Larini Puts the Cruze in Second Row in Brno

Nicola Larini will start from the second row in tomorrow’s Race of the Czech Republic, the sixth round of the 2009 World Touring Car Championship. The Italian driver set the 4th best time of the qualifying session and was the quickest of the front-wheel drive cars. Alain Menu (8th) also made the top ten, while Rob Huff (14th) was slowed by vibrations in his fast lap.

Today’s result proves the progress made by the Cruze also on permanent tracks with fast-flowing corners. The Cruze’s are well-positioned to collect some heavy points in both races tomorrow, although varying weather conditions remain a question mark for everybody: today, only the qualifying session took place on a completely dry track. 

QUOTES

Nicola Larini (4th): “I am very happy with my lap time, which is better than I expected given the characteristics of this track. The car was working very well, but we will have to wait until the warm-up tomorrow morning to see what kind of track conditions we can expect for the two races”.

Alain Menu (8th): “I am happy to be in the top ten and having two cars in Q2 on this track, where we knew rear-wheel drive cars are much more at ease is a very good result. During my best lap, I could not benefit from slip streaming of the car in front of me, but I am happy with my lap time and with the balance of the Cruze”.

Rob Huff (14th): «On my first run with new tyres, the car felt very stiff and I had a lot of understeer. We then changed the set-up and things improved a lot, unfortunately, my quickest lap was ruined during the final sector by some bad tyre vibrations which hampered my lap time. Otherwise, I think we would have had all three cars in the top ten”.

Mark Busfield: “Today’s result shows us that the teams hard work has been in the right direction since the last race, and we are getting more and more competitive on all the types of track we race at. For tomorrow, we have Nicola well placed for race 1 and Alain in an ideal position for race 2, and we can aim for some good points. Still, we will have monitor the weather very carefully as our forecast shows a chance of rain for the races tomorrow and this can change a lot of things for everyone”.

BRNO QUALIFYING RESULTS

1. A Farfus BMW 320si 2m09s590
2. A Priaulx BMW 320si +0s040
3. A Zanardi BMW 320si +0s272
4. N Larini Chevrolet Cruze +0s737
5. R Rydell SEAT León TDI +0s781
8. A Menu Chevrolet Cruze +1s124
14. R Huff Chevrolet Cruze +1s747 (Q1)