ALL CHEVROLET DRIVERS AMONGST TOP TEN IN QUALIFYING
Larini 5th, Menu 8th and Huff 10th in incident packed session
After upstaging his rivals in this morning’s first free practice, Chevrolet WTCC driver Nicola Larini continued his form by securing a position on the 3rd row of Sunday’s WTCC season finale on the picturesque Macau street circuit. Saturday shall be devoted to the traditional motorcycle Grand Prix.
In an incident packed qualifying session marred by three red lights and several accidents, Larini ended up 5th and a tad frustrated: “Free practice this morning brought me hopes of a good placing in qualifying and while a position on the 3rd row isn’t too bad, I’m convinced we could have finished higher up the time sheets. It was a stop and go session which made it difficult to keep up a flowing pace and traffic was also a problem as I was held up several times.”
“Between sessions, we gradually improved the setup of the cars, tweaking with damping and spring settings as well as tyre pressures, said team manager Mark Busfield. Our race prospects and especially those of Nicola look pretty good as long as we manage to steer clear of the usual incidents that always occur here.”
Struggling to achieve a good balance in free practice, Alain Menu reverted to a softer suspension setting for qualifying which he finished in 8th position: “The car was somewhat delicate to drive this morning but handling improved after we made some adjustments. During qualifying, I still suffered a bit from a loose rear end, mainly when turning in under braking.”
Moving up the order since his initial encounter with the Guia circuit, Rob Huff put in a good performance and completed the top ten ranking, thanks to help from team mate Larini who offered his slipstream at the start of the session: “It wasn’t easy out there today with cars going off everywhere and the heavy traffic. Every time I attempted to pull out the stops someone went off and the session was halted. At the very end I also got caught out after a small misunderstanding with another driver.”
“This is the first time this season that all our drivers have ended up amongst the top ten in qualifying, a performance which confirms the progress realized in the previous race in Valencia, said Chevrolet Motorsport Manager Eric Nève It is very satisfying to see that all the team’s efforts are beginning to pay off. Let us see what the race brings knowing how difficult it is to achieve a strong result here.”
MACAU QUALIFYING RESULTS
1. A Priaulx (BMW) 2m31s7122. A Couto (Alfa Romeo) + 0.6223. A Farfus (Alfa Romeo) + 0.7544. G Tarquini (Alfa Romeo) + 0.8125. N Larini (CHEVROLET) + 1.096
8. A Menu (CHEVROLET) + 1.86010. R. Huff (CHEVROLET) + 2.155
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