Curitiba: Chevrolet qualifying report

Pole for Yvan Muller While Menu And Huff Share Second Row

The three Cruzes obtain a terrific team result in the first qualifying session of the season

CURITIBA, 6th March 2010 The Chevrolet Cruzes are off to an excellent start of the 2010 season, as they dominated the qualifying session of the Race of Brazil, the opening event of the WTCC. Yvan Muller, in his debut with Chevrolet, took the pole position, while Alain Menu (3rd) and Rob Huff (4th) trusted the second row.

Today's result could have been even better for the team, as the three Cruzes finished in the top three in Q1 and were bound to repeat the performance in Q2. Unfortunately, in the very last lap, one of the SEATs went off-track just in front of Menu and Huff, who saw their last run ruined. At the same time, Gene scored the second-fastest time of the day, breaking the blue trio.

Nevertheless, the Cruzes proved to be extremely competitive on this very technical circuit and are in an excellent position to achieve some good results in tomorrow's races.

* QUOTES

Yvan Muller (1st): "I am, of course, very happy for both the team and myself. To start the season and my relationship with Chevrolet with a pole position is with no doubt the best thing I could have asked. But this is, most of all, an excellent result for the entire team, which has worked so hard during the winter, and the fact that the three drivers are in one tenth of a second proves that the three cars are at the same level. It's a little bit early to say what can happen tomorrow, but I am confident we can do something great".

Alain Menu (3rd): "It's a really good start for Chevrolet and I am very happy with how the car runs and how it progressed session after session. Yvan, Rob and I have worked very well together and that showed. For sure, I could have been on pole without the incident in the last lap, but what really matters is that we are competitive".

Rob Huff (4th): "It's both a great and a frustrating day. The good news is that the Chevys are on top and that all the work done is paying off. Still, I feel a little bit frustrated by how Q2 ended. Michelisz's off-track cost me three tenths, I think that lap would have been the pole, because I had been very fast in the first two sectors. I would have liked to start the season on pole position, especially after being fastest in Q1, but that's racing..."

Eric Nève: "Today's result proves that the many kilometers of testing done during the winter are starting to pay off. Without the incident that happened a few corners from the chequered flag in Q2, we would have had the three Cruzes in the top 3, within a handful of hundredths of a second. Tomorrow, we will fight to stay on the top and bring home some podium finishes and start the season scoring some heavy points".

-source: chevy