Chevrolet satisfied with German weekend

With three podium spots in two races, Chevrolet is happy with the outcome of todays races at Oschersleben. Robert Huff scored a second place in the first race and a third place in the second race, bringing him up to fifth in the championship.

Huff is now 16 points behind championship leader Yvan Muller, with still three rounds and six races to go. But things didn’t look to start off well at the beginning of race one. “I had a very difficult start in race 1, as it always is here in Oschersleben. It was quite unfair as Tarquini was already ahead of me coming into the last corner, while the lights were still quite red. It is normally the pole sitter who dictates the pace, not the second man on the grid”, Huff said.

“Then for the first corner I stayed on the line and had a good braking point, but then I got hit by Nicola who had been pushed by someone else. It pushed me sideways and the passenger door flew open, but fortunately it closed itself. The incident allowed Augusto to take the lead. I then went into my race mode and passed Tarquini halfway through the race. I knew I couldn’t catch Augusto so I settled for second, which netted good points for the championship. I’m also happy for the team as we got two cars on the podium for the first time in Oschersleben.”

“In the second race there was the more first-corner carnage, but I steered clear of that this time. I came through fourth on the first lap and knew I had to get Gené in between myself and Farfus to be safe in third, something I managed on lap 7. I immediately could close the gap to the leaders but there was just no way of passing them. Still, to take home 14 points is excellent. Hopefully we can have another weekend like this in Imola. We never give up!”

For Alain Menu the first race brought a good result with third place. “I didn’t expect to finish on the podium, but with what happened in Turn 1 and 2 my chances of a good finish had already increased dramatically after just a few hundred yards. Last year I started second and got hit out of the race in the same corner; this year I was lucky. From then on I just gave it all I had, passing first Monteiro and then Tarquini. I knew I wouldn’t be able to catch Rob, so the last two laps I just concentrated on bringing the car home.”

However, in the second race Menu wasn’t so lucky, as he failed to finish” I had contact twice at the start, which broke the right rear suspension and ended my race after three laps”, Menu said.

Larini’s weekend was less successfull, as he failed to finish in the first race and only managed 11th place in race two. “At the start of the first race I got sandwiched by the SEATs of Monteiro and Gené. Gené pushed me sideways and I slammed into Rob. Fortunately Rob could continue, but my suspension was damaged and my race was over. In the second race I did what I could to make up places and managed to come back to 11th place.”

At the end of the day, Eric Nève of Chevrolet was satisfied. “Oschersleben is always a challenge for us. The track is very demanding and it asks a lot of the car. Being able to score podium places in both races was very good and in addition to that we also had pole. That all makes it a very satisfying weekend for us”, Nève said to TouringCarTimes.

Nève believes the championship is not over for them yet after today. “When Rob Huff can keep this performance up, he still might have a chance. But it’s not easy. Imola is going to be very hard, because of the many hills there.”

But for Larini there are better hopes, according to Nève. “Nicola Larini will have good chances at Imola, because he will be very light. We’ll have to concentrate on the race at Imola now and prepare our selves as good as we can. Imola will be a new track for all of us and we will try to get the best result possible.”

As it’s already the fourth year for the Chevrolet Lacetti, which might make it harder to keep trying to get more out of the car. But for next year, things might change, as Chevrolet is developing a new car. “The next generation is in the pipeline”, Nève said to TouringCarTimes. “We’ve completed all of the simulations and already got some parts. We’re working hard to build the new car and will be finished in time with it.”

“Who will be driving the car next year I can’t say yet. First we will be at the start at Monza with four drivers. When the time is right, we’ll announce the drivers for next year.”

Eric Nève doesn’t understand the excitement about the current S2000 regulations. “When you see that there are such great battles on the track, how good the races are and how exiting the show is, it’s hard to say the regulations are bad. Every manufacturer has already won a race, the championship is still open and the most important thing is simply that all cars are very equal to eachother.”