A 9th place for Huff, the only take-away in Germany

After conquering its first victory in the World Touring Car Championship in Brands Hatch two weeks ago, the Chevrolet WTCC lived a disappointing weekend in the Race of Germany, the fourth two-race event of the season, which proves once again that motor racing is an ever-evolving business and that races may be very different one from the other.

The 9th place obtained by Rob Huff in Race 2 is the best result the team could achieve in this grey, cold and windy Sunday in Oschersleben. Eric Nève, Motorsport Manager Chevrolet Europe, summarized well everybody’s feeling in the team: “We still have a lot of work to do, especially to improve our performances on the dry, and we knew it well even after Brands Hatch. What is really important now is to continue testing and development with our test car as from next week while the race cars embark for the long journey to South America”.

Race 1 was relatively uneventful for the Chevrolet trio. Both Larini and Menu had a good start, managing to run in 1éth and 13th position in the initial laps, while Huff was charging upwards from his remote position in the grid. The Brit put on a solid performance and a couple of spectacular overtakings (losing a wing mirror in one of them) and was able to catch up his team-mates a few laps later. As he was a couple of tenths quicker, Alain and Nicola let him pass, confirming once again the excellent team spirit reigning in the squad. The three Lacetti ended the race in a row, in 12th (Huff), 13th (Menu) and 14th (Larini) positions.

In Race 2, Rob Huff had a very good start and was ninth at the end of the first lap. A faultless and consistent race allowed the Brit to keep that position, but the fact there were no retirements among the top eight of the race meant Rob could not finish in the points.

“Still, I think I made a good race”, he commented afterwards, “I spent almost all of it behind Yvan Muller and in front of Andy Priaulx, there were virtually few centimetres between our cars, and I can tell you it is not easy to try to pass a BTCC Champion while trying to keep off a double WTCC Champion!” Nicola Larini also did an excellent start but he realized very quickly that his car was suffering massive oversteer and had to retire in lap 3, as he was on the edge of spinning at every. Alain Menu’s race ended few seconds later when he was hit in the rear right by Zanardi in one of the fast corners and hit hard the barriers. “Alex came to me to apologize and to say he had just missed the breaking and had no intention to throw me off the track”, explained the Swiss, “I am sure that’s true but it was quite a serious shunt and the car is very damaged”.

The WTCC now heads towards its South American temporada, which will start in Curitiba with the Race of Brazil on July 2nd.

The Chevrolet colours were also defended by the Swiss team Maurer Motorsport, which enters two privateer Lacetti WTC in the German ADAC Procar Championship, but the day was not lucky for Vincent Radermecker, who had to retire in Race 1 after loosing power and traction all of a sudden. This is the first blank result this season for the Belgian, who clearly retains a massive lead in the overall standings thanks to 5 victories in 8 races. His team-mate Rainer Bastuck finished both races in fourth position.

OSCHERSLEBEN RACE 1 RESULTS

1. A Priaulx (BMW 320si) 14 laps in 22m12s805 (138.230 kph)2. D Müller (BMW 320si) + 0s4693. R Rydell (SEAT León) + 6s5614. G Tarquini (SEAT León) + 7s5375. J Thompson (SEAT Leon) + 11s24212. R Huff (Chevrolet Lacetti) + 17s68011. A Menu (Chevrolet Lacetti) + 21s27219. N Larini (Chevrolet Lacetti) + 22s446

OSCHERSLEBEN RACE 2 RESULTS1. J Müller (BMW 320si) 14 laps in 22m11s321 (138.380 kph)2. A Farfus (Alfa Romeo) + 1s3993. D Müller (BMW 320si) + 1s7074. P Terting (SEAT León) + 2s9135. R Rydell (SEAT León) + 5s7299. R Huff (Chevrolet Lacetti) + 9s650

2006 WTCC DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (After race 8 of 20)1ex. A Priaulx (BMW) and Y Muller, 33 points; 3ex. D Müller (BMW) and J Thompson, 32; 5ex. G Tarquini (SEAT) and R Rydell (SEAT), 31 10. A Menu (Chevrolet) 18;… 12. R Huff (Chevrolet), 5; ...14. N Larini (Chevrolet) 3 ;…

2006 WTCC MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (After race 8 of 20)1. BMW 103 points; 2. SEAT 100; 3. Chevrolet 55; 4. Alfa Romeo, 54.