Honda drivers hopeful of challenging Citroen at Moscow

The Civic finished on the podium last season at Moscow in the hands of Tarquini, who split the much fancied Citroens of Jose Maria Lopez and Sebastien Loeb in the first race.

The Italian hopes the characteristics of the Russian circuit will suit the upgraded Civic, which was closer to the Citroens at the Nordschleife three weeks ago.

“Last year our Civic was very good in terms of performance,” said Tarquini, who lies seventh in the championship having taken a best finish of two fourth places so far in 2015.

“The characteristics of the Moscow circuit are normally good for our car. It is a modern track with a lot of medium-slow corners and change of directions.

"The top speed is not as important as in the Nurburgring and I think we must focus on qualification because the grid position will be very important - overtaking can be very hard in the races."

Tarquini’s teammate Monteiro currently sits fourth in the standings, the closest challenger to the three Citroens of Lopez, Loeb and Yvan Muller, and is also confident of a competitive showing in Russia.

"Moscow is a totally different challenge to what we had so far,” he said. “It's a newer track with lots of different types of corners and quite a smooth surface, and it has only one long straight.

"We fared quite well last year so we're hoping the evolution to this year's Civic WTCC will enable us to be even more competitive this time round.”

Neil Hudson / TouringCarTimes