Photo: SEAT

SEAT ready for Istanbul

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Exactly three weeks after Brno hosted the FIA World Touring Car Championship, it’s the turn of Istanbul to stage the two Turkish rounds of the series on Sunday, September 24th. SEAT sport is ready for the coming event and all five drivers ranks this track very high.

The two Czech races saw a pair of 3rd place finishes for Yvan Muller – a performance that lifted the Frenchman into 5th position in the Drivers’ series – while SEAT Sport is now just one point behind BMW in the Manufacturers’ standings. After failing to score in Brno, James Thompson will lose a little of his maximum success ballast for the Istanbul races and so the Englishman is confident of a far better performance in Turkey.

Gabriele Tarquini holds the S2000 lap record around the 5.338km Istanbul Park Racing Circuit for both qualifying (2:04.525 / 154.32kph) and race (2:05.771 / 152.79kph) and won the last WTCC encounter there 12 months ago. The Italian driver is cautious about predicting another win this year, but is optimistic that the circuit’s twists and turns hold the key to a successful weekend for SEAT.

In 2005 the SEAT Sport team ran both the Toledo Cupra and the León, with the new car slightly slower than the Toledo along the circuit’s long back straight. Jordi Gené’s lap times, however, were comparable with those of Rickard Rydell and Peter Terting, confirming that the León was far stronger than the older car through the corners. Since then the team has come a long way in the development of the León and it travels to Turkey confident that Istanbul will see another useful haul of Championship points before the team’s home races in Valencia in mid-October.

Rickard Rydell (car number 3): “I really, really like Istanbul; it’s very different to go and race there. The people who own the circuit have done a terrific job – the layout, the pits and the track are all really good. It might not be the best circuit of the season for us because of the long straight at the back of the track, so BMW will probably be strong again, but the León is definitely more suited to Istanbul now than when Jordi drove it there a year ago. The Toledo was quicker than the León then, but this year I’m confident we can get three or four SEATs in the top eight in qualifying.”

Jordi Gené (car number 9): “The León has a very good chassis and we should see the benefits of that in several corners. The problem is going to be the straight and the fact that we enter the straight at quite a low speed; acceleration and top speed aren’t our strongest areas and so I think we might lose any advantage we get in the corners.

The best thing this year has been the fact that SEAT has been competitive at every circuit and I’m confident we can do well in Istanbul. Last year, the León was slower than the Toledo down the straight, but the lap times were very close. We’ve done a lot of work since then and so I’m confident we’ll get some good points.”

Peter Terting (car number 10): “It’s a really nice circuit; quite fast but hard on the tyres because there are a lot of long, left-hand corners. It should be quite good for us as it’s the kind of track where you need good downforce in the corners and good suspension and I think we can be really competitive in Turkey. Okay, we may lose a little time on the long straight, but I’m sure we can get it back in the corners. Weight will again be a factor, but nothing like as much as at Brno.”

James Thompson (car number 11): “I had a successful weekend in Istanbul last year and I really enjoyed the atmosphere there, so I’m looking forward to going back. A bit like Brno, it’s not a flat circuit at all so technically it shouldn’t be as good for us as somewhere like Valencia, but a lot of people said Monza wouldn’t be good for us and look what happened there. I’ve lost a bit of ballast after Brno and so, all being well, we can get ourselves back on track.”

Yvan Müller (car number 12): “Istanbul is another circuit which is new for me; I took a look at the track a month ago, but I haven’t raced there and so my experience isn’t as good as the others. I hope we can be competitive there, but I’ve realised that this championship is very different to the British Touring Car Championship, even though they’re both for touring cars.

I’m very positive after the results in Brno, but I lost a lot of points over the previous three race weekends. It will be hard to get back into the fight for the title by Macau, but a lot can still happen. I’ve tested at Valencia and I was last in Macau about fifteen years ago, so I don’t have much experience of the final three circuits.”