Gabriele Tarquini impressed by SEAT's new WTCC engine after first test

The 2009 world champion used a 1.6-litre turbo built by SUNRED Engineering for most of last year. However, as his Lukoil Racing-run Leon is to be works-blessed this season, he is switching to a unit developed in-house by the Spanish manufacturer.

Despite the test programme running behind schedule - the planned first test in Italy in January was cancelled due to snow - Tarquini thinks the engine will allow him to challenge the champion Chevrolet team on a regular basis this year.

"Although we are rather behind with the timing, I have to say that I was impressed by the test," he said. "This was only the second time the engine ran on track, and yet it showed an interesting potential.

"The reliability is there - as we completed the test without suffering from the least technical issue - the power is already comparable with that of the SUNRED unit we used last year.

"But the big step forward is a wider range of power that was our main issue last year. Now, in order to fully exploit it, we have to fine-tune the engine management that is brand new and very sophisticated."

Tarquini's team-mate Aleksei Dudukalo also drove at Valencia; Jordi Gene having undertaken the initial shakedown work of the engine a week ago at the track.