WTCC: Tarquini says Citroen fight beyond Honda

Honda's revamped Civic World Touring Car is not quick enough to challenge the dominant Citroens at the Nurburgring despite a 60kg weight advantage, factory driver Gabriele Tarquini has conceded.

Tarquini was fifth fastest overall, and quickest of the Honda drivers, in an hour-long test session at the beginning of the Nurburgring race weekend, but 3.544s off the benchmark of championship leader Jose Maria Lopez.

Last month Tarquini tested the new-look Civic for the first time at the Nordschleife and lapped 4.7s slower than Lopez, before privateer Norbert Michelisz took Honda's first victory of the season at the Budapest round on May 3.

"Here I don't think the characteristics of the circuit suit our car," Tarquini told AUTOSPORT. "So I think we will lose some places.

"We changed some things in the set-up after the test day, but when I tried them this morning they did not work, so I have gone back to the original set-up."

Honda has used both CFD and windtunnel research over the winter to arrive at the current package, which is based around the nose treatment of the latest Civic Type-R road car.

WTCC technical regulations are tightly prescriptive on development at the front of the car, particularly the area above a horizontal line demarcated by the bonnet and headlights. Honda Racing managing director Alessandro Mariani told AUTOSPORT the new package was a "significant" improvement.

"It is a different review of the concept," he said. "Last year we concentrated on eliminating drag, but then we understood that our competitors had more downforce than us, so we decided to change the philosophy of the aero.

"With a touring car, particularly a two-volume car [standard hatchback design], it is difficult to optimise the rear wing, because the effect of the rear wing is not so great as it is on a three-volume car [ie a sedan or notchback style].

"This is a limit that we have due to the shape of the car. But the numbers in the wind tunnel about the efficiency are very good, and the drivers say the downforce and balance are better, so for sure the numbers confirm what they have found."

Originally on Autosport.com