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Brno 2002

FIA European Touring Car Championship

19/05/2002

Drivers notes

Fabrizio Giovanardi, Gta Racing Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 GTA:
“Our car is the strongest one around the circuit. The others are improving but not enough. Still, we have to work a lot to stay ahead. Regarding my collision with Rickard Rydell, I had overtaken him. When I went out of the last chicane, I was not so fast. I was on the left part of the track. I don’ t know why Rickard tried to pass me there. We touched. In the second race, I was staying behing the Schnitzer BMW cars to be safe. However, our car was faster in the straights which enabled me to overtake them and take the lead”

Nicola Larini, Gta Racing Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 GTA:
“I did not have an easy weekend as I had understeer problems all through and I lost a lot of points in the Championship. BMW is improving as their cars have more torque now. At the end of the straight, they are a little bit faster but not at the beginning. At the next event, in Jarama, we will see what happens as the track is narrow and it is more difficult to overtake. For the Championship, anything can still happen. We will see after Race 7.”

Dirk Müller, BMW Team Germany BMW 320i E46:
“This is the best result for BMW so far. I had a great fight with my team-mate Jörg Müller in race 2. Our car was really good in the corners here but we are losing time in the straights. Since the last event, we found something in the torque and we now have a better engine. The Schnitzer team worked well all through the weekend. Both Jörg and I had not been here for ten years, so it took some time to find the right set up. Alfa had an easy race in comparison. Their cars were flying on the straights. I never thought I would finish twice second and I am really happy for the team.”

Rickard Rydell, Volvo S60 Racing Team Volvo S60:
”The race was very disappointing for me, especially when being taken off by Giovanardi. We touched each other on the first lap but I had a better exit in a corner than Giovanardi. He touched me and I spun. We complained but the stewards said that there was not enough evidence. Without the accident, I had more in hand as we did a 12.7 at the beginning of the second race and no one could match that.

"The two works Alfas are better than any other car and I think that we still have to do more development to be on power with them. We can do a good lap, be quick sometimes. The biggest difference is in straight line speed. The fact that we do the same time in qualifying means that we go around the corners much better. The Alfas just have a very good engine. We will see at Jarama. I think it should suit us OK. Right now, I am just very disappointed”.

James Hanson, Volvo S60 Racing Team Volvo S60:
“The car was very good as we had quite a lot of improvements for this race. I did a day of testing between the two events, and that helped a lot. It put my mileage in testing up to two days in a front wheel drive race car. In the first race, I was 13th in the first corner and then, I passed 3 cars on the first lap and then one or two cars a lap. Villamil complained about me in the first race but that’s racing. I could complain about Giovanardi in the second race . We are here to race for a position, it is not a procession. Obviously I am very pleased to finish in the points in both races. The car should be quite good in Jarama.”