Photo: WTCC Media

Back to Brno – start of BMW’s chance to catch-up

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The World Touring Car Championship visits Brno in the Czech Republic this weekend for the fifth year. Of they eight WTCC races held, BMW has won six times.

BMW will hoping to take advantage of this point of the season where the circuits suit the BMW 320si.

After the last round at Brands Hatch, the entry list features just a few changes.

There’s no fourth Chevrolet Cruze this round, but there is a third car for Proteam, with Fabio Fabiani returning for his second appearance of the season.

Andrei Romanov returns to the Liqui-Moly Team Engstler squad, reclaiming his seat from Tim Coronel.

Also the ballasts have changed slightly – with the average lap-times of the old model BMW earning them an extra 10kg.

Colin Turkington will be in one of those older BMW’s, competing in what is scheduled to be his last race of the season for EBay Motors/West Surrey Racing. The team is hoping to find backing to return later in the year, after they return to the BTCC for the next two rounds.

Turkington has never raced at the circuit before, but hopes to catch-up quickly:
“It’s always an added challenge when you haven’t been to a track before but we have a couple of practice sessions there and warm up so if we start from a good base set up we can work on that ready for the races. We will be at a slight disadvantage I guess but hopefully not for long!”

Chevrolet go into the event leading the drivers and constructors championship.

“Brno is always a key moment in the season and a very pleasant event,” said championship leader Yvan Muller.

“Although the track is quite abrasive and hard on tyres, especially for front-wheel drive cars.”

Rob Huff has fond memories of Brno, being the track where he took his first WTCC victory back in 2006. That remains the only victory that Chevrolet has had at the circuit.

BMW has been the dominant car at the circuit, though the specialist team at the circuit in more recent years was BMW Team Italy-Spain, which took both wins last year for Sergio Hernández & Alessandro Zanardi, with Zanardi also winning the first race in 2008, and Felix Porteiro the year before that.

Andy Priaulx, driving for the current works team BMW Team RBM, is not pre-empting a good result just because the circuit favours the 320si however:
“I am really looking forward to the races in Brno. The circuit definitely suits us, but I am not going to let this put me under any pressure. It doesn’t do any good to aim for a certain result ahead of a weekend”.

SEAT shouldn’t be ruled out, with the TDI still proving to be capable of winning on circuits where SR-Sport doesn’t expect the León TDI to be suited. The León TDI has won at the Czech circuit before at the hands of Gabriele Tarquini, and the Italian will be hoping to close the gap on former team mate Yvan Muller.