Honda not worried by pre-season pace deficit

Tiago Monteiro finished sixth after two days, with teammate Norbert Michelisz seventh fastest, both just over a second shy of the benchmark time set by Munnich Motorsport’s Rob Huff.

Although the Citroen C-Elysee WTCC is still considered to be the reference car after strong performances from Munnich Motorsport and Sebastien Loeb Racing, Polestar Cyan Racing were hiding their pace by removing their transponders on day two of the test, while Honda drivers Michelisz and Monteiro missed most of the running on the first day, leaving it all to newcomer Ryo Michigami.

“We were following a plan,” said Monteiro. “We’ve done a lot of testing this winter, we still have a lot of things to go through, but even though the other teams and the media are here, we didn’t want to focus on performance, but wanted to focus on our own plan.

“All three of our cars are different at the moment. There’s something different on each part as we’re testing different parts, so it’s really development.”

Despite this, the Portuguese driver confessed that the return of Monza to the calendar, despite effectively being the JAS Motorsport team’s home race, wasn’t likely to play into the team's favour, with Citroen and Chevrolet notorious for having better straight-line speed.

“Don’t get me wrong, Monza will always be the hardest track for us,” he added.

“Top speed isn’t our strongest point, and Monza is just about speed, so I’m not worried, but a little bit concerned. We also know the Volvos will evolve this year, and the move to get Yvan [Muller] was good as it’s an easy way to get a lot of information and experience really quickly – so that’s not good for us.”

Neil Hudson / Touring Car Times