A scorching San Marino for SEAT Sport

A scorching San Marino for SEAT Sport
Run in searing temperatures, the two San Marino rounds of the FIA World Touring Car Championship saw SEAT Sport increase its points total, with Rickard Rydell, Peter Terting and Jason Plato all scoring points in the second of the two races.Race 1Starting from 3rd on the grid, Jordi Gene was quickly embroiled in a bruising fight with several other cars, but his race ended on only the 2nd lap when the Toledo Cupra was hit by the Alfa Romeo of Augusto Farfus and then pushed off the track by Roberto Colciago's Honda.The fight was no less damaging further back, with Peter Terting's car trailing pieces of the rear bodywork after an encounter on the opening lap. Terting had started from 17th on the grid after his engineers discovered an engine problem after qualifying and were forced to change the engine, resulting in a 10-place penalty.Terting, Rickard Rydell and Jason Plato in the other SEAT Sport Toledos ran together for much of the 11 lap race, with an error from Rydell allowing his colleagues past on lap 6, although slight contact between Jason and Peter allowed Rickard to pass once again on the same lap. The gap to 8th placed Alex Zanardi was just too great, however, and the trio finished just outside the points.Rickard Rydell (9th): "It's a shame -- I was quicker than Zanardi and I should have been able to pass him to be on pole for Race 2. I made a small mistake when I tried to pass him and both Jason and Peter passed me, but then Peter touched Jason and I was able to get past them again. To get onto the podium in Race 2 is really not possible, so I'll be happy if I can just score some points."Peter Terting (10th): "The race was okay for me; the car was fast and I was obviously quicker than Rickard with his ballast, but it's always difficult to overtake a teammate and so I stayed behind, rather than risk a collision. Someone hit me from behind just after the start and broke the bodywork, but it wasn't a big problem. We're changing the set-up for Race 2 and so I'll see what I can do and try and get points."Jason Plato (11th): "I'm disappointed, because we clearly showed the SEATs were quick, but we just couldn't get past. I was quicker than Rickard, but to be fair he was being held up; in all honesty, the move I'd have to make to get past him was really risky and so I held back rather than risk taking us both off. It's actually good for me to do a hot race like that, since we never get weather like this in England!"Jordi Gene (DNF): "I had been pushed by someone in every corner, but I was catching Dirk Muller and trying to pass him when first Farfus hit me and then Colciago pushed me into the wall. It's very disappointing; they're always warning drivers about standards of driving and some of them still do what they want. As a result, a good position in Race 2 is unrealistic and so I'm very disappointed."Race 2 ...Full report view on motorsport.com