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Monday, July 16, 2007

Renault confident of catching BMW

Giancarlo Fisichella is confident that Renault can take third place off BMW in this year's Constructors' Championship.

Although Renault entered the 2007 season intent on retaining both World titles, a tough first half of the season has seen the team's goal revised to catching BMW for third place.

However, in the last two races Renault have done the opposite, losing ground to BMW, with the gap sitting at 25 points ahead of the tenth race of the season, the European GP.

"It is fair to say that the last two races were a bit disappointing, all the more so because they were our home races," said Fisichella.

"We knew that it would be a tough battle with BMW: all of the teams are making progress, and our challenge is to do so faster than them in order to get ahead and try to close the gap in the Championship."

The Roman is, however, confident that Renault are heading the right way and that it's just a matter of time before they take third place off their German rivals.

"We are going in the right direction, and everybody is doing their maximum," he added. "I am convinced that if we carry on like this, our hard work will pay off."

The team's technical director Bob Bell agrees that Fisi that clawing back to the deficit to BMW is Renault's revised target for the second half of this year's Championship.

"The target is clear: to continue closing the gap to BMW on track, and to begin doing so in the Championship," he said.

"If you look back to the opening races of the year, it was as if we were in a different race to them. Now, we are regularly qualifying in the top ten, and according to the type of circuit, racing with our direct rivals.

"Giancarlo and Heikki are both pushing very hard and getting the maximum from the car. They now need more performance to fight on equal terms with BMW.

"That is what we are focused on providing them throughout the second half of the year, beginning this weekend at the Nurburgring."

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