After two seasons of learning the circuits and developing the fast-improving Chevrolet Lacetti race car, Rob has enjoyed his most intensive pre-season winter test schedule ever. With tests already completed at Zandvoort in Holland and at three circuits in southern Spain (Almeria, Jerez and Valencia), and more tests planned at Monza in Italy and Oschersleben in Germany before the first European race of the season in Holland in May, Rob is fully prepared for the racing season ahead and is confident that this will be his most successful season ever.

Held in 11 countries, the 22 race FIA World Touring Car Championship is aligned with Formula 1 and the World Rally Championship as one of the hardest motorsport challenges on the planet. It attracts the world's best drivers and the best cars, and to win a race – like Rob did at Brno in the Czech Republic last season – is testimony to world-beating driving skill. Against the likes of BMW and Alfa Romeo, who each have decades of touring car experience, the two-year old Chevrolet squad is the youngest team in touring cars. It has developed quickly into a race-winning package and Rob, who alongside team-mates Nicola Larini and Alain Menu is the youngest driver in the three-car Chevrolet team, believes that he has a great opportunity to build on last year's maiden race victory. So much so, that he's aiming for a top five finish at the end of the season.

Rob said: "This is the season where it really counts. In the first two years we've concentrated on learning the circuits and developing the car, and 2007 is where it should all come together with more race wins and more points-scoring results. This year it's show time! We've done a lot of winter testing, more pre-season testing than I've ever done before in fact, and the car's reliability has been fantastic. We've managed to complete about a hundred laps per day during testing, so I'm very pleased with that. We've made some subtle changes and the pace of the Chevrolet feels pretty good. All in all, I'm quietly confident about this year.

"I scored my first World Touring Car race win last year, so I'm obviously aiming to build on that and win more races this season, and I'm aiming for a top five finishing position in the Drivers' Championship. The number of points that Andy Priaulx scored to win the title last year equates to an average of finishing fourth in each race. That doesn't sound too difficult, but with fifteen of the world's best touring car drivers all capable of winning any race in the calendar, in reality it's one of the hardest challenges in motorsport.

"I'm really looking forward to the season ahead. Brno is one of my favourite circuits because I won there last year, and I obviously like Brands Hatch because it hosts the British round of the series and I've raced there more than I have on any other track. I love travelling around the world and racing on different circuits and Brno and Brands Hatch are just two out of eleven circuits on the calendar, and to be successful in the series you have to learn to love them all if you want to challenge for the title."

2007 FIA World Touring Car Championship

March 11	Curitiba (Brazil)
May 6	Zandvoort (Netherlands)
May 20	Valencia (Spain)
June 3	Pau (France)
June 17	Brno (Czech Republic)
July 8	Porto (Portugal)
July 29	Anderstorp (Sweden)
August 26	Oschersleben (Germany)
September 23	Brands Hatch (UK)
October 7	Monza (Italy)
November 18	Macau (China)

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