Honda WTCC chiefs target stronger 2016

Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team bosses want the squad to pose more of a regular threat for success in the WTCC next season.

Although Tiago Monteiro scored two race wins in 2015, outgoing factory pilot Gabriele Tarquini ended the season without a victory, while neither driver was able to top a Qualifying Q3 shootout.

Following the FIA World Touring Car Championship season-closer in Qatar last month, Daisuke Horiuchi, Large Project Leader for WTCC Development at Honda R&D, said: “We need to make further effort to improve [the] overall performance for next year.”

Team Principal Alessandro Mariani, Managing Director of Honda’s WTCC partner JAS Motorsport, said: “We need to think about next year and come back stronger.”

Honda announced last week that Tarquini won’t form part of its factory line-up in the WTCC next season with a new recruit set to replace the Italian.