Menu upbeat on 2008 title chances

Menu, along with teammates Nicola Larini and Rob Huff tested the updated Lacettis, which will now be shipped to Brazil for the opening round of the WTCC at Curitiba on March 2, this week.

"We should be fighting for the lead from the word go," said Menu. "With the Lacetti as good as it is we are now looking at improving our lap times by a hundredth of a second rather than by a tenth. This is not as easy but certainly as rewarding."

Although the car was running in its final specification, it has yet to use the 2008 engine, which following the removal of several rule waivers must now run at a lower compression ratio.

The new-spec engine will be tested in the UK over the next month while the cars are in transit.

"These are new cars we're testing here, albeit still with the '07 engine," said Larini. "But they have everything else of the '08 package installed.

"These days we've been mainly busy validating parts, particularly the suspension, differential and overall set-up. We're racking up as many laps as we can and we have had no reliability issues whatsoever, which makes me feel quite confident for the season."