Honda team hopes to become the WTCC hunted in Hungary

Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team’s Alessandro Mariani has revealed that the “full package” of improvements to the Civic WTCC won’t hit the track until the Hungaroring in May when the squad hopes to go from hunter to hunted.

Mariani heads up Honda’s WTCC technical partner JAS Motorsport, which has overseen an intensive development programme to turn the Civic WTCC into a regular race winner in the FIA World Touring Car Championship.

That bid to up performance continued in Portugal last week when factory pilots Tiago Monteiro and Gabriele Tarquini – plus Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy contender Norbert Michelisz – tested at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve near Portimão.

“We had one day with each driver and worked on the development and also the set-up for Marrakech by testing the calibration of the dampers and things like that,” said Mariani. “We don’t expect to see the results in Marrakech because the real focus is on the Hungaroring where we will see the full package.”

Circuit Moulay El Hassan in Marrakech hosts Eurodatacar WTCC Race of Morocco from 17-19 April. MOL Group WTCC Race of Hungary takes place at the Hungaroring near Budapest from 1-3 May.