Points for Honda Civic Type R TCR in Wuhan

“That was a very tough race, but it’s a positive sign that I’ve finished four places higher than where I started, and that I managed to overtake on a very tight track. We made a big improvement with the speed of the car overnight, but I need to get some more confidence to really push for the consistency I need over a race distance. The team here is very experienced and they know a few things we can change to get ourselves further up the order tomorrow.”

The race went extremely well and with the conditions out there being so hot, it was incredibly demanding in the car. I made a great start – too great, as it turned out – and was third, but I destroyed my front tyres defending my position, so when Gordon Shedden came up to pass me, I decided not to make it difficult because there was no reason to maybe throw away solid points. I think that’s one of my best drives of the year, so that makes it doubly disappointing to lose the result to the penalty. Tomorrow will be a better day.”

“It was a pretty short race. I saw some cars fighting ahead of me and was deciding where to place my car and I just braked too late and had contact with Fabrizio Giovanardi. It’s a shame, because although I started 21st, the car felt more to my liking in qualifying than it has done since the summer break, and that’s encouraging. I was only 0.3 seconds away from 12th on the grid, and I think we can make some gains overnight and see what we can fight for tomorrow.”

“On the track today I was very pleased with the performance. All three cars were more competitive in qualifying than they had been in practice, and they each made another performance gain in the race. Yann’s race was magnificent; he defended like a lion, but unfortunately he’s been given a penalty after the race. Esteban and Timo have both found extra pace and we’re now looking at ways of improving things again tomorrow.”