WTCC 2017 – Honda on the front row in Italy

Honda qualified on the front row for the second round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship thanks to a superb performance by Tiago Monteiro at Monza in Italy.

Having gone fastest in morning practice, the Championship leader sailed through the opening section of qualifying with the fifth-best time and then improved his pace again in Q2 to reach the decisive single-lap Q3 session.

His 1m52.505-second lap was his best of the Monza weekend and put him second on the grid for Sunday’s Main Race as well as ninth on the partially-reversed Opening Race grid.

Adding to his pole last time out in Morocco, Tiago has the best qualifying record of any WTCC driver in 2017 and gained four bonus points for today’s effort.

His Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team-mate Norbert Michelisz was unfortunate to miss out on a Q3 spot and qualified his Civic sixth for the Main Race. The Hungarian will start one place higher up in the Opening Race.

Ryo Michigami set encouraging top-10 times throughout practice and repeated that form in Q1. Sitting 10th in the order as the chequered flag fell, the Japanese driver was knocked back one position seconds later, denying him pole for the reversed-grid Opening Race.

He starts both of Sunday’s races from 11th place.

The second MAC3 session of 2017 took place after qualifying. Honda’s team of Tiago, Norbert and Ryo set the second-best time and bagged eight manufacturers’ championship points as a result.

Tiago Monteiro 18

“I’m delighted to qualify on the front row. We tested here six weeks ago and our lap times were nowhere, so to come from there to here shows the incredible job Honda and JAS have done on, respectively, the engine and aero package, since then. Anything can happen on race day. Monza is a circuit where you can overtake more easily than other places; the slipstream is very important and so is looking after the tyres. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Norbert Michelisz 5

“I’m pretty happy with my performance because personally, I don’t think I could do any more. Looking at the data, my speed through the corners is identical to Tiago, but I’m losing a tenth of a second to him on every straight. Unfortunately, around Monza, the straights are long and that adds up to half a second over a lap. We’ll examine this very carefully and improve the car tomorrow, because I’m sure I can match Tiago’s pace if we can cure this issue.”

Ryo Michigami 34

“I’m quite frustrated to qualify 11th, because my pace in practice indicated that I was fast enough to qualify in the top 10. Getting a good lap time in qualifying at Monza is tricky because you have to work together as a team to help with the slipstream and I’m not sure we did this as well as we could have. Despite this, 10th would have meant pole on the reversed grid, so it was doubly disappointing to lose that position right at the end of qualifying.

Alessandro Mariani

Team Principal

“If you’d told me yesterday that we’d be on the front row, I’d have been delighted. But after we showed such excellent pace in free practice, I’m a little disappointed we couldn’t convert that speed into a stronger all-round performance, and I’m especially sorry for Norbi and Ryo, because they only missed out on much better fortunes by fractions. But we’ll review everything this evening and come back stronger tomorrow, when the big points are there for the taking.”

Ryuichi Furukawa

Large Project Leader WTCC Development, Honda R&D

“I’m very happy for Tiago. After setting pole position in Morocco, he’s added another front-row start here, at a circuit we knew wouldn’t suit us as well as some others. However, it’s a little frustrating we weren’t able to get Norbi or Ryo higher up the grid. Our pace in free practice and, in particular, the way we’re using our tyres, looks very positive for the race. If we can translate that speed onto the track tomorrow then there’s no reason we can’t have a very strong result in both races.”