyond the 11th, 13th and 15th position.