Preview
WTCC
Honda ready for heavyweight challenge at Shanghai
"It is going to be tough with the extra weight"
Published: Oct 31, 2013, 5:38 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The penultimate event of the 2013 FIA World Touring Car Championship will prove a tough challenge for the Castrol Honda Civics driven by Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro. Following the very competitive performance of the Civics in the recent WTCC events, the cars will carry the maximum 40 kgs of compensation ballast for the Shanghai event. At the same time the cars of three manufacturers received a reduction of 20kg in weight which means that the difference between the Civics and the majority of the grid will be 60kg!
Gabriele Tarquini, Honda Civic, Honda Racing Team J.A.S.
Photo by: XPB Images
Following the very competitive performance in the recent FIA WTCC events, the Civics will carry the maximum 40 kgs of compensation ballast for the race in China.
Following the successful weekend at Suzuka where the Civic of Norbert Michelisz drove away from the field to earn a convincing victory and Monteiro battled through to third place in Race 2, the heavyweight Civics will face a tough challenge to earn valuable Championship points. Tarquini is currently second in the Drivers Championship.
"Shanghai is a Grand Prix track of course," explains Gabriele. "There are no kerbs, it is quite flat and very wide. It is great spectator viewing and the TV show will be great. At the end of the long, long straight there is very hard braking into a slow hairpin. It gets quite exciting there! The first corner is a very long slow turn, possibly the longest corner in the whole World Championship but it all makes it an exciting track to drive. I know it won't be easy for us because of our extra weight but, as always, I will fight for every position."
The Shanghai circuit was openend in 2004 and hosts the Chinese Grand Prix. The WTCC made the first visit in 2012 and used the 4.6km version of the circuit which was designed by German specialist, Hermann Tilke. Created in the form of the Chinese symbol "Shang" which means ascend, the circuit has a complex series of corners and curves on the east side joined at the western side by an 900 metre long straight. "It's a very exciting lap!" says Tarquini.
The Italian also points out that the circuit has a very aggressive abrasive surface which generates high tyre wear rates. "It will be important to manage the tyre conditions through the chassis set-up so that we have adequate tyre performance right till the end of the races, however, the best scenario for us would be to have a wet race" advises Gabriele.
For Tiago this will be a return after his race last year with the very first Honda Civic WTCC when he raced in the final three events of the season as an introduction to this year's Championship success. "It is going top be tough with the extra weight. We have the data from last year which will help us with initial set-up but the Civic now is so different as we have developed all year long. My hope is to take a victory before the season ends, it has been so close on several races."
JAS Motorsport
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Red Bull's Newey era set to end
Next article Raikkonen won't give up fights with Grosjean - manager
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Tiago Monteiro
Monteiro says he lost focus in "very emotional" final laps
WTCR
WTCR
Vila Real
Monteiro says he lost focus in "very emotional" final laps
Portugal WTCR: Monteiro scores first win since return
WTCR
WTCR
Vila Real
Portugal WTCR: Monteiro scores first win since return
Monteiro joins new Honda squad for full-time WTCR return
WTCR
WTCR
Monteiro joins new Honda squad for full-time WTCR return
Latest news
Barcelona set to host IndyCar race in 2027 under multi-year deal
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 3 h
Barcelona set to host IndyCar race in 2027 under multi-year deal
Winners and losers from a Chase-altering NASCAR Cup race at Phoenix
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
5 h
Winners and losers from a Chase-altering NASCAR Cup race at Phoenix
Heart of Racing rules Valkyrie GTP step next year ‘too soon’ for IMSA standout Barrichello
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 5 h
Heart of Racing rules Valkyrie GTP step next year ‘too soon’ for IMSA standout Barrichello
Sergio Perez: Debut Cadillac season "without a doubt one of my best years"
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
5 h
Sergio Perez: Debut Cadillac season "without a doubt one of my best years"
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe