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| CHEVROLET ONE SECOND FROM POLE BUT ON SECOND HALF OF GRID |
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| Football Fever Also Hits WTCC As Brazil Stops To Watch Seleçao |
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| CURITIBA, 1st July 2006 - It is definitely 'football time' in Brazil today! Shortly after the qualifying session for the HSBC Race of Brazil, the fifth round of the 2006 World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) finished, the Autódromo Internacional de Curitiba got empty in a matter of seconds, as virtually the entire country and its 188 million souls watched the quarter-final of the soccer World Cup opposing the Seleção to France. Football is almost a religion in Brazil but is also followed with passion in the entire world. No surprise then that the World Cup is the main topic of discussion in the WTCC paddock in Curitiba and that drivers, team personnel and media from so many different countries spend any free moment in front of one of the many TV screens that have been flourishing in the paddock, pits and all hospitality venues at the circuit. |
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| Still, motor racing is the main business in Curitiba and the relatively short track - new for almost every driver and team - has provided today further evidence of how competitive the WTCC is. Seventeen drivers qualified within one second, with local hero Augusto Farfus Jr (who is from Curitiba) taking pole in his Alfa Romeo. |
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| For the Chevrolet WTCC Racing squad, it was a contrasting day: Nicola Larini finished only 0.9 second from the pole, Rob Huff one second and Alain Menu 1.1 second, but the three nevertheless only qualified in the second half of the grid, in 16th, 18th and 20th position respectively. Larini, who hit the tyre wall in the morning's free practice session, after going off into the grass, explained both the difficulties encountered today and the specificities of the track: "It's a very interesting and technical track, faster than you'd expect. It has a long straight, where power is important and you can play with slipstreams although the surface is quite rough and bumpy, and a succession of fast and medium-fast corners. In most of them the car tends to understeer, but in the two wider and faster ones, you have oversteering. It is quite difficult to find the right balance and the right pace throughout. We lack a little bit of power in the straight, but it is in the two faster corners where we are mostly in trouble. I believe we lose 4-5 tenths there and we are forced to pass the corner playing a lot with the steering wheel. We are at the limit there, as I could experience this morning when I went off. Fortunately, the guys have done an excellent job to repair the car". |
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Alain Menu and Rob Huff shared similar impressions. The Swiss was unhappy about the maximum power of his engine and the Briton, saddened by the elimination of England in the World Cup, had a fuel admission problem in the qualifying session. "We are starting far back on the grid so we will have to see how things unfold in the race" commented Eric Nève, Chevrolet Europe Motorsport Manager, "We will do everything we can to make the best of the situation. If you look at the lap times and the gaps, they are in line with what they have been so far. We are all there in 1-1.5 seconds and it just shows how close competition is in this championship". |
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The sun appeared today for the first time but forecasts are not optimistic for tomorrow. The two scheduled races may well be wet ones, something that could change the situation completely and may not be bad news for the Chevrolet Lacetti, which has always performed well in the rain. Tomorrow Sunday 2nd July, Race 1 will start at 12:05 local time (17:45 CET) and Race 2 at 13:15 (18:15 CET) and will both broadcasted live by Eurosport. |
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| > | Monza Italy (01 - 02 April) |
| > | Magny Cours France (29 - 30 April) |
| > | Brands Hatch Great Britain (20 - 21 May) |
| > | Oschersleben Germany (03 - 04 June) |
| > | Curitiba Brazil (01 - 02 July) |
| > | Puebla Mexico (29 - 30 July) |
| > | Brno Czech Republic (02 - 03 September) |
| > | Istanbul Turkey (23 - 24 September) |
| > | Valencia Spain (07 - 08 October) |
| > | Macau Macau (18 - 19 November) |
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