Photo: WTCC Media

Cacá Bueno has almost a literal baptism of fire in UK

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Three-time Brazilian Stock Car champion Cacá Bueno had a testing weekend in the UK for his first time racing in the World Touring Car Championship, as his car caught fire in race one and couldn’t be repaired.

TouringCarTimes caught up with Chevrolet’s newest fourth driver before his first race.

We asked Cacá how he’s finding his first run, with no testing or preparation to drive the Chevrolet Cruze around the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.

“It’s not easy. It’s my first time in Brands Hatch, it’s my first time with this car…but it’s fine, because I like the challenge.”

“I’m very very happy, not with the qualifying – I think I could have done better…in the warm-up the car is so much better than yesterday. I’m better too, not only the car. We tried some things in the warm-up. The most important thing for me is just being half a second now behind first place.”

Bueno has been linked to the new Honda WTCC project, being headed up by the Argentine TC2000 outfit, which took an impressive 1-2-3 result at the same weekend at Termas de Río Hondo. Bueno was philosophical about whether that was en route to fruition

“It’s important to come here to learn the most I can. The plan is to come to the WTCC next year for a full year, but I’m not sure if that’s with the Honda team or another team.”

In race one, Bueno had advanced as far as 12th place from his 17th place position on the grid, before the car burst into flames.

“What happened is that one of the fixations of the engine broke, cutting some electrical wires and the fuel pipe, which led to the car catching fire” explained Bueno.

“After the problems encountered in qualifying, we managed to have the right set-up for the race and in the initial laps, I was really in the same pace of my rivals and only 4 tenths off the other Cruzes. Then, I started hearing a noise and having some vibrations in the gearbox, which were the first signs of the engine mounting problem. Still, I am very happy with this experience and would love to be again part of the WTCC in the near future”.