Chevrolet Wins German ADAC Championship; Launches Internet TV Show
Fresh from a second 2006 WTCC win in Brno two weeks ago, the Chevrolet team had the pleasure of actually having its racing cars back in the workshops in Wellingborough for the first time since… Oschersleben in June. “The competitiveness of the cars in Brno meant we could focus on just prepping them for Istanbul,” Team Manager, Mark Busfield said. “We made some small changes and revisions based on our findings of Brno, but Rob’s qualifying performance and race result showed that we are moving in the right direction. We expected to be competitive, but the win was still a welcome and very positive surprise. Obviously, the fact that we ran without any success ballast in our cars on a very hilly racetrack helped us a lot.”
Does this mean that Chevrolet will be as competitive in Istanbul, where the fast and undulating nature of the track is very similar to Brno? “We could spring another surprise there,” Busfield said. “If anything we are still running relatively light cars when compared to the competition. With the joint result of the two races of each weekend defining the success ballast, Rob is still only running with 15 kilograms of weight, Alain with 10kgs, while Nicola has none.”
Meanwhile, Brno race winner, Rob Huff, is still bivouacking on cloud nine. “It’s a great feeling, although I don’t think it has fully sunk in yet,” he said. “I did the Britcar 24 Hours last weekend, and people I had never seen before came up to congratulate me. As for Istanbul, I think we can go there feeling pretty comfortable. It’s a fast, flowing circuit like Brno with similar characteristics and the ballast weight still plays to our advantage, so I don’t see why we can’t score some points again. Let’s not forget that in Brno the team as a whole was very quick, which, combined with the progress we’ve made in testing over the last two months should allow both Alain and myself to try and go for a top ten finish in the points by the end of the season. It won’t be easy, bit it isn’t impossible”
No-one was less pleased with the Brno victory than Chevrolet Europe’s Motorsport Manager, Eric Nève: “While we knew we’d be competitive in Brno because of the weight advantage, no one had dreamed of scoring a win. Of all the places to score a second win, doing so in one of the new markets was probably the best. We now have two races left to prove our potential before we head to Macau, where anything can happen. I think we will see some very exciting racing in Istanbul as a record 16 cars are now carrying success ballast, which again shows this series is one of the most competitive touring car championships on the planet, one of the main reasons why Chevrolet is in it.”
In the German ADAC Procar Series, Chevrolet Lacetti driver, Vincent Radermecker claimed the title after scoring a win and a second place at the Salzburgring last weekend. Team mate Rainer Bastuck finished in third and second respectively. Winner of race 1, Stefan Kissling, was entered as a guest driver and therefore did not score any points, Radermecker thus scoring points for twowins, now totalling seven victories out of fourteen races. With a 24-point lead and two races still to go in Oschersleben, Radermecker is out of reach for his fellow competitors. It is the first motorsports title in Chevrolet Europe’s young history, and the second consecutive German title for the Swiss Maurer Motorsport team. Both the team and Radermecker will run with the WTCC contenders at the Valencia round on October 8th, where the second Maurer Chevrolet Lacetti will be driven by Maria de Villota, daughter of former Spanish F1-driver Emilio. She will also be the first woman to drive in the WTCC.
And to keep fans around the globe informed, Chevrolet is once again leading the way by broadcasting its very first and very own TV show via the worldwide web. “Chevrolet Racing Insight” is a 15-minute show and shows life behind the scenes of the Chevrolet WTCC racing team in Istanbul. The daily show will air for the first time on Saturday at 8.00pm, and again on Sunday at 8.00pm. After the first broadcast, both shows can be watched continuously on chevrolet-racinginsight.com.
ISTANBUL WTCC SCHEDULESaturday September 23rd09.00-09.30 Free Practice 111.45-12.15 Free Practice 214.40-15.10 QualifyingSunday September 24th10.05-10.20 Warm Up15.10-15.35 WTCC Race 1 (10 laps = 53.400km)16.20-16.45 WTCC Race 2 (10 laps = 53.400km)Qualifying, warm-up and the races will be broadcasted live on Eurosport, as well as on www.fiawtcc.com.
HANDICAP WEIGHTS FOR ISTANBUL1. A Priaulx, +80kgs; 2. J Müller, + 70kgs; 3. A Farfus, +60kgs; 4. D Müller, +55kgs; 5. Y Muller, +50kgs; 6. J Thompson, +50kgs; 7. G Morbidelli, +40kgs; 8. G Tarquini, +20kgs; 9. R Rydell, +20kgs; 10. R Huff, +15kgs; 11. J Gené, +15kgs; 12. P Terting, +15kgs; 13. S Tavano, +15kgs; 14. A Menu, +10kgs; 15. A Zanardi, +5kgs; 16. T Coronel, +5kgs.
POINTS STANDINGS AFTER RACE 14 OF 20Drivers: 1. A Priaulx (BMW) 58pts; 2. J Thompson (SEAT), 49pts; 3. A Farfus (Alfa Romeo) 46; 4. J Müller (BMW) 45; 5. Y Muller (SEAT) 45;… 12. A Menu (Chevrolet) 20; 13. R Huff (Chevrolet) 17;… 19. N Larini (Chevrolet) 5;...Manufacturers : 1. BMW, 170pts; 2. SEAT, 169; 3. Alfa Romeo, 117; 4. Chevrolet 87.
