"I think we should be very competitive in Imola," he said. "There’s an excellent chance for a SEAT to finish high up, let alone win. We’re a really strong team."
Jason Plato will also be making his second appearance for SEAT Sport, although the Brit will not have the advantage of experience this time around so emulating his momentous second place will be a far tougher task, while three of the Toledo’s will be carrying extra weight. Still, Gené claims that SEAT have a good chance to capitalise on the cars strong points despite their added burden to deliver another impressive result.
"Imola is the third of the circuits which should suit the Toledo," he said, "and, with all the weight handicaps the others are carrying this year, we have very good chances."
Despite going into
Silverstone weekend with high hopes and securing a brace of decent practice times, Chevrolet go to Imola ruing a missed opportunity after three heavy crashes prevented the team from taking a potential top ten finish. The continued development of the Lacetti goes on though according to team manager Mark Busfield.
"After the Silverstone weekend our guys in the body repair shop had their work cut out again, of course, but all three cars are back as new and being shaken down by the drivers at MIRA," he explained. "We wanted to double check our front end aerodynamics more than anything else. Since our initial aero package we have gone through three or four fine detail changes and we feel we are now where we should be. Apart from that we have again concentrated on detail work and fine-tuning bits and pieces; ticking things off from our infamous 160-item list. Alain Menu and Nicola Larini will both now have fresh updated engines as well, which I’m sure they’ll be happy about."
San Marino will also signal the driving return of Nicola Larini who will be revisiting the scene of his best ever
F1 finish in 1994, although the Italian is under no illusions that he will be able to repeat such a feat on a track where passing is certainly tough.
