ROUNDS 3 & 4 - PUEBLA-AMOZOC, MEXICO TEST REPORT
SEAT DRIVERS DOMINATE SESSION
This afternoon the second meeting of the FIA WTCC season
got underway under Puebla's sunshine.
In a session that saw early successful times for the Chevrolet
team, a trio of SEAT drivers took the top three spots. Jordi
Gené set the fastest lap just before Tom Coronel's
SEAT stopped along the track, causing a yellow flag with a
minute left on the clock.
With a time of 1:42.603, Gené was half a second faster
than his closest rival and team-mate Tiago Monteiro whose
time was 1:43.089. Winner in Brazil, Gabriele Tarquini topped
off the SEAT success with a lap of 1:43.209.
Alain Menu was fourth in the Chevrolet with a time of 1:43.548,
and BMW Team Germany's Augusto Farfus in fifth only 0.039
adrift. Another SEAT driver, Rickard Rydell rounded off the
top six only 0.054 behind Farfus, who was the fastest of the
struggling rear-wheel driven BMW cars.
Pierre-Yves Corthals highlighted the domination of SEAT by
setting the fastest time in the Independents' class, and being
an impressive seventh overall, with a time of 1:43.761. During
the session Corthals also made small mistakes on laps that
appeared to be threatening the lead, demonstrating the potential
his car has for the remainder of the weekend.
Although there were no major incidents during the test, there
were a few drivers whose tyres came into contact with the
grass. Farfus went off twice, and his more dramatic was spinning
into Turn 10 early in the session. Ibrahim Okyay also left
the racetrack twice in two spins at turns 9 and 13.
Coronel had a moment coming out of Turn 3 but managed to
hold the car as it bumped its way over the kerb. However,
near to the end of the session his car stopped on the track
at Turn 7, as he felt that it might have suffered from a suspension
problem.
BULLET NEWS
CHEVROLET REMEMBER LESLIE
The Chevrolet RML team will pay a tribute to David Leslie,
the former touring car legend and Eurosport commentator who
perished last Sunday in a plane crash. Leslie was a close
friend of team principal Ray Mallock and had raced for several
years for RML in the British Touring Car Championship.
From tomorrow's first free practice session the three Lacetti
cars will sport a right rearview mirror decorated with laurels
and the wording: David Leslie, 1953-2008.
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