ADVAN / MOTOR SPORTS [WTCC 2008 / Round 3 and 4]

Puebla came back to the WTCC (FIA World Touring Car Championship) calendar after the renovation of its facilities. The Mexican race track had been one of the regular venues in the championship since the inaugural year but temporarily lost its place in 2007.

The 3,240m circuit has a quite unique layout which consists of an oval track and a technical section inside of the oval. On top of this, it is located at an altitude of 2,200m which means that the lower atmospheric pressure reduces the output power of engines. Therefore, it was widely anticipated that turbo charged diesel powered cars would have a considerable advantage over the normally aspirated petrol engine counterparts here in Puebla.

On the other hand, SEAT's turbo diesel cars, which totally dominated the opening round, have no previous experience in the Mexican venue because they were introduced only in the middle part of the 2007 season.

Jordi Gene, driving a SEAT Leon TDI, was the fastest driver in the qualifying session on Saturday, followed by Nicola Larini in a Chevrolet Lacetti. It was noteworthy that the other two Chevrolet drivers, Rob Huff and Alain Menu, qualified in fourth and fifth respectively, bouncing back from their poor form in the opening round in Brazil.

Race 1 (the 3rd of the series) started at 12:20 on Sunday under a clear sky. Ambient and surface temperatures were 20℃ and 49℃, respectively. After the rolling lap, Huff gained a couple of positions at Turn 1 and his move brought the two Chevrolets into second and third. However, there were several incidents throughout the field in the opening lap and, at the end of Lap 1, the race leader Gene was followed by Rickard Rydell in a diesel powered SEAT, Larini, Tom Coronel(who was driving a petrol engine SEAT Leon) and Menu.

It looked like a rather quiet race for a while. On Lap 10, however, another SEAT TDI driver, Yvan Muller, caught up to Menu (who was then sixth) and started to push him hard. This close and interesting battle lasted for several laps and ended with the Swiss driver's course off on Lap 14.

Gene cruised in the lead position and wasn't threatened by his followers, except for Rydell's attack on the penultimate lap. Eventually, these two drivers with the diesel turbo SEATs finished Race 1 in a 1-2 formation.

About three hours later, Race 2 (the 4th of the series) started at 15:20. By the reverse grid rule, Menu sat on the pole position of the grid for the standing start, along with Tiago Monteiro (SEAT Leon TDI) in the second grid.

Immediately after the start, the diesel turbo SEAT Leons displayed their superiority in engine power. The ex-F1 racer, Monteiro, passed Menu at Turn 1 while other five SEATs, including Coronel's petrol engine car, closed in on the tail of the lone Chevrolet in the leading pack.

On Lap 6, Gabriele Tarquini overtook Menu but the Swiss racer still saw a few more SEATs in his rear view mirror and despite a desperate effort to defend his position, he had to give way to Rydell on Lap 10, then to Muller on Lap 11. Finally, Menu made a mistake on his own and allowed SEAT drivers to complete a clean sweep of the top six.

Led by the winner Monteiro, the top five slots were filled with the turbo diesel powered SEATs driven by Rydell, Tarquini, Muller and Gene, followed by Coronel's SEAT Leon with a petrol engine. SEAT had similarly successful weekends in Brazil and Britain in 2006, the year ADVAN became the sole tire supplier of the championship, with five cars in the top six positions, but this was their first clean sweep of the top six slots.

On top of this, Pierre-Yves Corthals, who drove the petrol engine version of SEAT Leon, won the YOKOHAMA Independent Trophy in both races.

Now SEAT's dominance is quite obvious after four consecutive wins in the first two rounds of the season.