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ROUNDS 3 & 4 - PUEBLA-AMOZOC, MEXICO
TEST REPORT

SEAT DRIVERS DOMINATE SESSION.

The second meeting of the FIA WTCC season got underway under Puebla's sunshine yesterday. In a session that saw early successful times for the Chevrolet team, a trio of SEAT drivers took the top three spots. Jordi Gené set the fastest lap just before Tom Coronel's SEAT stopped along the track, causing a yellow flag with a minute left on the clock.
With a time of 1:42.603, Gené was half a second faster than his closest rival and team-mate Tiago Monteiro whose time was 1:43.089. Winner in Brazil, Gabriele Tarquini topped off the SEAT success with a lap of 1:43.209.   

Alain Menu was fourth in the Chevrolet with a time of 1:43.548, and BMW Team Germany's Augusto Farfus in fifth only 0.039 adrift. Another SEAT driver, Rickard Rydell rounded off the top six only 0.054 behind Farfus, who was the fastest of the struggling rear-wheel driven BMW cars.

Pierre-Yves Corthals highlighted the domination of SEAT by setting the fastest time in the Independents' class, and being an impressive seventh overall, with a time of 1:43.761. During the session Corthals also made small mistakes on laps that appeared to be threatening the lead, demonstrating the potential his car has for the remainder of the weekend.
Although there were no major incidents during the test, there were a few drivers whose tyres came into contact with the grass. Farfus went off twice, and his more dramatic was spinning into Turn 10 early in the session. Ibrahim Okyay also left the racetrack twice in two spins at turns 9 and 13.

Coronel had a moment coming out of Turn 3 but managed to hold the car as it bumped its way over the kerb. However, near to the end of the session his car stopped on the track at Turn 7, as he felt that it might have suffered from a suspension problem.

 

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