Münnich Motorsport ready for their second season in the WTCC

The German Münnich Motorsport team is ready to begin its second season in the FIA World Touring Car Championship this weekend at Marrakech, with drivers Gianni Morbidelli and René Münnich piloting their new Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1s.

The team have tested at Portimao, Portugal, ahead of the season with the final batch of RML’s new Chevrolet Cruze touring car. The team entered the off-season on a high with victory in the final round of 2013 at Macau with former driver Rob Huff, and have made the switch to SEAT to Chevrolet in a last minute deal, which has seen Morbidelli return to the WTCC after an eight-year absence.

“Everything is a little rushed, because we only got the cars at the end of March,” said team principal and driver Münnich. “Our first experience with our new Chevrolet Cruze TC1 was at a test in Portimao…we will continue learning on every race track starting from Morocco, but we are optimistic that we will have a good part to play in the races during this season.”

The team’s signing of Gianni Morbidelli, who has recently been very successful in the Italian-based Superstars Series, winning the title last season for Audi Sport Italia, is a major boost to the team, who say they expect him to regularly in the top five and to be be able to fight for podium places.

Münnich, who finished 14th in the Yokohama Trophy classification last year, and will also compete in the new FIA World Rallycross Championship this season, hopes to be able to just maintain pace with the other drivers at the start of the season.

“For me it is only my second season at the WTCC and in circuit racing. I hope that I will be able to handle the Chevrolet and the new tyres quite well,” he added. “First of all I will try to even get near them and we will see from then.”