FIA WTCC NEWSLETTER # 31 – 10 August 2007
LGT TO RACE DIESEL-POWERED LEXUS
LGT Engineering confirmed their plans to enter the FIA World
Touring Car Championship. The Liverpool based team will enter
two Lexus IS220d cars to compete in the Yokohama Independents’
Trophy.
LGT’s Commercial Director Tim Blake commented: “Our
plan is to run the cars towards the end of this season, prior
to embarking on a full assault on the championship in 2008.
We are currently undertaking the official Lexus homologation
with the FIA, with many of the car’s components, including
the proven transmission, having been designed by our innovative
in-house team.”
Blake added: “The WTCC is a natural fit for the company
to showcase its work. Needless to say, we’re eager to
get out there and start racing!”
LGT Engineering was founded in February 2007 by Tim Blake
and Technical Director George Ryton. Ryton, whose previous
experience includes designs for the Ferrari, Minardi and Tyrell
F1 teams, heads up the design department, working on both
the motorsport and Lexus roadcar programmes.
TERTING BACK TO SEAT IN GERMANY
Peter Terting will return to the SEAT Sport team at the next
round of the FIA WTCC to drive a works petrol-engined SEAT
León in Oschersleben.
The 23-year old German raced for the works SEAT Sport team
in 2005 and 2006 recording an outstanding reliability record
of finishing 36 out of 40 races over the two years. In 2005
he scored his maiden WTCC victory at Puebla, Mexico, in a
SEAT Toledo Cupra and finished 12th in the Drivers’
Championship, while in 2006 he raced a SEAT León and
finished three times 2nd (at Brands Hatch, Curitiba and Istanbul)
to be placed 9th in the Drivers’ Championship.
“I am very happy about returning to SEAT Sport and
racing a León again and I really must thank everyone
at SEAT for making this happen. I won’t have the opportunity
to test the before the race weekend, and with only two 30-minute
free practice sessions before qualifying it won’t be
easy. But I know the team, the car, the track and the WTCC,
so I have a very good feeling. When I raced the León
last year I was very competitive and able to run at the front,
so everything is possible. Rickard Rydell, who was my team-mate
at SEAT Sport last year, proved in Anderstorp that you can
return to the WTCC and do very well, so it might be possible
for me to finish in the top three. For the moment I am just
looking forward to putting on my SEAT Sport overall and getting
back in the León again,” said Terting.
60 EXTRA KILOS FOR NICOLA LARINI
For the first time so far in the season a non-BMW driver
tops the handicap weight list. Nicola Larini, who is fourth
in the championship classification, will carry the maximum
60-kg ballast on board his Chevrolet Lacetti at Oschersleben.
Four drivers – BMW’s Jörg Müller and
Andy Priaulx, SEAT’s Gabriele Tarquini and Yvan Muller
– will be only 5 kilos lighter. Augusto Farfus and Alain
Menu will have 50 and 45 extra kilos respectively.
16 drivers will have handicap weight onboard, including newcomer
Peter Terting.
60 kg Nicola Larini
55 kg Jörg Müller, Andy Priaulx, Gabriele Tarquini
and Yvan Muller
50 kg Augusto Farfus
45 kg Alain Menu
40 kg Robert Huff and James Thompson
35 kg Tiago Monteiro and Tom Coronel
10 kg Félix Porteiro and Peter Terting
5 kg Alessandro Zanardi, Luca Rangoni and Jordi Gené
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