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Another 1-2-3 in Qualifying for the Cruzes in Portugal

Menu takes second pole position of the season ahead of Muller and Huff

2011-07-02

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The three Chevrolet Cruzes put together another very strong team performance today in the qualifying session for tomorrow’s Race of Portugal. On the streets of the Boavista urban track in Porto, the Cruzes topped the rankings of Q2, with Alain Menu posting the fastest time ahead of team mates Yvan Muller and Rob Huff. It is the second pole of the season for the Swiss driver, who accomplished a perfect lap on his second attempt.

The RML prepared Cruzes are also in an ideal position for Race 2, as Yvan Muller will start from the front row (in P2), ahead of Rob Huff, while Alain Menu will be in P9. The starting grid positions secured today should help the Chevy drivers in avoiding any incidents that characteristically happen during races on urban tracks and the team look forward to further strengthening its position in both championship standings.

·              QUOTES

Alain Menu (1^st): “It’s definitely nice to be on pole position! I knew the car was going very well and that I could do it, but on a street circuit you never know, you have to find the right balance between pushing to go fast and not attacking too much in order to avoid mistakes. I managed to do a very clean lap and that was the pole! In Q1, I was a little bit too fast, which means I will start from P9, I don’t really know what happened, the car was much faster than I thought in the last couple of corners.”

Yvan Muller (2^nd): “It was a good qualifying and I am very happy with the result. To start both races from the first row, you can’t ask for more. The car feels extremely balanced and in Q2, I thought I could keep the pole, but then Alain performed a great lap time, I can only say “well done” to him.”

 Rob Huff (3^rd): “It was definitely an interesting session. In Q1, I hit the target lap time we had set to ourselves and that meant P3 on the grid for Race 2, which is perfect. I stayed on the track in case I had to do a faster time, but it wasn’t necessary. On the contrary, I’m a little bit disappointed with the result in Q2, but that was my fault, as I clipped the wall in one of the corners. It’s just a shame that this little mistake leaves me behind Alain and Yvan.”

Eric Nève; “Another great qualifying result, which is the best introduction we could hope as we present later this evening, in front of a selection of 100 Portuguese dealers, the #1 unit of the Cruze WTCC Limited Edition, a version of the street Cruze celebrating last year’s world titles. Yvan, in his capacity of reigning World Champion, will be personally signing this #1 and we are all very excited about this new product.”

QUALIFYING RESULTS (RACE 1 GRID)

1. A Menu                   Chevrolet Cruze                   2m04s946

2. Y Muller                 Chevrolet Cruze                   + 0s334

3. R Huff                     Chevrolet Cruze                   + 0s338

3. G Tarquini               SR León 1.6T                          + 0s602

5. T Monteiro               SR León 1.6 T             + 0s710

PORTO RACE 2 GRID POSITIONS

1. S D’Aste                  BMW 320 TC                         (2m06s987)

2. Y Muller                 Chevrolet Cruze                   (2m06s964)

3. R Huff                     Chevrolet Cruze                   (2m06s918)

4. T Monteiro               SEAT SR León 1.6T               (2m06s838)

5. R Dahlgren Volvo C30                                (2m06s830)

9. A Menu                   Chevrolet Cruze                   (2m06s622)