Penalty weights for Monza confirmed

The Chevrolet Cruze will go to Monza with 40kg of penalty ballast after their performance in the opening two rounds of the 2011 championship.

The performance of the Chevrolet Cruze has earned it 40kg of ballast, whilst the SEAT León TDI and BMW 320 TC will run with no penalty ballast for Round 3 of the 2011 World Touring Car Championship, with the average lap times of the top SEAT and BMW being 0.7s down on the Cruze.

The Volvo C30 was 1.8s down and so will lose 20kg from its base weight, as will the two BMW 320sis of Fabio Fabiani and Ibrahim Okyay, with Fabiani’s times 7.7s down on the top Cruze.

There will be an additional test day before Monza where both SEAT and Volvo will run their 1.6 litre turbocharged engine for the first time, with SEAT highly expected to run this engine in at least one of their cars for the weekend, and Volvo making a decision at the test.

If either does run their new engine, they will compete with the maximum 40kg ballast as a ‘new car’.

22 cars are entered for the Race of Italy, with the additional BMW 320si of Ibrahim Okyay joining the field.

Monza Entry List with Penalty Weights

No – Driver – Nat – Team – Car – Ballast
1 – Yvan Muller – FRA – Chevrolet – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T +40 kg
2 – Robert Huff – GBR – Chevrolet – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T +40 kg
3 – Gabriele Tarquini – ITA – Lukoil-SUNRED – SEAT León TDI ±0 kg
4 – Aleksei Dudukalo*^ – RUS – Lukoil-SUNRED – SEAT León TDI ±0 kg
5 – Norbert Michelisz* – HUN – Zengö Motorsport – BMW 320 TC ±0 kg
7 – Fredy Barth*^ – SUI – SUNRED Engineering – SEAT León TDI ±0 kg
8 – Alain Menu – SUI – Chevrolet – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T +40 kg
9 – Darryl O’Young* – HKG – Bamboo Engineering – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T +40 kg
10 – Yukinori Taniguchi* – JPN – Bamboo Engineering – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T +40 kg
11 – Kristian Poulsen* – DEN – Liqui-Moly Team Engstler – BMW 320 TC ±0 kg
12 – Franz Engstler* – GER – Liqui-Moly Team Engstler – BMW 320 TC ±0 kg
13 – Ibrahim Okyay*^ – TUR – Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport – BMW 320si -20 kg
15 – Tom Coronel – NED – ROAL Motorsport – BMW 320 TC ±0 kg
17 – Michel Nykjaer*^ – DEN – SUNRED Engineering – SEAT León TDI ±0 kg
18 – Tiago Monteiro – POR – SUNRED Engineering – SEAT León TDI ±0 kg
20 – Javier Villa* – SPN – Proteam Racing – BMW 320 TC ±0 kg
21 – Fabio Fabiani*^ – ITA – Proteam Racing – BMW 320si -20 kg
25 – Mehdi Bennani* – MOR – Proteam Racing – BMW 320 TC ±0 kg
30 – Robert Dahlgren – SWE – Polestar Racing – Volvo C30 -20 kg
35 – Urs Sonderegger* – SUI – Wiechers-Sport – BMW 320 TC ±0 kg
65 – Marchy Lee* – HKG – DeTeam KK Motorsport – BMW 320 TC ±0 kg
74 – Pepe Oriola*^ – SPN – SUNRED Engineering – SEAT León TDI ±0 kg

* Eligible for the Yokohama Independents Trophy
^ Eligible for the Jay-Ten Trophy