The Civic WTCC tasted the Nordschleife

The Nürburgring stood up to its “Grüne Hölle” reputation this weekend, as the Castrol Honda WTCC team visited the Nordschleife for the second time in view to prepare next year’s FIA WTCC round on the 23-km legendary road course in the Eifel mountains.

This was the second outing for Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro in a round of the VLN series, but the first time they could drive their Civic WTCC car on the Nordschleife. They used the team’s test car, as their racing machines had been shipped to China.

“It was very useful to come here,” explained Alessandro Mariani, managing director of JAS Motorsport, "as this circuit poses unique challenges in terms of set-up. There is and there will be a lot of work to do to find a workable compromise.”

Even two very experienced drivers like Tarquini and Monteiro, had to feel humble when talking about the Nordschleife.

“I have now done 21 laps,” the Italian admitted, “and I can say I know it by 65-70%. It’s really a challenging track, very fast, with always changing conditions because of the weather, the surface, the bumps... Here, you really have to change your mind set. In a typical WTCC race, you are at the limit from the very start to the very end, here you cannot race at 100%, you need to allow yourself a margin to cope with small mistakes and the unpredictable.”

Monteiro experienced that directly, as he crashed into the barriers in the Flugplatz section during qualifying. “I was following a slower car and he braked earlier than expected right on top of a bump. I avoided him but lost the car. I guess it’s a typical Nordschleife situation. We will not have the problem of slower cars and heavy traffic when we’ll race in WTCC next year, but extreme concentration is always a must here. I must say I like the track a lot: you can really feel the adrenalin flowing, it’s great! For me, having the possibility to race at the Nürburgring is a dream come true.”

The Civic was repaired, but the fog … forced the cancellation of the race. The “Grüne Hölle” won this one…