The Castrol Honda Team is focusing on intensive testing in preparation for the Asian rounds and the 2015 season.
This week, factory drivers Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro will go back to the Nürburgring where they have recently raced in a round of the VLN Langstrecken Meisterschaft at the wheel of 2-litre normally aspirated Honda Civic Type-R prepared by JAS Motorsport.
For this second outing on the Nordschleife, in view of the first visit WTCC will pay next year on the legendary German road course, Tarquini and Monteiro will drive the team’s WTCC test car on the 4-hour ADAC Barbarossapreis.
This will mark the very first appearance of a WTCC TC1 car on the Nordschleife.
Alessandro Mariani, Managing Director of JAS Motorsport explained. “It will be an invaluable experience. It not only offers the drivers an opportunity to build familiarity with the track, but also allows our engineers to try out different things and start their preparations for the next season.”
Immediately after this race, the team will move to Hungaroring and Slovakia Ring for further testing.
“For the next WTCC event at Beijing Goldenport, the compensation weight of the Honda Civic WTCC will be increased from 20 to 30 kilos. This is of course a consequence of us getting closer to the competition and all the great work the team is delivering,” said Monteiro. “Because we tried out different things that don’t always work in race configuration, in Argentina this progress didn’t translate into a better score. But that’s exactly why we are working hard to ensure we are as prepared as we can be for the overseas campaign coming up.”