Gabriele Tarquini: “We cannot fight with them”

After starting from pole position for the second race at the Salzburgring, following a first race where there were barely any passing manoeuvres, expectations were that Honda should be set for victory starting in the top four positions on the grid. Unfortunately with four laps to go, Citroën’s José María López had passed all of them on his way to his third win of the season, with Tarquini confirming that at the moment, Honda simply can’t fight off the Citroëns.

“To be honest, there was no race with Pechito (López), he was much faster than us, especially on the straight with his acceleration and top speed,” said Tarquini after the race. “I used the least wing possible in the second race, I couldn’t put less wing else I’d fly, but the difference in top speed is huge, so we cannot resist.”

“I’m quite happy about my car set-up, it was quite good. I had a problem in the first race and had to slow down for the last three laps, but I was happy with the balance of the car, which is even worse, as (it shows) we need to work, we need to improve, as the difference is still big and it’s a shame for us, as we cannot fight with (Citroën) at the moment.”

Tarquini finished second in the second race in Austria ahead of team-mate Tiago Monteiro, with the two drivers now starting to pull away in a second group in the standings, behind the three Citroëns, but away from the Chevrolets of Gianni Morbidelli and Tom Coronel.