High expectations for Gabriele Tarquini in Suzuka

Gabriele Tarquini will be one of the stars of the weekend as he drives a factory Honda Civic. The Italian rates Suzuka as his home race, with no Race of Italy this year, and in an interview with TouringCarTimes admitted that expectations are high for the Japanese Manufacturer’s home race.

“I prepared for the race as usual,” said Tarquini to TouringCarTimes. “We’ve been here since Sunday, and we genuinely hope one of us will be able to step on the top of the podium. There are high expectations, it’s the most important race of the year and, without a race in Italy this year, I consider Japan as my home race. Of course there is the pressure to do well, we hope the car will be competitive and that luck will be on our side because lately it hasn’t.”

Tarquini is disappointed with the season so far, after bad luck hit him several times while he was on his way to get good results: “The season has been negative because I retired several times when I was on my way to a podium. I haven’t won yet, but I hope I will be able to do it at least once in the remaining races.

“Besides the realistic justifications we have due to the fact that Citroën started developing the car much earlier than us we can’t be happy about the outcome of the season. From now on I hope I will be able to get some good results in, but the general feeling is that we are not where we wanted to be, of course.”

As one of the few drivers to have lapped the Nordschleife track in a World Touring Car Championship car, the Honda driver has a very clear idea of what is going to happen next year in Germany in the highly-anticipated weekend:

“The Nordschleife is just one of the twelve races we will have next year, and it has to be taken for what it is. It is impossible to adapt a WTCC car perfectly to the track, also because there is not the time to prepare for it as much as they do for the 24 hours race. In different categories it is the race which is worth a season, for us it is just one of the events, as important as it may be because it will raise a lot of attention, but I don’t think there will be anyone capable to have a car which suits the track completely.

“Testing at the Nordschleife is expensive and there is the risk to wreck the car every time you go out. The difference is made much more by the driver than by the car, there are a few specialists such as Rob Huff and Tom Coronel who know the track much better than Tiago or myself. In spite of my experience I never raced there, I did a few laps this year but I still don’t remember it all by heart, so I will really struggle to be on top form there.”

Tarquini also says that safety may be a concern in Germany, if the drivers are not respectful enough of the iconic ‘Green Hell’:

“I think the Nordschleife must be faced with a huge amount of respect, it’s completely different from any other track in the world. You can’t be on the limit all the time because the conditions and the tarmac change, so if you are on the limit you are at risk of wrecking the car, because any off there can cost you dearly. Besides, the average speed is very high, most of the corners are done in 4th, 5th or 6th gear, if you make a small mistake at over 180-190 km/h there is no chance you can take the car back to the pits.”

Tarquini enters Suzuka as the third-best placed Honda driver, after Norbert Michelisz overtook him by six points at Shanghai.