The trio of Honda Civics bounced back from their qualifying issues to secure a trio of points finishes in the second race of the 2013 WTCC Race of Austria, round 10 of the season.
“It was a tough weekend and little went as we expected,” reports Daisuke Horiuchi, Large Project Leader for WTCC development from Honda R&D. “We had a small increase in straight line speed and will continue to refine boost and ignition controls. It is important that we look at possible improvements in aerodynamics for the next race.”
Having brought the cars home safely in the opening race with Gabriele Tarquini finishing as the top Honda in 12th, race 2 saw the drivers starting from their original grid positions, which left Zengö Motorsport’s Norbert Michelisz 2nd on the grid and the Castrol Honda’s on rows 2 and 3.
Michelisz secured his third podium finish in three events while Monteiro finished fourth, having held third until the seventh lap of the 2.6 mile Salzburgring circuit.
“We have to keep fighting for places and points,” said Monteiro, who has moved into the top 10 of the Championship with his fourth place finish.
“There is still a long season ahead and nothing comes easy in this competitive championship but this is why it is the actual World Championship. I really believe we can keep on collecting points right to the finish.”
Having started on the third row of the grid, Tarquini was unable to work his way forwards and dropped down the order to finish eighth, a result which secured him an additional 4 Championship points.
“I had to work hard to keep positions but I lost out but we got the car home safely and can now take a little time for testing before the next WTCC race in Moscow in June,” said Tarquini, who finds himself 80 points off the Championship lead.
Despite the issues in qualifying and the lack of a top ten result in the opening race, Honda has further extended their advantage in the Manufacturers Championship over LADA ahead of the Russian manufacturers home race next time out in Russia, at the Moscow Raceway.