Menu thinks BMW will be back on top

SEAT dominated the 2008 series with their diesel-powered car, ending BMW driver Andy Priaulx's run of titles. But the FIA has adjusted to rules to try and reduce SEAT's straightline speed advantage, and Menu thinks that will put BMW back on top.

"I expect BMW to be the strongest car," Menu said at the Autosport International Show today.

"There have been a few changes in the rules and I think, on paper, it looks like BMW will come out on top.

"But we will see, I still believe it's going to be very tight, but my gut feeling is that the BMW will be the car to beat."

Chevrolet are switching to the new Cruze model this season, and Menu's teammate Rob Huff said that made it hard to predict how their team would compare to BMW and SEAT, particularly under the new rules.

"The biggest problem we've got is that we don't know where we stand with the new car at the moment, and we're not going to know until we get to the first race meeting in Brazil in March," said Huff on the Autosport Central Stage.

"The FIA do work hard to equalise things as much as possible, they've tried to slow the diesel down a little bit, but nobody quite knows how much.

"We're just focusing as much as possible on making the Cruze as quick and reliable as possible. We've seen that you don't necessarily need the fastest car out there to win, you just need to be consistent throughout the year."