Tiago Monteiro and his Honda team-mate Gabriele Tarquini have continued the testing of the Honda Civic 5P at the Slovakiaring, ahead of the cars debut at Suzuka in October.
Portuguese racer Monteiro and Italian Tarquini completed over 500kms of testing around the Slovakian circuit, which enabled the team to test a number of areas ahead of the cars competitive debut in October, when the World Touring Car Championship heads to Suzuka.
“Everything went very well, we did not encounter any major problems,” explained Monteiro, who is pleased with the progress being made with the Honda Civic. “The car and the engine had a high level of reliability.”
“Over these two days we have tested hundreds of different settings to understand how the car reacts to changes but also to identify what works well or not so well on the chassis. The engine department also made systematic changes and these two work days were intense and rewarding.”
Having had experience of the Slovakiaring from earlier in the season, Monteiro was able to take to the circuit and make comparisons between the Honda Civic and the SunRed SR Leon 1.6T.
“The track conditions were similar to those that we had during the race, which allowed me to conclude that we are on the right track,” added the former Formula One driver.
“However, comparisons are never very accurate, as there are still some differences and of course there are far fewer cars on the track. These tests were of paramount importance and I think I will need several sessions before running perfectly at ease with the Honda. But we still have three practice sessions, plus the Suzuka race. It seems a lot but there are only 50 days before our debut.”
Monteiro has one final outing in the SunRed SR Leon 1.6T before he switches to the Honda, with the maiden World Touring Car Championship race of the USA marking his last appearance in the SEAT Tuenti Racing Team car. The WTCC race of USA takes place at the Sonoma Raceway in California over the 22/23 September.