CHEVROLET LOOKING FOR MORE POINTS IN GERMANY
Drivers Aiming For Third Consecutive Points-Scoring Finish
After two consecutive point-scoring weekends in Mexico and Belgium, the Chevrolet WTCC team is now looking forward to scoring more points on the twisty Oschersleben track in eastern Germany. Located near Magdeburg, some 200 kilometres from the German capital of Berlin, the 3.6-kilometre long Oschersleben track should suit the Chevrolets as the track’s nature puts the emphasis on handling rather than on sheer top-end power. In order to prepare for the race, as well as for the 2006 season, the Chevrolet Racing team went to Pembrey with two cars and drivers, Alain Menu and Rob Huff earlier this week.
“We took two cars to Pembrey, as we now have entered the first stages of developing the 2006 car,” Team Manager, Mark Busfield explains. “For now the “2006 development” is mainly about evaluating areas we can further optimise, such as weight distribution with and without ballast, as we plan to be carrying success ballast in 2006. At the same time we did some more development work on the dampers, fine-tuning earlier findings from the last three meetings for the race at Oschersleben. On the engine side, all three cars will have fresh engines for this race. Some updates have been carried out on them, and should give us a greater engine life. All in all, I think we can look forward to the races in Germany as the track suits the strong points of our car. It’s a twisty, rather short track, and the car’s excellent chassis characteristics should be able to make up for what we lose on sheer power. Bringing the cars home in the points will definitely be on the agenda.”
Rob Huff is looking forward to racing at Oschersleben, especially after the Pembrey test. “This track should suit our car better than any other track on the calendar, so I’m really hoping to score some more points there,” he said. “I haven’t raced there yet, so I’ll do my usual recce in the first half of the first session and then start working on the car’s set-up.”
“At the Pembrey test, we started with the Puebla set up on my car, which gave it a good balance,” Huff continued. “Then we changed the suspension completely, which gave the car the same feel, only our time improved by six or seven tenths of a second! Obviously I’m quite pleased that we can still find big chunks of time in just the set-up. Should make it an interesting trip to Germany.”
Chevrolet Europe’s Motorsport Manager, Eric Nève concurs: “Oschersleben is an ideal chance for us to score some more points. Spa was an unexpected bonus, due to the weather and the many incidents, but the points we scored there were a big boost for the whole team. Alain and Nicola have raced in Oschersleben before, so that helps as well. Scoring points in one of Europe’s key automotive markets would please us very much, especially considering the effort Chevrolet Germany puts into the weekend with the delivery of the new Chevrolet Lacetti Sport Edition to the dealers.”
2005 WTCC DRIVERS POINTS STANDINGS (After 12 races) (Provisional)
1. D Müller (BMW), 61 points; 2. F Giovanardi (Alfa Romeo) 57; 3. A Priaulx (BMW), 50; 4. G Tarquini (Alfa Romeo) 43; 5. A Garcia (BMW) 43;… 17. R Huff (Chevrolet) 3; 18. A Menu (Chevrolet) 3; 19. N Larini (Chevrolet) 2.
2005 WTCC MANUFACTURERS POINTS STANDINGS (After 12 races) (Provisional)
1. BMW 159, points; 2. Alfa Romeo, 155; 3. SEAT, 113; 4. Chevrolet, 39; 5. Ford, 2.
OSCHERSLEBEN WTCC SCHEDULE (All times local)
Saturday 27th August09.00.09.30 Free Practice 112.30-13.00 Free Practice 215.00-15.30 Qualifying
Sunday 28th August09.30-09.35 Warm Up15.10-15.35 WTCC Race 1 (14 laps = 51.338 kms)16.15-16.40 WTCC Race 2 (14 laps = 51.338 kms)
The races will be broadcasted live on Eurosport.
