The diesel is not better than the petrol engine

SEAT has been the focus of attention in the FIA World Touring Car Championship after dominating the 2008 season, taking the drivers, manufacturers and team title. The success has not been the only focus of attention for the team. Being the only competitors in WTCC using a diesel engine, a lot of attention has been focused on the difference between the petrol and diesel engines. TouringCarTimes met up with the man behind the successful team, SEAT Motorsport-boss Jamie Puig for an exclusive interview on all the hot topics.

There has been a hot discussion regarding the introduction of the diesel engine in the WTCC, what are your thoughts on that?

“I think that the general discussion did not point out the exact problem. The diesel engine is not better compared to the petrol engine. The diesel engine is a very “green” engine. It has got a particle filter and less emissions. So it is environmentally friendly. But Seat Sport was the better team during the 2008 season. If you have a look on the results, race by race, you will see that our diesel engined engines often wasn’t the fastest. For example, at the Macau-final all works teams started with the same weight and we were not fastest.”

“If you look at the basics of the FIA WTCC-rules, the BMW is the fastest car, the Chevrolet is second fastest and the Seat the third fastest car. I’ve said the whole year that we aren’t the fastest. The key was the team and the drivers. The FIA had a very difficult job because all the other teams were against us and tried to stop the diesel engine. We have won the championship but it is too easy to say that it was only because of the diesel engine. Our team worked very hard the whole year. Sometimes we had luck and the others not, but sometimes the other manufacturers didn’t work as a team. I am very proud of our team and there will not be any major changes for 2009, because there is nothing to change!”

For 2009 there will be changes of the rules that restrict the diesel-powered cars, what do you think of that?

“We have to live with the decisions, but we are not pleased with them. We had a fast car last year, but it was not so fast that it was unbeatable. In my eyes the changes are not fair. We have to modify some parts of the engine like the air restrictor. We have to reduce the restrictor from 35 millimeters to 34 millimeters. We are also going to change the turbo pressure and get another base weight. We are working hard to compensate the lost horsepower, but we will for sure have less power compared to last year. The engine is our main project at the moment. We will see at the WTCC 2009 premiere if our car is still fast and if we can live with the decision. I really hope that the FIA does the right thing.”

The SEAT-diesel engine is only available for factory teams currently, could this be changed in the near future?

“There were so many changes of the diesel engine-rules in the past that made us unable to offer the diesel engine to our customers. We would like to have long standing rules and be able to sell diesel engines to customers. I cannot understand why they change the rules so often. Currently we have two persons working only with the modifications because of new rules.”

A lot of voices have said that the introduction of diesel engines increases the costs in touring car-racing, what is your response to this?

“The diesel engine has much more parts from the standard engine compared to the petrol engine. You have to develop more special parts for a petrol engine. So it could be cheaper, but now I have to say that it is a little bit more expensive, because you need an extra engineer. Those are the only differences between the diesel and the petrol engine. If the rules would be constant, then we could offer a engine for customers and the running costs would be smaller.”

Jordi Géne has been with SEAT since the start, but has failed to score good results, how come he is still in the team?

“Jordi has meant a lot for our team. When we first met him he was under a contract with BMW. But he saw the potential in our team and he has been a very big help from the beginning. We needed an experienced driver that was Spanish from the beginning. He has the speed to win races, but he has got some ups and downs. Of course it is important for a Spanish team and manufacturer to have a Spanish driver. He is the best touring car driver in Spain and we are pushing him to get to the top of WTCC.”

How come Gene and Tiago Monteiro was far off team mates Yvan Muller, Gabriele Tarquini and Rickard Rydell?

“They were both able to fight for the top. Jordi had a much better start of the season compared to the previous years. But at the middle of the season we decided that Jordi and Tiago had to support the others for the championship fight. Rickard, Gabriele and Yvan are really strong drivers. We are working very hard to help Tiago and Jordi to be on the same level for next season.”

Why do you think Yvan Muller came out as champion and best SEAT driver last year?

“Yvan Muller is one of the best drivers in the world, something that his current world title proves. Anyway, his victory vitalized the team and the teamwork. In the past we had three cars. The main problem then was the limited test time during race weekends. We discussed these things and came to the conclusion that with more drivers, it would be easier to get more test mileage. All drivers work together and have to try something to help the others with their setup. For sure, each driver can go his own way, but I would say that the main difference to the other teams was that we worked together. And it is normal when you have five drivers in the team that one driver sometimes is faster then the others. Yvan would not be so strong without the team, but we are talking about very small differences between the drivers. Yvan was able to find the last tenths and Yvan is for sure one of the best drivers in the world.”

Your driver line up consists of much older drivers compared to the other manufacturers. Is there a special reason for this?

“Our driver line up might have old drivers, but it is still the best. BMW and Chevrolet have got really strong drivers as well. Andy Priaulx won the championship three times in a row. All manufacturers have good drivers. Our drivers are older than the rest, but who finished second in the championship? It was Gabriele Tarquini, 47 years old. We are working for the future, but at the moment our driver line up is quite effective for us. The younger drivers will come, but they need experience. Experience is a very important point and sometimes the young drivers cannot see that. Touring cars are very special and you need a lot of experience. Just look at DTM, Tom Kristensen, Bernd Schneider and others are at the very top despite their age.”

How important is it to have a local importer supporting a driver in your team? The German Peter Terting left your team despite Germany being an important market for SEAT.

