Photo: Chevrolet media

Chevrolet completes test at Estoril

By

The Chevrolet RML team successfully concluded a three-day test at the Portuguese track of Estoril yesterday. Alain Menu, Nicola Larini and Rob Huff tested and evaluated several new components for the 2008-spec Chevrolet Lacetti, which also sports a revised livery for the coming World Touring Car Championship.

Further tests, including those of the 2008 engine, will be conducted in the United Kingdom using the test car, while the race cars are being shipped to South America for the first round of the WTCC in Curitiba, Brazil on March 2nd.

“Between our Valencia test and this one we have again gained a few steps forward”, Rob Huff said. “Everybody understands a bit more about the set-up and is consistently working in the right direction. Every day of testing we have had so far with the new 2008 car has been going very well, and it’s good to be so ready so early.”

Alain Menu only drove the Lacetti on the last day of testing. “I worked on springs and brakes; the usual detail stuff you try this time of winter. With the Lacetti being as good as it is, we are now looking at improving our lap times by the hundredth of a second rather than by the tenth”, Menu said after the test.

“This is not as easy but certainly as rewarding. Sometimes you can test a whole day without finding a plus, but you may have been able to eliminate a minus which is often just as helpful.

“As before a lot will depend on the kind of track you race at, whether or not you can find that little bit extra. With the quality and reliability of the Lacetti now well established, as witnessed by our seven wins last year, we should be fighting for the lead from the word go”, the Swiss driver concluded.

Alain Menu’s teammate Nicola Larini was the only Chevrolet driver who still had a chance at the last round of the 2007 season. This year he will also aim for the championship win. “We’re racking up as many laps as we can and we have had no reliability issues whatsoever, which makes me feel quite confident for the season. As in the years before the guys at RML have done an outstanding job over winter in preparing a superb race car which will hopefully allow me to win my first WTCC race.”

“These are new cars we’re testing here, albeit still with the ’07 engine. But they have everything else of the ’08 package installed. These days we’ve been mainly busy validating parts, particularly the suspension, differential and overall set-up.”