ROUNDS 13 & 14 – ANDERSTORP, SWEDEN TESTING REPORT
Weather: rainy, with a wet track.
SWEDISH DRIVERS DOMINATE TESTING
Rain spoiled today’s test session at the Scandinavian
Raceway which was topped by local driver Rickard Rydell on
his first appearance at the wheel of the fourth Chevrolet
Lacetti works car, with his fellow countryman Fredrik Ekblom
of BMW Team UK classified second fastest.
The session started under threatening clouds, while the track
was still partially wet after a series of showers that followed
one another since the early morning.
Jörg Müller of BMW Team Germany was the first driver
to pull himself up the time sheet, clocking a lap of 1:52.205,
four minutes into the session. As the racing lines were drying
up, James Thompson posted a 1:52.403 that placed him in second
position. But a few minutes later Ekblom demoted Müller
and Thompson to second and third respectively, posting a provisional
fastest lap of 1:51.939.
Another shower flooded the track with twenty minutes to go,
but in the final stages the racing lines dryed up again and
a number of drivers improved including Rickard Rydell and
Tiago Monteiro who climbed to second and fourth fastest respectively.
Just before the end of the session, Rydell improved again,
completing a lap in 1:51.895 to top the classification for
good.
Roberto Colciago of SEAT Sport Italia emerged as the best
of the Independents with a lap of 1:52.663, that placed him
8th overall.
The new SEAT León TDI cars of Yvan Muller and Jordi
Gené set the 11th and 13th fastest times; they were
split by Robert Dahlgren’s bio-fuel Volvo S60 in 12th
position.
BULLET NEWS
TECHNICAL PROBLEM FOR HERNÁNDEZ
A trivial technical problem put an early end to Sergio Hernández’s
test session. The Spanish driver’s BMW stopped on the
main straight after only a few laps, due to a broken throttle
cable.
TRICKY ASPHALT CONDITIONS CAUSE TROUBLES
Because of the changeable weather, the tricky conditions of
the racetrack caused troubles to a few drivers. SEAT Sport’s
Michel Jourdain and Elgh Motorsport’s Carl Rosenblad
went both off into the gravel trap – on turns 1 and
3 respectively – and did not rejoin.
THEY SAID, THEY SAID…
Rickard RYDELL
“There is a reason for me being fastest today. The only
day of testing I had in the car was wet, I had only nine dry
laps then. I can say that I know the car reasonably well in
the wet and I don’t know it in the dry. I’m happy,
because I showed the team we have a potential, but honestly
I was hoping to have a dry session to learn more about the
car. Now I know that if we have wet practice tomorrow morning
and a dry qualifying I have a problem; therefore my hopes
are obviously for a complete wet weekend…”
Fredrik EKBLOM
“Today’s times don’t mean very much. Of
course I’m happy to be among the fastest, but honestly
is what we expected, because I’m racing for a top-level
team. I know this track very well, which helps for sure, and
I have to say that I really enjoyed the session. But tomorrow
it will be different, because there are many experienced drivers
here and they will learn the track and fill the gap quickly.”
Jordi GENÉ
“The test was quite positive. We have to think that
everything is new for us and that we are just at the beginning
of the development of the TDI car. The diesel engine gives
us some benefits, but there also a few things that need to
be refined and improved. It is a very heavy car now, with
a completely different weight distribution. Today we have
seen that we are already close to the petrol cars, and therefore
we are happy because we have the feeling that the potential
is there and as the car will be properly developed it will
be more competitive.”
Robert DAHLGREN
“It was quite a hectic session today. Everything was
all right and I had the opportunity to learn something about
the WTCC rain tyres. I know the track very well and one month
ago we raced here for the Swedish Touring Car Championship
in even worse conditions. I personally don’t mind if
it will be rainy all the weekend, but I hope for the fans
it will be sunny.”
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