Jordi Gene secured his first win of the 2008 World Touring Car Championship season in Mexico as SEAT continued its 100 per cent record in the new campaign at Puebla.
The Spaniard qualified on pole position at the wheel of his Leon TDi and survived a scare after the session when Chevrolet accused him of blocking Nicola Larini on a fast lap. However he was able to take his place at the head of the field of race one and made the best start to lead into turn one, and held his position to the finish despite late error where he almost ran off track.
“I had a very good race, but with two laps to go I tried to take it easy and my car went sideways,” he said. “Luckily I managed to accelerate out of the dirty part and get the rhythm again. It wasn't tactics to leave Rydell closing the gap; I was pushing very hard maximum for six-seven laps, and then I thought I could take it slower.
“However even though I told myself I would not touch any kerbs in the last three laps, I went off, so I had to push like hell for the last two laps to win the race.”
From eighth in race two thanks to the reverse grid, Gene came though to finish in fifth place, with his 14 points from the weekend lifting him to fourth in the championship standings.
“Very positive weekend starting from the free practices on Friday,” he said. “Then came the pole and it couldn't end better with the races. I won the first race dominating clearly and finished the second race in fifth after starting from eight. It's a big success and we've made the best use of the car.”
![Jordi Gene - SEAT Sport SEAT Leon TDi [Pic credit: FIA WTCC]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/426317.jpg)
