Honda happy to have scored points in ‘chaotic’ Shanghai
The Honda squad in the FIA World Touring Car Championship recovered from a difficult qualifying result this morning in Shanghai, host of the tenth round of the season, to four points scoring positions in the races, including a podium by Gabriele Tarquini.
The Civics WTCC had gained 40 kilos of compensation weight for this event, after their superb results in Motegi two weeks ago. Despite the two long straights, where top speed is key, the Japanese cars managed to be competitive in the Shanghai International Circuit.
Race 1 wasn’t easy for the Tarquini, who had to retire with a damaged suspension after colliding several times with Rob Huff’s Lada. On the other hand, Norbert Michelisz and Tiago Monteiro recovered from the back of the grid to finish sixth and eighth respectively, with the Portuguese driver being promoted one position after Nico Lapierre’s exclusion.
The Castrol Honda mechanics did a superb job fixing Tarquini’s car in during the permitted repair time, thus allowing the Italian to start from his spot on the grid for Race 2. At the start, Tarquini took the lead, but later had to concede the position to a very strong Yvan Muller. Despite this, the number 2 Civic was able to contain the attacks of José María López to take second place by just 0.025 seconds. Tiago Monteiro was able to recover again, to finish in sixth position.
The Portuguese driver was satisfied after being able to make up in the race for the qualifying problems: “We Knew it would be a difficult weekend – hence our bad qualifying result – but as always the Civic proved to be really consistent in race pace. Also helped by a bit of luck, I could finish both times in the points despite starting from the back of the grid. I’m also happy because this race allowed us to discover new areas on which we can continue to work to improve the car.”
Gabriele Tarquini had to fight until the chequered flag in the second race, seeing the reward to a huge effort: “The first race was very frustrating but race two was very tense. I could take the start with two new tyres and that was good to make some margin in the first few laps. Unfortunately Yvan was close enough to launch an attack, to which I was ready to respond, but an electronic problem created a missed gear shift and I lost the lead because of that. Unfortunately for Lopez my gearbox worked perfectly after that and I could resist until the end. It was a great, very fair fight with Pechito and I hope the public could also enjoy it!”
Alessandro Mariani, Managing Director of JAS Motorsport, had nothing but praise for his men: “We didn’t find the right set up in qualifying but it worked very well in the races. I am really proud of all our drivers today they did a great job!”
Daisuke Horiuchi, Project Leader for WTCC Development at Honda R&D, was already looking for areas where the Civic can be improved, in light of today’s results: “Our race pace was good. Having to run with 40kg ballast on such a circuit has highlighted some areas on which we definitely can improve, this increases my confidence for the last races of the championship.”
Next on the agenda for the WTCC is the race of Thailand, from the 30th of October to the 1st of November.
