Tarquini and Monteiro to switch to the 1.6 turbo in Brno

SUNRED Engineering drivers Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro will run SUNRED’s new 1.6 litre turbocharged engine at Brno.

The two drivers who are fourth and fifth in the championship standings will be the latest to run with the new engine, which was introduced at Hungary for Fredy Barth, Pepe Oriola and Michel Nykjaer, with Nykjaer passing Monteiro for fifth in the later stages of race two before retiring with a puncture.

“We are in late compared to the others,” said Tarquini to the series official site, referring to Chevrolet and BMW.

“And to fill the gap we must develop the engine at the race weekends. The TDI has no margin left for improvements, while the 1.6T has a good potential and can improve a lot.”

“Torque and power are there, but we have to work on drivability, therefore I would be very happy to achieve in Brno the same results we could achieve with the TDI: top ten in qualifying and top five in the races.”

The last time Tarquini drove with a petrol fuelled engine in the WTCC was at Brands Hatch in September 2007.

This leaves Aleksei Dudukalo as the last SUNRED driver to continue racing with the TDI engine. The Russian driver won both races in the Jay-Ten category in Hungary as one of only two drivers now competing in the category specifically for older specification engines.