Chevrolet on target to break records this weekend

The Chevrolet team is set to break two World Touring Car Championship records this weekend at RML’s home circuit if they continue their current form in the Championship.

Just one more race victory will tie them for the most wins in a season for a manufacturer with SEAT, whose then dominant TDI engine took the Spanish squad to 12 victories in 2008 with wins for Yvan Muller, Gabriele Tarquini, Tiago Monteiro, Jordi Gené, Rickard Rydell – with Tom Coronel also taking victory in the independent petrol fuelled León at Okayama.

With 11 out of 12 victories in the first half of the season, Chevrolet are looking likely to smash that record this season, even if by chance they don’t win at Donington Park.

The team are also just one race victory behind SEAT in the stats books in terms of the total number of wins for a manufacturer, and a pair of wins at Donington Park will give them the second most number of wins scored in the history of the WTCC by a manufacturer, though even winning every remaining race of 2011 won’t see them catch-up to BMW.

Alain Menu has had the strongest form of all of Chevrolet’s current drivers in the UK, winning a race every year between 2006 and 2009, before losing out last year with Yvan Muller winning the first race, and Menu losing ground in race two after a front row start after contact with Augusto Farfus.

Now Menu returns to a track where has hasn’t raced since 2004.

“I think my last visit to Donington was in 2004 when I participated in the BTCC Race of Champions,” said Menu. “I have been quite successful at Brands Hatch in the last few years, but I am equally happy to go to Donington, it’s a circuit I like and most of all, I am happy to go back to the UK, which I consider my second home, as I lived and raced there for almost 20 years.”

“My objective doesn’t change: I’ll try to be on the podium of both races, collect heavy points and reduce the gap with respect to Rob and Yvan in the championship standings.”

Chevrolet hold a tight grip at the top of the standings, but the battle couldn’t be closer for ‘best of the rest’ between the three non-Chevrolet drivers who aren’t eligible to compete in the Yokohama Independents’ Trophy for performance reasons.

Tiago Monteiro now leads that pack after a strong result including a podium finish at his home race two weeks ago at Porto, with 101 points. Just one point behind is Tom Coronel in the lone ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC, and one point behind him is Gabriele Tarquini in next best placed SUNRED SR León 1.6T after team-mate Monteiro.

Monteiro admits he is at a handicap however, having never raced at the Donington Park circuit in his career.

“Unlike most of my competition, unfortunately, I do not know the Donington circuit but I am treating this meeting like a new, exciting challenge because I love to get to know new circuits,” said Monteiro.

Tom Coronel last raced a touring car at the circuit back in 2004 with the European Touring Car Championship. Back then, Coronel was racing for Dutch BMW independent team Carly Motors, but has more recently competed at the circuit in 2006 in the Le mans Series. Coronel’s current team however have far more recent experience at the track, albeit with their separate International Superstars Series operation, which raced at the circuit just a month ago with strong performances, with young driver Alberto Cerqui taking pole position and a podium finish in the first race.

Gabriele Tarquini also has experience at the track from his days in the BTCC. Tarquini was driving for Alfa Romeo when the ETCC visited the circuit in June 2004, but his last time of competition at the circuit would also have been the special BTCC Masters event along with Alain Menu, held in September of that year. Both Menu and Tarquini both finished on the podium in that event, and despite Tarquini starting last.

Another driver looking forward to a ‘home race’ is Volvo driver Robert Dahlgren.

“I have raced for five seasons in England with Formula Ford and I know Donington very well, I see it as my home track this year,” said Dahlgren.

“The goal for both races is top five. We have got the best conditions so far this season ahead of this weekend.”

The team switched to their new 1.6 litre turbocharged engine two races ago, so not only do they head to the first circuit of the season where their driver has experience of the track, they also will lost 60kg of ‘new car’ penalty weight for the event, which should see them move a lot closer to the dominant Chevrolet team.

There are two changes on the entry list for the weekend’s race. One driver change and one car change. The car change is that of the No.4 SEAT León of Aleksei Dudukalo. The Russian driver will finally make the switch from the 2.0 litre turbo-diesel engine to SUNRED’s 1.6 litre turbocharged petrol engine for Donington Park, marking the end of the diesel engine’s four year run in the Championship.

By upgrading to the new engine, the Russian driver won’t be able to pick up any further points in the Jay-Ten Trophy for cars conforming to 2010 FIA Touring Car regulations, for which he has been the only entrant for the last two meetings. However, Proteam Racing’s Fabio Fabiani is due to return to the Championship this weekend in what will be the only normally aspirated car on the grid.

The other change is the driver in the Wiechers-Sport BMW, as reported last week by TouringCarTimes. Due to other commitments in the GT4 European Cup, Stefano D’Aste, whom had put on a such a great showing at Porto will be absent from the grid this weekend. His place will be filled for the UK round only by 2009 British Touring Car Champion Colin Turkington, with D’Aste returning at Oschersleben later in the month.

There’s a 30 minute test session to kick off the weekend at 13:30 BST (Local time) on Friday, before Free Practice and Qualifying on Saturday, and the two races on Sunday.