The Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team took their first-ever WTCC victory in Sunday’s first race around the Slovakiaring, with veteran Gabriele Tarquini admitting that he “wanted to be the first winner” for Honda.
Tarquini, 51, took his second consecutive pole position in qualifying on Saturday, with team-mate Tiago Monteiro joining him on the front row – the first-ever time the Japanese manufacturer had locked out the front row of the grid.
Things then got even better in the first race for the JAS Motorsport-run team as Tarquini, Monteiro and Zengő Motorsport’s Norbert Michelisz scored a dream 1-2-3 result for the team in another first for Honda in World Touring Cars.
“I was comfortable from the start,” explained Tarquini after his 18th victory in the WTCC. “I was able to be smooth and keep the pace high so I moved ahead a little bit whilst the other two had competition behind and had to watch their mirrors.
“I wanted to be the winner of the first race for the new Honda Civic – it was really important to me after the testing and work we have done during the winter to make the car ready. We still have a lot to learn and to explore the full potential but every time we run we have improvements. We want to be the most competitive car on the track.”
Race two was always going to be more difficult for the Honda drivers, who had to start tenth, ninth and eighth respectively after their strong qualifying performances put them further down the reversed grid. However Tarquini and Monteiro fought through the pack in a thrilling race to cross the finishing line in third and fifth respectively, further closing the gap on championship leader Yvan Muller.
For Monteiro the result was particularly important after the Portugese racer failed to score a single point in the previous round in Morcco due to a pair of crashes. It also meant that the 36 year-old was racing with a completely new chassis in Slovakia.
“It ran perfectly right from the start and we improved it in the sessions,” said Monteiro. “My front row grid position was my thank you to the JAS Team and Honda for making the car ready. I tried to keep with Gabriele in race 1 but my tyres were working too hard towards the end, but Norbert and I were close and very pleased with the result.”
JAS Motorsport Team Principal Alessandro Mariani was delighted with the team’s performances and the reduced championship gap, which now sees Tarquini trailing Muller by 24 points. However he spoke with an air of caution, reiterating that it is still early days for the project.
“There has been a great job done by my team, but we must remember it is a long season and there are many races yet to run,” said Mariani. “We are working all the time to be strong on every type of circuit. Next week we are in Hungary and I think the Honda will be good there so we must try for more results.”