Honda drivers looking forward to a wet race in France

With rain having descended upon the Paul Ricard circuit on Sunday, the Honda drivers welcome the ultimate levelling factor with Citroën’s Yvan Muller having secured pole position by almost a second on Saturday.

Gabriele Tarquini will start from the front row alongside Muller for race one, while Proteam Racing’s Mehdi Bennani will start from pole position for race two.

“Watching the performance in the dry, I will not cry if the weather changes,” said Tarquini after qualifying.

“We have run a few hours in the rain here, but it was not heavy rain. The track is very good in terms of safety, it’s perhaps the best place to have rain tyres on and race in the wet,” he added.

Team-mate Tiago Monteiro, who starts eighth for race one and third with the revised race two grid added:
“It levels the cars a little bit, so I think it won’t hurt us, and it could also be a nice show.”

With Sébastien Loeb and José María López having originally secured the front row, before their exclusion due a fuel cut-off valve failure, Citroën seemed set to dominate in the dry, but the potential wet conditions for the race could make things trickier for the two drivers who are set to drive through the field.

“I think everybody’s happy with rain who is not driving a Citroën right now,” said Zengõ’s Norbert Michelisz. “It’s good as rain will mix things up and that’s just what we need.”