Championship leaders expect warm welcome at traditional mid-summer Czech event
The seventh round of the season will bring WTCC contenders to Brno, the traditional mid-summer rendez-vous in the Czech Republic whichalways attracts huge crowds from all neighbouring countries. There are good reasons to that, as Brno has a great touring car tradition and the Masaryk Automotodrom is one of the most beautiful and technical natural tracks in Europe. Similarly to Spa and the Nürburgring, the current track isthe heir of a legendary, longer circuit but has managed to retain all the essence and the magic of the old track.
The Chevrolets have always been competitive in Moravia and even clinched a memorable win in 2006, the second-ever in the WTCC for the brand and the maiden one for Rob Huff. The Cruzes will of course try to repeat the success, while the primary objective remains to collect as manypoints as possible, following the good results at Brands Hatch and the one-two of Muller and Huff which strengthened the lead in both Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ championships.
• QUOTES
Yvan Muller: “Brno is always a key moment in the season and a very pleasant event, althoughthe track is quite abrasive and hard on tyres, especially for front-wheel drive cars. I think weshould be competitive, maybe more in qualifying than in race configuration, but we will see. Theobjective is to continue scoring heavy points. I am in the lead of the championship, but it is waytoo early to get excited about that. I know very well from previous years that the WTCC titles getdecided on the last lap of the last race, so the best thing we can do for the time being is to bringhome as many points as possible”.Rob Huff: “I am very excited at going to Brno. I always am, as this is a circuit I like very muchand where I won my first WTCC race. I think the entire team and the three drivers have beendoing an excellent work, as proved again in Brands Hatch, and we need to keep going withpositive performance to possibly extend our lead in the championships. Brno is a place where wehave always been strong, and also a place where weather conditions may play a role. Weathercan change very quickly there, a little bit like in England, but one of the strengths of our team isprecisely the ability to cope with changing conditions and adjust strategy and set-ups veryquickly, as it happened in Race 1 in Curitiba”.
Alain Menu: “I’ll be in perfect shape in Brno as I am currently taking some days-off in Spain.Brno is definitely one of my favourite tracks, as it is really a drivers’ track. Last year, the Cruzeswere quite competitive and I expect this will be again the case, maybe with closer gaps, so weshould be in a position to score good points for the championship”.
Ron Hartvelt: “This will be the last race of the tight ‘4-race-in-6-weeks’ tour we had this year, andwe will use the break in the racing schedule in August to continue our testing programme, inMagny-Cours and Snetterton. We were lucky to have the last event very close to RML’s home.This, together with the fact that we had basically no damage at Brands, has given us some morepreparation time for Brno, which is appreciated. We have no up-dates on the car, as we areconsolidating the work done so far, and although Brno’s track configuration and abrasive surfacesuit better the rear-wheel drive cars, I think we can do well there and we will have again veryclose races”.
Eric Nève: “We were surprised to learn after the Brands Hatch races about the Stewards’decision to penalise Alain, as we think that, under current rules, it is legitimate to race for 8thplace in Race 1. Now everybody is warned that this is subject to interpretation. Looking ahead,we are delighted to be back in Brno, a place where the WTCC and Chevrolet have alwaysreceived a very warm welcome. This year too, we will have many guests from the CzechRepublic, Austria and Hungary, and fans will also have the possibility to win a Spark in a publicraffle organized by Eurosport and the circuit. The team will also be involved in a footballtournament and in charity activity, so it will definitely be a busy and lively week-end”.
BRNO SCHEDULE (Local time = CET)
Saturday, 31st July 201008:30-09:00 Free Practice 112:00-12:30 Free Practice 215:00-15:20 Qualifying 1 (20’)15:25-15:35 Qualifying 2 (10’)
Sunday, 1st August 201008:30-08:45 Warm up12:05-12:30 Race 1 (10 laps = 54.030 kms) (Rolling start)13:20-13:45 Race 2 (10 laps = 54.030 kms) (Standing start)
