Gené enduring “very hard year”

Jordi Gené’s enduring a trying season in the WTCC in 2011, currently 13th in the championship after fighting to even make the grid at the start of the year.

TouringCarTimes caught up with Gené at Oschersleben to talk about the trials of his 2010 WTCC season.

“I had a very hard year so far” said an unhappy Gene after the second race at Oschersleben, a weekend where he left without adding to his points tally.

“I had some good races but I’ve never finished! In Marrakech I was third and my teammate crashed into me, at Monza I was third after the first race and in the in-lap my intercooler broke, and at Zolder I won but my restrictor wasn’t legal so I lost the race win,” explained Gené.

“Often I haven’t got the chance to finish the first race and this destroyed my qualifying performances and the chances for race two as well. I am sad about this because the team is doing an amazing job so far.”

The winter was very hard for Jordi because he didn’t know if he was going to able to continue in the WTCC this year.

“The winter was very difficult. The bet was to be on grid this year after SEAT Sport left WTCC for this season. When you are one year out off WTCC, then its very hard to come back. SUNRED got very high developed cars (the SEAT TDI) and there are still working former or active SEAT Sport workers for SUNRED and we have a good customer support from SEAT Sport. I really like the championship and this year is difficult for everyone.”

SUNRED has a very small budget for this years WTCC campaign and also Jordi Gené still needs to find some money to be able to race at Macau.

“We knew that we will have a difficult season and we still don’t know if we can go to Macau. The financial crisis hit everybody hard, especially in Spain. It is very difficult to find the budget for WTCC at the moment. We are trying to save costs wherever it’s possible. If we can save one set of tyres, we are doing this and we’re not doing any testing this year. We are on our limit, but our cars are in good condition. I didn’t retire at Monza because of an old intercooler. It was new and it was bad luck.”

With the new specification engine being introduced in 2011, Jordi believes that the championship will get a push.

“I believe that the championship will grow again because of the new rules who will be introduced next year. If BMW will leave WTCC I really hope new manufacturers will come into WTCC. With the new rules I believe we will see new manufacturers in 2012.”

The next race will be held on his home circuit at Valencia.

“Valencia is my home race and hopefully my bad luck will end there. It is the most important race for me and I’ve already won there. I have a good feeling for the race weekend.”