Photo: TCR Media

Gianni Morbidelli and Honda struggling for pace in Portimao

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The Honda Civic TCRs of Gianni Morbidelli, Kevin Gleason and Igor Skuz are struggling for performance at Portimao, with Morbidelli finishing the second practice session tenth fastest, almost two seconds off the pace of Engstler Audi driver Nicki Thiim, and says the team are struggling to come up with a solution for their lack of speed.

The WestCoast Racing Hondas are also carrying 35kg of weight as part of the TCR International Series compensation weight measures, while the Audi TTs of Liqui Moly Team Engstler are running 30kg lighter than base weight this weekend, making the gap between the two models 65kg.

After Honda dominated in Shanghai, the JAS Motorsport-built cars were hit with 35kg of Balance of Performance measures, but Morbidelli believes that it was perhaps more the circuit than the actual performance of the car that has been compensated for.

“I think we had an incredible race in Shanghai but that’s put us in trouble as we’ve been hit with some weight with the Balance of Performance, but in all honesty I have no idea why we were so quick in Shanghai and why we’re not so fast in Malaysia, Valencia or here,” said Morbidelli to TouringCarTimes.

“Initially we struggled a bit with some little problems on the engine and electronics side, but that’s normal with a new car. The SEAT is lighter and 10mm lower, I don’t know how much a difference it makes, but the final answer is that we are slow.

“I expected more from here, I like the track and I thought that we could be faster but we’re suffering a lot and we’re far from SEAT and Audi as well. The Audi is fast as it’s 65kg lighter, which is quite a lot, and they are 10mm lower. All this makes a big difference.”

The temperature at the track is heading towards the mid-30s, which is setting this up to be the hottest race of the TCR Series so far, which Morbidelli adds is also a problem for the Honda drivers. The Audi is fast as it’s 65kg lighter, which is quite a lot, and they are 10mm lower. All this makes a big difference.

“This is even worse for us. The concept of the car and the electronic issue that we have is a different spec to SEAT. Every change in temperature that we have we have to adjust for it and we’re not able to have the same performance in terms of power…we’re suffering a lot and we don’t have an answer. We’ve tried this and that, but the performance doesn’t come and this is a little bit frustrating. At the moment, our goal is to qualify in the top ten and even that could be hard.”