Nicola Larini assists Chevrolet DK

On Wednesday Chevrolet Motorsport Danmark got assistance from one of the brand’s World Touring Car Championship drivers. At FDM Jyllandsringen Nicola Larini, Italy, helped evaluating the new Chevrolet Lacettis, which next month will be making their debut in the Danish Touringcar Championship.

The Italian, however, did only a minor share of the testing. This task was instead carried out by the two regular drivers Pontus Mörth, Sweden, and Henrik Lundgaard, Hedensted, which he had to find their own set-up, before Nicola Larini got into the car. First the Italian learned the circuit in a road car, and then he took over Henrik Lundgaard’s racing car, which he consequently ran over the curbs with at the end of the short straight, which is not normal practice.

“The circuit is quite nice,” Nicola Larini said after his first drive. “In the WTCC series we have a similar circuit, and this one is neither better nor worse than that. The first corner after the straight is a bit dangerous, but the rest of the circuit is okay and easy to learn. But I don’t think that it is easy to drive on during a race weekend with lots of cars on it.”

Later in the day Pontus Mörth handed his car over to Nicola Larini, who evaluated it on the basis of his two year experience of the Lacetti in the World Touring Car Championship. At the end it was time to give his opinion of the Chevrolet’s relative strength at the FDM Jyllandsringen.

”It is difficult to say, when you don’t know the other competitors and their cars,” he said. “But during qualifying I am convinced that the Chevrolet will be fast, but like other front wheel drive cars it will be having a difficult time during the end of a race. With a front wheel drive car you will always have understeer on a circuit like this, and that will lead to tyre wear. But if the drivers can start from pole position, and they can be quick in the first half of the race, then they will also be able to withstand a BMW attack at the end of the race.”