Chevrolet Racing news

The 2011 Cruze Continues Testing In England As Huff, Menu And Muller Undertake Other Commitments In China And Australia

MacDowall in charge of today's test in Snetterton, while 'globe-trotting' WTCC drivers undertake racing and marketing commitments in three different continents

ZURICH -- WELLINGBOROUGH, 21st October 2010 -- Despite the heavy schedule of this final part of the season, the development and testing program of the 2011 Cruze goes ahead: today, the new Cruze equipped with the 1.6 turbo petrol engine is testing at Snetterton. At the wheel is RML's BTCC driver Alex MacDowall. The young Brit has been called in for the occasion as the three Chevrolet WTCC drivers are busy in Australia and China with other commitments.

It may be because Chevrolet is a global brand, but one thing is sure: the three Chevrolet WTCC drivers are real globetrotters. From now up to the end of the season in the second half of November, Alain Menu, Yvan Muller and Rob Huff will not see much of their homes but ... they'll collect quite a few air miles instead! All three will of course be in Japan and Macau for the last two decisive events of the WTCC, but in-between, they have a number of commitments around the world.

Early this week, Alain and Yvan flew to Australia where they will participate this coming week-end (23-24 October) in the ArmorAll Gold Coast 600, one of the stellar events of the V-8 Supercar, the highly competitive and popular Australian touring car series. This special event, taking place in the street circuit of Surfers' Paradise, attracts no less than 19 international stars from the WTCC (Priaulx and Monteiro are also present) and the Indycar (Castroneves, Franchitti) as well as former F.1 drivers (Villeneuve, Bourdais, Salo, Morbidelli) and Australia's international driving elite (D.Brabham, Dixon, Power, Briscoe). Each one of them will be paired with regular V-8 Supercar drivers, and Alain and Yvan will defend the colours of the Australian brand of the GM family, Holden, driving powerful Commodores VE.

After that, Alain and Yvan will head to Okayama, Japan for the WTCC event the following week-end and from there they will go to Argentina (straight through the Pacific route for Yvan, with a west-bound journey for Alain, who will have a 2-day stop at home in Switzerland) to race in the most prestigious event of the TC 2000, the 200 km of Buenos Aires (6-7 November), as co-drivers in the two Vectras of the Chevrolet Elaion team.

Two weeks from then, they will be racing in the conclusive round of the WTCC in Macau, one of the most traditional events in touring car racing.

By comparison, Rob Huff's schedule may seem lighter. The Briton is currently in China, invited by GM China as a special coach for media representatives attending the launch of the Chevrolet Cruze 1.6 turbo. From there, he will fly to Okayama and re-join Alain and Yvan.

-source: chevy