Marrakech a lottery, says WTCC ace Tarquini

Gabriele Tarquini says the unforgiving nature of Circuit Moulay El Hassan will make next month’s Eurodatacar WTCC Race of Morocco a lottery.

The 4.624-kilometre street track in Marrakech is characterised by wall-lined straights and turns and punishing kerbs, making the outcome of rounds three and four of the FIA World Touring Car Championship hard to predict.

“Marrakech is a street circuit with high kerbs and it is almost a lottery,” said Italian Tarquini, the 2009 WTCC champion and current Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team racer.

Although Tarquini has enjoyed plenty of success in Marrakech – he was second there in 2009 and 2013 and a race winner in the city in 2010 – his appearance last season was short-lived. A heavy collision in practice with Gianni Morbidelli inflicted so much damage to his Honda Civic WTCC that he was unable to take any further part in the event.

Eurodatacar WTCC Race of Morocco takes place from 17-19 April. A packed grid of new-generation TC1 cars will be in action.