Back from two point-scoring races at the Mexican Miguel E Abed track in Puebla, the Chevrolet WTCC team will now tackle the second half of the 2005 FIA World Touring Car Championship starting at the daunting Spa track in the Belgian Ardennes. Races 11 and 12 will exceptionally take place early on Saturday, as the FIA GT Championship, with which the WTCC often shares the bill, has its annual “race of races” in the Spa 24 Hours, starting on Saturday afternoon.
The five weeks off haven’t been spent doing nothing at RML, the British team which develops, builds and runs Chevrolet’s WTCC effort. Two cars were flown back from Mexico, while the ship with the third car and all the other equipment docked in Antwerp last Monday. In the meantime, a two-day test at Pembrey was scheduled to work on the set-up of the car.
“We tested for two days working on further chassis development,” Team Manager Mark Busfield explained. “We have found some new specs that we will try out at Spa during the extra practice session on Thursday evening. These specs should allow us to improve the chassis dynamics, and thus improve our performance in the twistier part of the track. Our objectives for this weekend are to qualify in the top twelve and finish in the top ten.”
At Pembrey, Nicola Larini was the one behind the wheel for the tests. “We worked a lot on the set up with the dampers and the anti-roll bar. So far we have come up with a few interesting directions in which to go, and I’m interested to see how these will translate in Spa. It’s definitely something worth looking at in depth at other tracks which suit our car better than Spa.”
Spa is of course a power track, with its long straight line and its flat-out run towards the Bus Stop chicane, incorporating the notorious double left-hander of Blanchimont. “Engine-wise Spa will be a bit like Monza,” Larini continued. “We’ll be a bit better of course than in the beginning of the year, but just like in Italy you need all the power you can get. You can run the best set up you can dream of, but you’ll still be in the middle of the pack if you don’t have the most powerful engine. Of course there are more corners in Spa than at Monza, but for the run from the hairpin to the end of the straight you just need power. On top of that the straight goes uphill, something most people aren’t aware of as it doesn’t look like that on a TV screen. So I guess we will be where we were before Mexico, with maybe a shot at the top ten in the second race.”
Rob Huff got himself acquainted with Spa during a local race before setting off for Mexico in June, and instantly fell in love with the track. “This is a brilliant track,” he said. “I now understand why everybody who has ever raced here raves about it. The Eau Rouge corner is mega, as is the Blanchimont section leading up to the Bus Stop chicane. The new approach to the chicane is interesting as well, and could be a good overtaking spot, just like the La Source hairpin. It might not be easy to repeat a point-scoring finish, but the racing will no doubt be interesting, especially if it should rain like it so often does in Spa.”
Despite his many years of racing touring cars and GT’s all over the world, Alain Menu will be something like a Spa “novice”: “The last time I raced in Spa was in 1988 in Formula 3,” he said. “But although that’s been more than 15 years ago, I consider it one of my preferred race tracks in the world. Eau Rouge is a corner you can’t compare to anything else anywhere and the “new section” which was build in 1979 is very challenging. As Rob and Nicola said, it will not be the track where we are likely to score more points, but the driving in itself will be very enjoyable indeed.”
2005 WTCC DRIVERS POINTS STANDINGS (After 10 races)
1. D Müller (BMW), 47 points; 2. F Giovanardi (Alfa Romeo) 45; 3. A Priaulx (BMW), 42; 4. A Garcia (BMW) 39; 5. G Tarquini (Alfa Romeo) 38;… 15. R Huff (Chevrolet) 3;… 17. N Larini (Chevrolet) 2.
2005 WTCC MANUFACTURERS POINTS STANDINGS (After 10 races)
1. Alfa Romeo 129 points; 2. BMW, 129; 3. Seat, 98; 4. Chevrolet, 32; 5. Ford, 2.
SPA WTCC SCHEDULE (All times local)
Thursday 28th July18.00-18.30 Free Practice 1
Friday 29th July09.00.09.30 Free Practice 211.30-12.00 Free Practice 315.30-16.00 Qualifying
Saturday 30th July08.35-08.50 Warm Up12.10-12.35 2005 WTCC Race 1 (8 laps = 55.808kms)13.20-13.45 2005 WTCC Race 2 (8 laps = 55.808kms)
The races will be broadcasted live on Eurosport.
