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WTCC 2017 – Two Hondas in top three in Argentina qualifying

Honda claimed two of the top three spots on the grid for tomorrow’s FIA World Touring Car Championship Race of Argentina thanks to extremely strong performances by Norbert Michelisz and Tiago Monteiro.

Both drivers were among the quickest in the first two sections of qualifying and progressed to the single-lap Q3 shoot-out that decides the Main Race starting grid.

Championship leader Tiago took his Honda Civic WTCC around the 4.8km Autodromo Termas de Rio Hondo in a time good enough for third on the grid – his best starting spot in five visits to the event.

Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team-mate Norbert was even faster and secured second place; his third successive front-row start in 2017 to add to the pole positions he secured in Germany and Portugal recently.

Tiago and Norbert will start the Opening Race seventh and eighth on the partially-reversed grid.

Norbert’s bonus points cut his deficit to the Championship lead from 27 to 25 while Tiago’s extra score means he has a slightly increased six-point advantage at the head of the standings before tomorrow’s races begin.

Ryo Michigami turned a challenging day into a good one with a history-making qualifying effort.

After suffering an engine issue in FP2, his participation in qualifying was in doubt. But a sensational job by the JAS Motorsport mechanics to change the powerplant in double-quick time was followed by a superb ninth place in qualifying; the best result ever achieved by a Japanese driver in the WTCC.

His achievement should also have placed him second on the partially-reversed Opening Race grid, but the penalty incurred for his engine change means he will instead start from the back. His Main Race starting position is unaffected.

Honda later secured second place in the sixth MAC3 event of the year, hampered by a boost issue on Ryo’s car that had restricted him to a total of three laps in qualifying.

Norbert Michelisz 5

“Second place was the maximum that was achievable today. The team has done a fantastic job to make the car excellent from the first lap of FP1, but we had a little issue with the brakes that meant we had to change the discs and pads between Q2 and Q3 and this maybe had an effect on the performance. Second is still a very good place to start from and gives me some very important bonus points for the championship.”
- Castrol Honda WTCC

Tiago Monteiro 18

“I thought pole position was possible today so it’s a little disappointing not to get it. I’ve had a fantastic car today, but you still need to nail a perfect lap to take a pole position in the WTCC and I didn’t do this because I was a bit greedy in the final sector and asked for a bit more than was possible. But third place is still my best grid position in Argentina since we’ve been coming here, so that’s an improvement and puts me in a very good position tomorrow, when I know the Honda’s race pace will be very strong.”
- Castrol Honda WTCC

Ryo Michigami 34

“It’s been a very mixed day for me. On the one hand, I’m very pleased to qualify ninth – my best in the WTCC – especially as I didn’t get much opportunity to learn the circuit in FP1 with the red flags or FP2 with the engine issue. Without the engine-change penalty I’d be starting from the front row in the Opening Race, which would have been great, but I know that I can go forwards from my grid positions in both races as long as I can have a trouble-free day – and some good luck.”
- Honda Racing Team JAS

Alessandro Mariani
Team Principal

“With the pace we’d shown in practice, the targets this afternoon were a car on each of the first two rows, which we achieved; and pole position, which we didn’t, but probably should have, and missing pole is a bit of a disappointment given the circumstances at the end of Q3. Norbi and Tiago have driven very well today and I’m also pleased for Ryo, who showed excellent pace despite not knowing the circuit, losing a lot of track time and having some issues with his car. Tomorrow we aim to win and strengthen our points position.”
- Castrol Honda WTCC

Ryuichi Furukawa
Large Project Leader WTCC Development, Honda R&D

“We’ve shown very strong pace in qualifying with Norbi and Tiago, although we aimed for a one-two. Ryo has also been strong too. He does not know the circuit and lost a lot of track time in practice and qualifying, so his Q1 lap especially was very strong. We changed his engine after FP2 because of an oil-feed issue and then had a boost-pressure issue in qualifying, which we thought we’d fixed in Q1, but which returned for Q2 and MAC3 unfortunately. Our race pace is always strong and we aim to win tomorrow.”
- Castrol Honda WTCC