Chevrolet confident of success at Monza

The high-speed Monza track will suit the turbocharged Chevrolet Cruze, even with the Chevrolet team now running with an extra 40kg of ballast this weekend.

Yvan Muller took Chevrolet’s first victory at the track last year, and now with their highly developed 1.6 litre turbo engine, they’ll be the target for everyone else to get to this weeekend.

“I like Monza, like almost all drivers, by the way!” said Alain Menu, who lies second in the points table.

“The key point this year will be to see how the compensation weight will affect us, but Monza is probably the circuit where extra weight has least influence, as it is a very flowing track, where, except for the first chicane, you can keep the pace and the speed.”

Last year Rob Huff looked set for a win in the first race until a late race puncture dropped him down to third, gifting the BMW Motorsport team a 1-2 finish.

“I think we can do well there (Monza) and I think we will not have the tyre problems occurred last year, when both Tarquini and I suffered punctures in the last lap of Race 1,” said Huff.

“I will definitely work on a more conservative race set-up to avoid any risk.”

“Obviously, it is nice to be leading the championship but it is too early to think about that. The objective remains to score as many heavy points as possible”

RML will also be running a new overhead boom system in the pit-lane this weekend, which will provide power for the tyre blankets and also provide the three Chevrolet drivers with a race monitor. The engineers will also benefit with a direct data link to the cars without having to connect their laptops or even leave their garage haunts.

The boom will also feature a Formula 1 style ‘traffic light’ release system, though this will probably get it’s best use in the qualifying session, as WTCC races don’t feature pit-stops by default.

Heading to Monza, Rob Huff leads the championship with 70 points, just one point ahead of team-mate Alain Menu.

SUNRED Engineering’s Gabriele Tarquini is the interloper in third, 19 points down on Huff, with Yvan Muller in fourth, 22 points down on his British team-mate after troubles last time out at Zolder.