The Chevrolet team start in the WTCC season at Curitiba with the aim to retain both the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ World titles they won last year.
The team worked hard throughout 2010 to design and build the new 1.6L turbo engine, something that was achieved in less than nine months by RML’s engine department led by Arnaud Martin. Over 4500 kms of tests were completed during the winter, to the entire satisfaction of drivers and engineers, which makes the team confident about their chances of having a winning season once again.
“The best we can do is to confirm our World Champion status and begin the second century of life of our brand and the 1.6 turbo era of WTCC by giving GM another world title!” said Motorsport Manager Eric Nève.
In Brazil, regular drivers Yvan Muller, Rob Huff and Alain Menu are joined by local hero Carlos ‘Cacá’ Bueno at the wheel of a fourth Cruze in an unusual orange livery. This will be Bueno’s second appearance in WTCC after his maiden race at Brands Hatch last year that ended prematurely because of an engine problem.
Reigning champion Yvan Muller commented: “I can’t believe the season is starting again! Since the chequered flag went down in Macau last November, I haven’t stopped for a minute. There was a lot of work with the new car! Now is time to focus completely on the new season, which is pretty unpredictable, because of the new rules and because all manufacturers have worked on their own, so there are no terms of comparison. I am very happy with the work we did on the new Cruze and on the new engine and we have progressed a lot in a relatively short time.”