Curitiba inaugurates 2011 season and new technical rulesThe new 1.6 turbo Cruze ready to take the challenge after intensive winter testingMuller, Huff and Menu joined by ‘Cacá’ Bueno for Brazilian season-opener
It’s time for the 2011 WTCC to roll!
Onlythree and a half months after the end of the season, the world’s top touring car series is back foranother exciting year of racing. 2011 will mark the dawn of a new era in the WTCC, as the seriesinaugurates a new set of technical rules and moves to 1.6 turbo petrol engines, which have beenelected as the new standard for the champions, to reflect today’s trend towards smaller, cleanerand more fuel-efficient powerplants. This will not be the only main change in the 2011 WTCC, as italso adopts a new qualifying system, by which the top ten times of Q1, in reversed order, willconfigure Race 2’s starting grid.
After the very successful 2010 campaign, where it conquered both the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’crowns, Chevrolet is ready to take up the new challenge. In parallel to its race commitments, theteam has worked extremely hard throughout 2010 to design and build the new 1.6 turbo engine,something that has been achieved in less than nine months, a real record for RML’s enginedepartment led by Arnaud Martin. The Cruze itself had to undergo a 70 % re-design, as fitting thenew engine, smaller in size but with increased power and torque, impacts on the engineering ofmany other elements, from cooling and ancillary systems to front suspension, brakes,aerodynamics and the overall weight distribution of the car.
September 2010 marked the start of the crucial phase of development and testing and ahead ofthe Curitiba race that will open this year’s season, over 4500 kms of tests have been completed, tothe entire satisfaction of drivers and engineers. Chevrolet has been the first WTCC manufacturerready to hit the track with the new car and is hopeful that the experience gained will help meetingthe demanding reliability targets imposed by the new rules, which allow only one engine changeper car in 2011.
The driver line-up has not changed, in accordance to one of the oldest principles in motorsports:never change a winning team! As World Champion, Yvan Muller has been entitled to sport #1 onhis car, while Rob Huff, a recent editorial recruit of The Sun, for which he’ll write a column on theWTCC throughout the entire season, will have #2. Breaking the sequence’s logic, Alain Menu willhave #8, a deliberate choice in order to be able to sport Louis Chevrolet’s famous “lucky number”in this very special Centennial year for the brand.
In Brazil, Chevrolet will enter a fourth car, easily recognizable from its unusual orange livery, whichwill be entrusted to local hero Carlos ‘Cacá’ Bueno. Thanks to the support of iCarros and ItaúBank, the 34-year-old Brazilian stock car ace will have a possibility to shine in front of his homecrowd, in what will be his second outing with the Cruze, following his WTCC debut at Brands hatchlast year.
• QUOTES
Yvan Muller (#1): “I can’t believe the season is starting again! Since the chequered flag wentdown in Macau last November, I haven’t stopped for a minute. There was a lot of work with thenew car, a lot of commitments deriving from winning the title and I also devoted some time to theice driving clinics I organize, but I enjoyed all of that! Now is time to focus completely on the newseason, which is pretty unpredictable, because of the new rules and because all manufacturershave been working on their own, so there are even less terms of comparison than usual. The onlything that I can say is that I am very happy with the work we have done on the new Cruze and onthe new engine, and that we have progressed a lot in a relatively short time”.
Rob Huff (#2): “It’s starting all again and I am anxious to be on the track at Curitiba. This is goingto be a very interesting season and everybody has been so secretive about their winter work that itis impossible to say at this stage where each one stands. One thing I am really curious about is tosee how the new system for Q1 will work. I believe we are going to see a lot of strategizing... Forus, the good thing is that we have a very strong car, I think the new Cruze is fast and reliable, andthe new engine has really a lot of life, in terms of power and torque!”
Alain Menu (#8): “I feel just great ahead of the new season and I am really happy to be able tohave again #8, which brought me luck in the past and is of course so closely linked to my countryfellow Louis Chevrolet. I must say I am very impressed with the quality of the work done byChevrolet and RML on the new car. We are going to Brazil with a new engine and a new car thathave already reached a very high level of development. The drivability of the new Cruze isexcellent and I think we can be optimistic. One aspect that I think will be very important this year isfront tires. With the new engine, front tires and front brakes will be under greater pressure and thiscan play a significant role. One will have to manage really carefully these two elements”.
Ron Hartvelt: “We are well prepared to face the new season and the challenge of a new car andengine. A lot of work has been done since we committed the final specifications of the 2011 Cruzelast November, despite the very tight turn-around we had between the two seasons. Curitiba willbe essential to know where we and our competitors stand, so we will wait to say anything aboutwhat the season could look like. I am very curious to see how the new Q1 will unfold. It’s going tobe an interesting exercise, where everybody will try to be in the top 10 while avoiding at the sametime to be in the top 5...”
Eric Nève: “ The best thing we can do is to confirm our World Champions status and start thesecond century of life of our brand and the 1.6 turbo era of the WTCC by giving GM a secondworld title!”
CURITIBA RACE SCHEDULE (Local time = CET - 4 hours)
Friday, 18th March 201110:20-11:50 (14:20-15:50 CET) Testing 114:00-14:30 (18:00-18:30 CET) Testing 2
Saturday, 19th March 201107:55-08:25 (11:55-12:25 CET) Free Practice 111:30-12:00 (15:30-16:00 CET) Free Practice 214:00-14:35 (18:00-18:35 CET) Qualifying
Sunday, 20th March 201108.15-08:30 (12:15-12:30 CET) Warm up13:05-13:30 (17:05-17:30 CET) Race 1 (14 laps = 51.730kms) (Rolling start)14:20-14:45 (18:20-18:45 CET) Race 2 (14 laps = 51.730kms) (Standing start)
CURITIBA WTCC ON TVIn Europe, qualifying, warm up and the races are to be broadcasted live on Eurosport International.
