12.03.2004 GABRIELE TARQUINI AND ALFA ROMEO AVOID THE CONDITIONS AS THEY TEST AT VALLELUNGA

Snow in Brno forced BMW Team Deutschland and Peugeot Sport Engineering to cancel the test they have planned to complete yesterday and today at the Masaryk circuit.

For the same reason, the German team had to cancel a further test at the Nürburgring. Should the weather improve, Jörg and Dirk Müller will test next week in Spa.

Meanwhile the Alfa Romeo factory team, Autodelta, found better conditions in Vallelunga, where they tested on Tuesday and Wednesday. While the temperatures were very cold, the conditions did produce a dry track. They ran a single Alfa Romeo 156 S2000 which was driven by the team's number one driver Gabriele Tarquini.

“We mainly focussed on the car’s set-up, in order to take the most out of the new Michelin control tyres. We are happy, because the weather was fine over the two days, and this gave us the opportunity to make a lot of testing on new tyres,” said the reigning ETCC champion.

As for SEAT Sport, they have planned to test on next Monday and Tuesday at the Catalunya circuit near Barcelona. The Spanish team should also test again in Calafat by the end of the next week.