[WTCC] Race 1 & 2 - Curitiba (BRA), 8th March 2009

[FIRE]

Entrylist
N° TEAM DRIVER CAR
1 SEAT Sport Yvan Muller (FRA) SEAT León 2.0 TDI
2 SEAT Sport Gabriele Tarquini (ITA) SEAT León 2.0 TDI
3 SEAT Sport Rickard Rydell (SWE) SEAT León 2.0 TDI
4 SEAT Sport Jordi Gené (ESP) SEAT León 2.0 TDI
5 SEAT Sport Tiago Monteiro (POR) SEAT León 2.0 TDI
6 BMW Team UK Andy Priaulx (GBR) BMW 320si
7 BMW Team Germany Jörg Müller (GER) BMW 320si
8 BMW Team Germany Augusto Farfus (BRA) BMW 320si
9 BMW Team Italy-Spain Alessandro Zanardi (ITA) BMW 320si
10 BMW Team Italy-Spain Sergio Hernández (ESP) BMW 320si
11 Chevrolet Robert Huff (GBR) Chevrolet Cruze **
12 Chevrolet Alain Menu (SUI) Chevrolet Cruze **
14 Chevrolet Nicola Larini (ITA) Chevrolet Cruze **
18 LADA Sport Jaap van Lagen (NED) Lada 110 2.0
19 LADA Sport Kirill Ladygin (RUS) Lada 110 2.0
20 LADA Sport Viktor Shapovalov (RUS) Lada 110 2.0
21 SUNRED Engineering Tom Coronel (NED) SEAT León 2.0 TFSI *
22 SUNRED Engineering Tom Boardman (GBR) SEAT León 2.0 TFSI *
23 Scuderia Proteam Motorsport Félix Porteiro (ESP) BMW 320si *
24 Scuderia Proteam Motorsport George Tanev (BUL) BMW 320si *
25 Liqui Moly Team Engstler Franz Engstler (GER) BMW 320si *
26 Liqui Moly Team Engstler Kristian Poulsen (DEN) BMW 320si *
27 Wiechers-Sport Stefano D'Aste (ITA) BMW 320si *
28 Colak Racing Team Ingra Marin Colak (CRO) SEAT León 2.0 TFSI *
* Yokohama Independents' Trophy
** FIA homologation under way

[Matt]

If Chevrolet somehow cannot get FiA Homologation in time for Brazil, could they use the Lacetti's?

[Aslak Vind]

Matt..

Its the FIA, trust me, they will get the homologation. If there is a commercial upside, FIA will know how to gain from it. Sad but true..

[stedevil]

Yeah, I also guess the "homologation holdup" is mostly down to how much dispensations they should be allowed to have to be reasonably competitive from pretty much day 1. The underpowered old engine eg will likely continue to yield them the same weight break as on the lacetti, but they likely want more than that (and seat and bmw are likely against).

[redshoes]

I suspect that part of the homologation issue is that the road car isn't on sale yet. The FIA will need to confirm the minimum build requirement has been met and that the road car is being built to the homologated spec.

[Hazard]

Technical issues aside - hoorah, 8 days till we go racing again - my these winters are surely getting longer!

Still - much like the F1 season, there's not a lot of change in terms of teams and drivers. Apart from the Cruze and Hernandez and Porteiro's swap - everything's the same...but will the results be?

[Aslak Vind]

Curiuos about the diesels.

[kmchow]

I thought the Cruze will get a new engine or thoroughly updated engine?

If Chevy goes bankrupt (in the UK? or Globally?), it could always appear as a Vauxhall Cruze?

[stedevil]

Originally Posted by kmchow

I thought the Cruze will get a new engine or thoroughly updated engine?

With new engine regs coming in 1 (possibly 2, if delayed) years? That would be an awful short time to recoup the development investment of a new engine. Lada seems to be doing it though, but they also seem to not be at the brink of extinction and need to get up on par with the rest.

[FIRE]

Schedule
Testing: Friday 19:00 19:30
Free Practice 1: Saturday 13:00 13:30
Free Practice 2: Saturday 16:30 17:00
Qualifying Q1: Saturday 20:00 20:20
Qualifying Q1: Saturday 20:25 20:35
Warm Up: Sunday 13:30 13:45
Race 1: Sunday 17:00 17:35
Race 2: Sunday 20:00 20:35

I think these times are CET.

[Stefvh]

They are.

[helterskelter]

Originally Posted by kmchow

I thought the Cruze will get a new engine or thoroughly updated engine?

If Chevy goes bankrupt (in the UK? or Globally?), it could always appear as a Vauxhall Cruze?

Chevy is General Motors, if it goes bankrupt then Vauxhall also is off! But don't worry, it just won't happen

[stedevil]

Originally Posted by helterskelter

Chevy is General Motors, if it goes bankrupt then Vauxhall also is off! But don't worry, it just won't happen

Not sure about that. Think Vauxhall falls under the Opel branch of GM, and Opel for sure will survive even if GM goes belly up.

[Dead-Eye]

I wouldn't say for sure. It's possible that Opel could survive GM's demise, maybe even likely. But not sure at all.

[stedevil]

Originally Posted by Dead-Eye

I wouldn't say for sure. It's possible that Opel could survive GM's demise, maybe even likely. But not sure at all.

The German state has already show quite high willingness to pour in large sums of cash to keep their auto industry floating during these harsh times. So Opel wont die in the nearby future. But of course, what happens in 3-10 years will depend on future Opel car sales, they will not get indefinite future funding from the state if they cant make a profit.