The new engine : A challenge for RML

The 2011 Chevrolet Cruze WTCC was built around the new engine that has been produced at RML during the last seven months. "We created our own engine division at the end of 2005," explained RML’s chief engineer Arnaud Martin, "but this is the first time we design, build and develop an engine entirely in-house. It represents a significant challenge, as this is clearly a project demanding a lot of resources that we had to utilise in parallel with the equally demanding normal racing programme."

The adoption of the new powertrain implied that many other things had to be redesigned. "It doesn’t show from the outside at all. Save the new air intake in the front and the bigger exhaust, the 2011 Cruze looks pretty much the same as the 2010 one. In reality, under the skin, 65% of the car is entirely new," explained Chevrolet’s chief engineer Ron Hartvelt.

Team principal Ray Mallock commented on the switch to the 1.6L turbo "I think it was the right choice. Motor racing cannot live in isolation from the automotive trends and concerns of society. On the contrary, as always in the past, motor racing can be very useful in exploring new avenues and optimizing new concepts. This is happening again with the new 1.6 turbo, as it is already out-performing the 2.0L normally aspirated engine currently in use."

Focus is now on testing and testing again. The 2011 Cruze is off for a programme of 3,500-kilometres of tests in the forthcoming weeks and months, which will be carried out mostly on tracks in Spain and Portugal. One of the key goals is to reach the maximum reliability, as the new rules set by the FIA only allow one engine change during the 2011 season and none in 2012.