NICOLA LARINI SCORES BEST CHEVROLET RESULT YET
Italian driver, Nicola Larini scored Chevrolet best result to date in the 2005 FIA World Touring Car Championship by finishing 11th out of 32 starters in the second race of the weekend in Imola, Italy. In extreme temperatures, the former Formula 1 driver kept his head cool and stayed out of trouble.
A first corner incident in race one sent the cars in all directions, both Menu and Larini just avoiding the spinning cars. Rob Huff was less fortunate, losing places at the start and then again at the first corner. “I couldn’t see the starting lights,” he said afterwards, “so I lost at least five places at the start. Then I arrived at the first corner, where I had the choice between going left and through a cloud of dust, or right over the grass and risking hitting the tyres they’ve put up there. I went right and just missed the tyres, but again losing time and places. A few corners later I got hit from behind at the Hairpin and then pushed into another competitor, damaging the steering in the process.” Huff finished the first race in 21st position, but would be out of the second race before the end of lap one, when the left front wheel collapsed, sending him off the track.
Local hero Nicola Larini had a better race, finishing 13th in the first race, passing teammate Alain Menu in the last lap. “Better would have been difficult,” Larini said, “it was a good race without any problems, which is nice.” Still nicer it would be in race two, when Larini drove a steady race to 11th, his and the Lacetti WTC’s best result of the season.
Menu had been leading his Italian teammate for most of distance in race one, until sixth gear disappeared near the end. “I had a good first race today, passing a few cars. Then sixth gear went, so I had to let Nicola go.” In the second race again a gearbox problem developed near the end, but Menu continued his controlled drive to 15th.
“All in all it hasn’t been too bad a weekend,” Chevrolet Europe’s Motorsport Manager, Eric Nève said. “Practice and qualifying didn’t go the way we would have liked it, but the races where, I think, another small step in the right direction. It seems both car and drivers excel in extreme temperatures, so that’s good news with the next two races taking place in Mexico’s hottest month of June.”
Indeed, rounds nine and ten of the 2005 WTCC take place at the revived track of Puebla, an oval race track which has been fully rebuilt into a “roval”, a mix of a road course and an oval. Cars and equipment went straight from Imola to Bremerhaven, Germany to be sea freighted to Puebla, Mexico in time for the June 26th races.
IMOLA RACE 1 RESULTS
1. F Giovanardi (Alfa Romeo) 11 laps in 22m12s202 (Average: 145.99kph)2. A Garcia (BMW) + 3s1463. A Priaulx (BMW) + 8s1314. D Müller (BMW) + 9s1265. A Farfus (Alfa Romeo) + 12s29913. N Larini (Chevrolet) + 34s61914. A Menu (Chevrolet) + 35s49520. R Huff (Chevrolet) + 52s569
IMOLA RACE 2 RESULTS
1. D Müller (BMW) 11 laps in 22m17s549 (Average: 145.41kph)2. A Priaulx (BMW) + 2s0273. F Giovanardi (Alfa Romeo) + 5s8224. R Rydell (SEAT) + 6s7865. A Farfus (Alfa Romeo) + 8s79511. N Larini (Chevrolet) + 15s63315. A Menu (Chevrolet) + 23s138DNF R Huff (Chevrolet) Wheel
