The return of the good weather was the big news at Suzuka, Japan, with blue skies and sunshine replacing the torrential rain that threatened to wreakhavoc on the 10th round of the WTCC series.
In Fridays testing session, the three Cruzes came out on top, with Yvan Muller nudging ahead of teammate Rob Huff by less than one tenth of a second. Alain Menu was third fastest. For the three, it was an excellent working day as the base set-up has already proved to be competitive.
The good day of the Cruzes was completed by the fine performance of the two independently-run Bamboo Engineering cars, with Alex MacDowall taking 9th best and Darryl OYoung finishing the day in 11th position. The Hong Kong driver is back at the wheel of a Cruze for this Asian tour concluding the WTCC season.The testing session was red-flagged three times, but this did not interfere with the efforts of the RML-run Cruzes.
Saturday, qualifying will be crucial to determine the positions on the starting grid for Race 1, something important on the Suzuka track where overtaking is not easy. The WTCC is using the shorter version of the track, also known as the Eastern circuit, which measures 2.243 kms. The track is narrow and characterized by a long straight and a succession of turns of varying radius. The Cruzes enter Saturdays qualifying with Muller and Huff tied on 315 points each and Menu in 3rd place with 267 points.
Chevrolet leads the Constructors championship with 761 points, ahead of BMW and SEAT on 486 and 472 respectively. Mathematics has it that Chevrolet could already be crowned Constructors champions as early as Saturday based on the points awarded after qualifying. The U.S. manufacturer needs to secure just 8 points in the qualifying session to take their third title.
QUOTES
Yvan Muller (1st): It was a good start to the weekend and a good working session. Thetrack is still very greasy and slippery after so many days of heavy rain, but the car felt good.We will have to see what happens as grip improves throughout tomorrows qualifyingsessions.
Rob Huff (2nd): Im quite happy with how things went today and that dry weather is back.Despite the session being interrupted by red flags, we managed to complete the entire workprogram we had planned. We have been working on the balance of the car and only neededto carry out minor changes as the basis we started from was quite good.
Alain Menu (3rd): My first impression of the cars behavior is quite positive. We started fromthe set-up I had last year in qualifying, when I took pole. We had to make some adjustmentsas things didnt work out as well as last year. We still have to work to correct someundersteering when exiting corners, but it is a good start to the weekend.
SUZUKA TESTING RESULT1. Y Muller Chevrolet Cruze 53s1292. R Huff Chevrolet Cruze + 0s0963. A Menu Chevrolet Cruze + 0s3134. P Oriola SEAT Len WTCC + 0s6815. G. Tarquini SEAT Len WTCC + 0s6978. A MacDowall Chevrolet Cruze + 1s00911. D OYoung Chevrolet Cruze + 1s137
WTCC DRIVERS STANDINGS AFTER RACE 18 OF 241. Muller (Chevrolet), Huff (Chevrolet), 315; 3. Menu (Chevrolet), 267; 4. Tarquini (SEAT),193 ; 5. Coronel (BMW), 164 ; 7. Michelisz (BMW), 152; 10. McDowall (Chevrolet), 52;15. Nykjr (Chevrolet), 20; 17. Rydell (Chevrolet), 14;
WTCC MANUFACTURERS STANDINGS AFTER RACE 18 OF 241. Chevrolet, 761 points; 2. BMW, 486; 3. SEAT, 472.
