Tarquini reduces points gap to Muller after win and podium

Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team driver Gabriele Tarquini has reduced the points gap to RML’s Yvan Muller to 24 points after a strong weekend for Honda at the Slovakiaring, scoring his second pole, a win and race one and a podium in race two to achieve the team’s best weekend yet in the WTCC.

The 51-year-old led throughout race one from pole position, set on a lap where he’d actually made an error in qualifying, and went on to take victory in race one and fought from tenth to third in race two. Tarquini’s points haul from the weekend sees him close in by 13 points to Yvan Muller in the drivers’ championship chase.

With a slow start to the year in Monza, and then a notable upturn in performance taking pole position in Marrakech, Honda’s results today highlight how quickly the Japanese marque is developing on its entry into the Championship.

“The car is fantastic to drive, tyre wear, braking, durability, top speed and acceleration,” said Tarquini. “At the moment (we’re still) not as fast as our competitors because we’re 40kg lighter, but it was clear on a normal track our competitivity was better than the first two.

“Every session we improve a little and discover something. Nobody knows our potential yet, maybe the car is at 90%, maybe 60 or 70%. We discovered today in the race in very hot temperatures and at a demanding track our car was fantastic until the end. We know now we can go forward together to be a little bit more competitive.”