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Brno 2002

FIA European Touring Car Championship

19/05/2002

17/05/2002

Preview

The FIA ETCC Championship is slowly but surely living up to its reputation as the best Touring Car series in Europe. The two races in Silverstone were closely fought battles between three huge manufacturers and some of the best drivers in the world of touring cars and weekend promises to be no different.

After the first four rounds of the 2002 European Touring Car Championship, GTA Racing Team Nordauto driver Fabrizio Giovanardi has a substantial lead in the Drivers Classification, ahead of his team-mate Nicola Larini. However, the two races in Silverstone were spectacular and saw some close battles, proving that Volvo and BMW have begun to close on the Alfa Romeo cars, and the picturesque circuit of Brno should see even more progress. Tom Ferrier qualifies well but tends to get a rush of blood as soon as the lights go to green as demonstrated at the last round in Silverstone but I am sure that the Catalogue Kid will try to amend this and make the most of the speed that the UK backed Alfa has.

Volvo may well close the gap on the lead Alfa's now that the engines can replaced in the cars for the first this season. Prodrive have been working hard over the past weeks to try and get more out of the 2 litre engine and Brno gives them the opportunity to show the progress they have made. The S60 certainly has the chassis to compete with the best, looking extremely confident in the hands of Rydell.

Chris Goodwin, the ex McClaren GT-R driver, will get his first drive of the year in the Nissan Primera of RJN Motorsport. The Nissan has surprised a few people this season with a surprising turn of speed, hopefully they will be able to stay out of trouble this time and have a battle with the BMW’s. The Honda Civics of CiBiEmme will be hoping for a gradual improvement as the team strive to get a grip of the Japanese car.

Driver Quotes

Giovanardi wants more wins (who doesn't!) - ed

“This seems a bit strange to me, as I have usually started the season badly, and recovered in the second part of the year,” Giovanardi explained. "The first two events are over, and an engine change is now allowed, so I am prepared to face some surprises. This does not mean I am worried. I rarely am – and all I want is two more wins.”

Larini aims to lead the championship (one wand required!) - ed

“I like the Brno circuit very much, and after my Silverstone win, I feel very confident,” Larini explained. “My goal is now to overturn the classification and to take the lead from Fabrizio. Brno is a very technical track, and it is likely that the BMW cars will be competitive. However, we can benefit from the past two season’s experience, while the BMW and Volvo teams have never raced there.”

Dirk Muller hopes for Brno

The German driver last drove at Brno in the early 1990’s, when he was racing in Formula König. “It was a long time ago. As far as I remember, Brno should suit our car which has good handling. But there are also a lot of ups and downs. When you go uphill, you need power, and at the moment Alfa has much more than us. In Brno we have new engines, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that they will give us the chance to be competitive. But if the Alfa Romeo engines have also improved, I am afraid we will have the same gap to close.”

Rydell intends to stay ahead of BMW (which one?) - ed

The second race in Silverstone gave Volvo its first podium in the revived FIA European Touring Car Championship. “It was a good result both for me and the team, but we still have to find more on the engine side to cope with the Alfa's," Rydell said. "In Brno we will have some improvements, which will hopefully push us a little closer, but I think the gap is too big to be filled so quickly. Also, we have never been to Brno before, and this will delay our work on the set-up of the car. I would be happy to stay ahead of the BMW cars.”

A Super 2000 Honda Civic for Sandro Sardelli

Italian driver Sandro Sardelli is looking forward to Brno, after missing both the previous events at Magny Cours and Silverstone. "I should have driven a Super Production version of the new Honda Civic Type-R, but we had some technical problems that could not be fixed, as the team was working hard on Tavano's Super 2000 car," said Sardelli. However, CiBiEmme Team will be entering a second Super 2000 Civic in Brno for Sardelli. "I am very excited, and I am doing my best to get ready for my debut. As we saw at Silverstone, where Tavano drove the car for the first time, the chassis of the Civic is excellent. We still have to see the full Super 2000-spec engine as built by Dave Hill's International Engine Service, but I am very confident, remembering how competitive the Nissan engines they supplied to Matt Neal were. I know we have to work hard to develop the car, but I am sure we hold every card to be successful : the team is very professional, technical director Peter Wyss is a brilliant technician and Honda believes in the programme and is willing to support us," he concluded.

Kox's hopes for a change in luck

Brno is one of Peter Kox's favourite racetracks. "I have always had good luck there, having won the 2000 Euro STC race for Honda, and last season's FIA European Super Production race with a BMW. I would like to continue my winning streak, but being realistic, I do not see much hope of doing it," he said. The Dutch driver has had a difficult start to the season, and has not scored any points.

"I could put the blame on bad luck : the gearbox failure in Magny-Cours and the first lap collision in which I was involved at Silverstone. But the real problem is that our programme was finalised quite late, so we had almost no testing before Magny Cours. The level of this Championship is so high that only the teams that had a lot of winter testing can be competitive early on. Alfa Romeo started to develop the new car very early, and they have dominated the first two events. Now we are working very hard to fill the gap, but with a race every two weeks and three cars to be prepared for three top drivers, it is not an easy task. For the moment, all I can do is hope that my good luck will help me once more in Brno."