Despite seeing his SEAT team take a double win in the opening rounds of the World Touring Car Championship at Curitiba, Rickard Rydell says he hopes that the pace of the BMW runners on race day will bring an end to gossiping about the performance of the Leon TDi.
Ever since the car debuted last season, questions have been raised about the equalisation of the diesel engine as opposed to the petrol engine used by the likes of BMW and Chevrolet, with the team's rivals believing that the turbo on the diesel powerplant gives SEAT an unfair advantage over its rivals.
Rydell duly joined team-mate Yvan Muller on the front-row of the grid as SEAT appeared to have the upper-hand following qualifying, but despite Muller and Gabriele Tarquini winning the two races, it was BMW drivers Andy Priaulx and Augusto Farfus who set the fastest lap times after two 'cat and mouse' races which saw the Leon TDi drive away from its rivals on the long pit straight but then lose time through the slower corners.
With that in mind, Rydell said he was hopeful that the comments would stop with the pace of the BMW's having been 'clearly visible'.
"The success is based on yesterday's results, because the BMW were faster than us today," the Swede, who finished second and seventh in the two races said. "That was clearly visible and I hope that this will help to stop the gossip about the TDi's being superior."
Team-mate Tarquini meanwhile, whose win in race two followed a solid fourth place (following August Farfus' exclusion) in race one, agreed that the pressure from BMW on race day had been strong and said he was delighted with his results from the weekend.
"I'm 46 today, so this is the best present, as you feel old when you look around you," he said. "It was a tough race, but I got a very good start. I think in the first corner Porteiro drove too much over the kerb at turn four and I took the lead. This is where I made the victory.
"We had improved the set up for the second race, but it was the speed and lack of mistakes that helped me win. The pressure was strong as Porteiro was very fast in the first few laps, and the last laps [holding on against Andy Priaulx were very hard.
"This SEAT Leon TDI is fantastic and even if the pressure of the BMW has been tremendous throughout the race, I was able to stand it until the end."
