Diesel WTCC Leon to make it's debut

[IainW]

Well this is a surprise. I thought it might happen eventually, but haven't heard any rumours about it prior to stumbling across this news story.

http://www.seatsportuk.co.uk/wtcc/wtccnews_display06.asp?ID=234

I'm a bit confused by that story though. It says Jordi Gene and Yvan Muller will be driving it in Sweden, but then Jaime Puig says only Gene will be using it there.

 

[ZBOYD]

Interesting news, I remember in the early days of the BTCC campaign, even before they debuted with the Toledo. A lot of talk was over SEAT being the first to use a diesel engine, but it didn't come to pass.

It will be fascinating to see how it performs, as i've not been blown away by the performance of Rick Kerry's BMW, the only diesel touring car i've seen run so far.

Not a fair comparison I am sure, but its the only comparison i have at the moment.

We shall see.

I think the bit at the beginning is a mistake, someones bad typo or they did'nt read the quote properly, not uncommon on some of the Spanish news articles.

 

[m0rk]

will be interesting - considering the n/a engine is a bit of a donkey with ~260bhp, the tdi runs a lot more power

will make for fascinating racing at the tighter circuits like Brands Hatch later this year

 

[sssstew]

and they will be more eco friendly, making less Co2 output!

 

[driveforward]

Very interesting and it will be great if it does provide them with greater straight line speed. However, could this not just be a headline grabber given SEAT is becoming a distant challenger to the BMW's and their drivers in the championship and they have a minimal chance of challenging for any titles..?

 

[JasonP06]

Very interesting and it will be great if it does provide them with greater straight line speed. However, could this not just be a headline grabber given SEAT is becoming a distant challenger to the BMW's and their drivers in the championship and they have a minimal chance of challenging for any titles..?

Very possibly.

I don't know about it being a "headline grabber" but certainly I never thought about the truth in the fact despite being in a weaker position to challenger for the title the Beemer is a much faster car than the Leon. I can certainly count two times when I have seen the 320si run faster than the Leon. The start at Croft and for much of the races at Donnington.

Despite being someone who knows nothing about the fuels used and the effect they have, I have heard a lot of good things about diesel - though Rick Kerry's form has done little to convince me of the truth in the fact diesel is a more eco friendly and equally as reliable fuel - and have high hopes that if the BTCC Leon becomes diesel then an improvement will be seen. Team AFM though for much of the season has worked without a rear wing I think, so to use Kerry's beemer as an example of diesel power may well be unfair.

 

[ZBOYD]

Still just under half a season to go, 5 circuits to run in WTCC. Its not impossible if SEAT have a good second half. They were very strong at Brands Hatch last year, Leon suits the twisty circuits. With a bit more grunt under the bonnet, who knows??

But the truth be told, they are doing their development now, when really they should of been doing this stuff over the winter.

 

[JasonP06]

Still just under half a season to go, 5 circuits to run in WTCC. Its not impossible if SEAT have a good second half. They were very strong at Brands Hatch last year, Leon suits the twisty circuits. With a bit more grunt under the bonnet, who knows??

Depends on who you put in the Leon really I think.

You see the placings for every driver in order of races and theirs no question, no doubt, that the top performer is Yvan. An 8th and 4th in Curitiba. A 3rd and 4th in Valencia. A 2nd and 6th in Pau and two 5ths in Porto. A whole 3pts ahead of Tarquini in the championship. Gabrielle, Jordi and Tiago have been hitty missy whilst Jourdain has been a failure. His 6th (3pts) in Valencia is his one best. No other placing is in the top 8.

So if anything I expect Yvan and possibly Gabrielle to get the best from the new diesel powered Leon.

 

[jon_hope]

Any cars run (or plan to use) bio ethanol?

Seems to work ok in the GT3 Aston Martins

 

[IainW]

Worked well in the RAC MGs last year in the BTCC as well. I think the WTCC is going completely bio-fuel next year.