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Muller Celebrates Press Launch of the New Cruze Hatchback with Fastest Time in Donington’s Testing Session

The 5 door version of the street Cruze gets a taste of the WTCC

2011-07-16

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The WTCC Cruze shared the limelight with the street Cruze Hatchback today at Donington today, as the latest member of the Cruze family is being presented over the weekend to the UK, French and Israeli media at the occasion of the British round of the WTCC. Since yesterday, Yvan Muller, Alain Menu and Rob Huff have been sharing with the press their impressions on the new 5 door Cruze, but they are certainly not neglecting their duties as racing drivers.

In a testing session that took place with nice but windy weather, the three WTCC Cruzes finished the day in the top four, with Yvan Muller taking the top spot on the times sheet and Alain Menu and Rob Huff posting the 3rd and 4th best times respectively. The session was useful for the RML team to have a clear direction on the work to be done to find the best set ups ahead of tomorrow’s qualifying, as wind and dust make things more challenging on the technical British track, which is hosting a WTCC event for the first time.

•QUOTES

Yvan Muller (1st): “It was a positive session, very useful to familiarise again with the Donington track. The track was quite dirty today, as the strong wind was bringing a lot of dust all over. Still, I am quite satisfied with the balance of the car, there are a number of small things to be worked on, but the starting point in terms of set up seems very good. It was also quite nice to see a lot of French journalists present for the press launch of the Chevrolet Cruze Hatchback and to share with them impressions about this new and very interesting version of the Cruze.”

Alain Menu (3rd): “Although my times are OK, I am not entirely satisfied with how the car works, there is a lot of understeering, especially in fast corners, it is difficult to accelerate and turn at the same time. I’m confident that we’ll find the reason why with the engineers and we’ll improve the situation for tomorrow. The track is pleasant and except for the new chicane, which is now much faster, it is the same Donington we have known in the past.”

Rob Huff (4th): “It’s nice to be racing at home and already today I could see a lot of familiar faces around! It wasn’t the best session today, as the track was very slippery and I had too much understeering. Still, my pace was good and I could have done a much better lap time when I put on new tyres if I hadn’t been slowed by one of the BMWs.”

Pictures of the Donington shooting can be downloded from:
http://mediaassets.gmeuropearchive.info/viewcatalogue.php?catid=177253&lng=EN