Menu 5th and Muller 8th complete Chevrolet’s good day despite changing track conditions
Managers and engineers of the Chevrolet team will have again the opportunity to wear a bow-tie when sitting in the pit wall stand today, as the team conqueredtheir third pole position of the season.
An unwritten dress code has it that on race day after a pole osition, the team management wears the neck tie that is emblematic of the brand’s logo.
Rob Huff was the hero of the day, achieving his first pole of the year, on a track very special tohim, as it is here in Moravia that he conquered his first WTCC win, back in 2006. The RMLpreparedCruzes proved competitive throughout the entire day, being the fastest car in practice 1(with Menu) and in Q1 (with Huff), despite changing track conditions that made the work on setupparticularly difficult. Alain Menu and Yvan Muller experienced that in Q2, but their respectivepositions in the grid, fifth and eighth, still put them in an excellent position for tomorrow’s tworaces, where the objective will be to continue feeding in points the leading position in bothchampionships.
• QUOTES
Rob Huff (1st): “After finishing four times 2nd in qualifying this year, I think it was about time totake a pole, and I am glad I did it on a circuit that contains so many good memories for me. Thecar was very good since the first free practice in the morning and the entire team has workedvery well throughout the day. We made some set-up changes in-between the two free practicesessions but we basically came back to the original configuration, and that worked well, as I wason top of the time-sheet in Q1. In Q2, the track became suddenly slower, we lost a couple oftenths with respect to Q1, but I managed to do a perfect lap, with no mistakes at all, perfectspeed in the corners and perfect brakings, the kind of lap you achieve only once in a while.Tomorrow it will be tough against Tarquini at the start and the BMWs in the second part of therace, but I’ll do my utmost to keep the turbodiesels and the rear-wheel drive cars behind!”
Alain Menu (5th) : «I am happy with P5, although I could have been a little bit higher in the grid,after finishing Q1 in third position. Unfortunately, the track had changed for Q2 and I was havingmore under-steering. We had changed the ground clearance and maybe that wasn’t the rightthing to do. I was also slowed a bit by the BMWs in my first attempt and made a slight mistake inthe second, losing 2-3 tenths. But all in all, it’s a good qualifying and the car feels good. For theraces, we will see, tomorrow is another day...”
Yvan Muller (8th): “I am not very happy with my result and need to understand what happened.Track conditions were changing all the time, and for sure that didn’t help. We reacted changingthe set-up a number of times and I think we just went the wrong direction. I now need to sit downwith my engineers, review all the data and find a good set-up for tomorrow. I am confident theteam can collect many more points and conclude successfully this tight round of events”.
BRNO QUALIFYING RESULTS1. R Huff Chevrolet Cruze 2m10s8602. G Tarquini SEAT León TDI + 0s3383. C Turkington BMW 320si + 0s3454. A Farfus BMW 320si + 0s4005. A Menu Chevrolet Cruze + 0s5008. Y Muller Chevrolet Cruze + 0s682F
