On March 8, the FIA World Touring Car Championship starts a new season at the Brazilian circuit of Curitiba, in which SEAT and Repsol, the world champions, will defend the titles they won in 2008 with the SEAT León TDI.
However, the confidence of having titles and a great car, do not mean that the new edition of the world championship is going to be easy. Both the rivals and the new regulations imposed by the FIA, which negatively affect the power of the SEAT León TDI, will make the races more difficult and hard-fought.
Last year, the Curitiba circuit was the scenario of an excellent start to the season, thanks to the victories of Yvan Muller and Gabriele Tarquini in the two races. The Repsol SEAT Sport team, made up again of Jordi Gené, Tiago Monteiro, Yvan Muller, Rickard Rydell and Gabriele Tarquini, trusts in starting the season in a similar way after intensive work during the winter tests.
New for 2009: Participants and regulations
A total of 25 cars have registered for the WTCC to date, 16 of which are official, representing SEAT, BMW, Chevrolet and Lada. The Spanish brand will have a noteworthy presence, as in addition to the official team, SEAT will also have private representation on the grid. Tom Coronel and Tom Boardman, from the Sunred team, and Marin Colak, from Team Ingra, will run with SEAT León WTCC petrol cars.
In the sports section, the Curitiba race will be the first in which the qualifiers will adopt the new format, consisting of two stints, in the second of which, the ten best times in the first will fight for pole position and the best positions on the starting grid.
In the first two races of the season, teams will not be penalised for weight, and the result of these will be used as a basis for defining the ballast for the third.
The Repsol drivers on the 2009 season
Jordi Gené: “Expectations for the 2009 season are the same as last year; we have a competitive team and I’m convinced that with a little consistency at the beginning of the championship, I could be ahead when we reach Macao.”
Tiago Monteiro: “2008 was a very good year with the diesel and I learned a lot. My aim for 2009 is to put this experience into practice, starting with achieving good results in the qualifiers. In the race, the most important thing will be to score points at the beginning in order to fight for the title.”
Yvan Muller: “My wish for the 2009 season is to once again do my best, as I did last year. To win the title, consistency and good team work will be the essential.”
Rickard Rydell: “I’m sure that SEAT will be able to fight once again for the drivers’ and constructors’ titles in 2009; although I also think that we will have a lot of competition from rival brands. I’m going to compete with one year’s experience with my engineer and the León TDI, and therefore, hope to fight for the world title.”
Gabriele Tarquini: “I will be very happy if I can repeat 2008’s excellent season for the SEAT Sport team, although obviously it will be a very difficult year because our rivals will be much stronger.”