“It is not important. We had Peter Terting for four years. In 2007 the situation changed when we had three regular drivers and two drivers that had to pay for it: Michael Jourdain Jr. and Tiago Monteiro. Last year we decided to continue with Tiago because he has got big support from Portugal and the Portuguese importer had a good use of him. It is not only the support from the market, it is also the usage of the market in Portugal. The reason why we are competing in the WTCC is to sell more cars. The marketing campaign with Tiago had more than a triple effect on the market in Portugal.”

“We did not get that effect in Germany when we had Peter. We decided to go with Rickard Rydell instead of Peter. Rickard is one of the best touring car drivers in the world. I wouldn´t say that Peter hasn´t got the potential and the speed to win races or the championship. The good thing in touring cars is is that you can find good drivers in all countries. We could have tried to get German sponsors for Peter. But that was not the case, one of our main sponsors is Repsol. The company is very big in Spain and Portugal. Peter is still a member of the Seat family, but not working for us anymore. BMW has another concept with the country teams. At Seat Sport it is a central decison.”

Will SEAT continue with the program for young drivers in 2009?

“We will continue with the program in 2009 and I am very proud of our structure for young talented drivers. They learn a lot in the SEAT Léon Eurocup, the cars in that series are not that far from the S2000-cars. We try to support Oscar Nogues (the winner of the SEAT Léon Eurocup) but it is difficult in the times of the financial crisis.”

The financial crisis hit the car industry very hard. Honda left Formula One and Subaru left the World Rally Championship. Is SEAT facing similar problems?

“The situation is very difficult but it is not only motorsport that gets affected. Now, more than ever, companies and manufacturers look over all expenses. What SEAT get for the amount of money we spend in WTCC is very good. It is the highest return on investment for us. The budget in WTCC is four times smaller compared to what we had when we took part in the World Rally Championship for example.”

The debate is ongoing that the WTCC and the S2000-cars are too expensive, what do you think needs to be done?

“The WTCC is one of the most cost effective series in the world. They have already reduced costs for a lot of things. The cost to take part in WTCC is much lower compared to other series. We all have to work together on how to reduce costs. We also have another aspect to it. We run the SEAT Leon Eurocup at the same time as WTCC. The running costs for one car in the Eurocup are much smaller compared to WTCC. The travelling costs are nearly the same. The Eurocup Léon has almost the same power and the lap times are only 1,5-2 seconds slower compared to the S2000 Léon. The question is how much money you need to modify the standard car. During one season you need only one engine for the Eurocup Léon. Modifying our S2000 diesel engine for a longer life cycle would cost a lot of money. We should introduce standard parts. For us it is very expensive to have a turbo specially made for racing. It would be a big step in the right way to have a standard turbo. The rules changes often and you have to invest a lot of money each time.

Another thing would be to ban tests. It is a difficult question. You could organize tests with other series. You could invite the STCC, DTC and BTCC. They are all using the same cars.

We have to reduce the costs, that is for sure. But for example, the FIA wants to introduce a mandatory new helmet for next year. FIA says that is is completely new and good for the safety. A normal helmet costs between 600 and 1.000 Euros and the motorcycle drivers are using the same helmets. The new helmet that the FIA wants us to use costs 4.000 euros. The safety of our drivers is of course very important. But our current helmets are really good and it is much safer to drive a touring car compared to a motorcycle. These kind of rules are just crazy when you want to safe money. If the MotoGP can use helmets for 600 euros then it should be possible to use these helmets in a touring car. For a team and a driver 4.000 euros is a lot of money!”

The success ballast in touring cars in general and WTCC in particular has been debated widely, what are your thoughts on the subject?

“The key is to continue with the same regulations for many years. To change the rules every year is confusing and expensive. On my point of view there should not be any success ballast at all to have the best man win. Now, if you develop a new component or similar you will be penalized for your efforts and investments. I understand that this system produces more competitive manufacturers but as a technician I do not like this system. And it is a drivers championship. The best driver should win.”

Is it important for WTCC to get more manufacturers?

“I do not see that as important. A new manufacturer would be good for increasing the action and the marketing. But we have to be careful, if we had five manufacturers in the series only three of them can reach the podium. The other two cannot be on the podium. We are not in Formula 1 which has got another situation. Toyota has got one of the biggest budgets but they have never won a race. A championship can die with too many manufacturers as we have seen in the past. To have 15 cars within one second is good, but if the same three manufacturers always are on top, then you have a problem. But four or five manufacturers would be nice.”

How do you think the WTCC compares to other touring car-series like DTM?

“WTCC is a World Championship and DTM is a bit more than a national championship. In my eyes WTCC is growing quicker. DTM is very different to WTCC. They only have two manufacturers, but I do like DTM and I think it is an interesting championship. Their marketing is very good. We have been present during two DTM-races with the Seat Leon Supercopa-series. But DTM is not the racing we prefer. The car is far from the standard cars. The DTM car has the look of a standard car but it is a prototype. It is completly different to our car which is very close to the standard car. The DTM is very popular in Germany and in some other countries. But for us WTCC is a better way to promote our cars in more countries.”

“But of course we can learn from DTM, we have to work closer with the marketing departments of the other manufacturers like they do it in DTM. We had a good relationship with Alfa Romeo and we want them to return in the future. But the marketing of WTCC is growing very fast and you have to see the fact that the WTCC is only four years old.”

What does the future look like for SEAT in the WTCC?

“We are very pleased with the WTCC and our campaign. Currently though we are in a difficult situation, we do not know what will come in the next two or three years. It is very difficult to make plans for the near future. We joined the championship a couple of years ago and we will do one more year. We really want to continue but that also depends on the global situation in the near future. It is very difficult to say anything about the future for everyone.”