It’s starting to feel like the old days! The car, the crew, the facilities and the team gear are all of the highest standard; add into that some great team mates and you will understand why it’s hard to keep a smile off my face at the moment.
In 2012 and before at Chevrolet with Yvan Muller and Alain Menu it felt the same; your biggest rivals are the guys in the same machinery. The biggest threat to taking a World Championship this year could be the evenness of the competition within the Castrol Honda Racing team.
We came into the Slovakian round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) knowing we had to make the most of the weight advantage over the Citroens if we were to maximize our points haul and build on the results from the previous round.
From the start of free practice we had pace but things weren’t that great in the car. I had a mystery vibration that was so bad I couldn’t see where I was going and it was making me feel ill. The engineers were all over the car to find the issue, which we thought was probably aero-related but before they could find it I employed an alternative “Huffy fix”.
In FP2 I made a mistake and had a trip through the gravel, busting the splitter on the underside in the process, and would you believe it, vibration gone! Of course, the team then affected a proper fix and we were back in the game.
Qualifying was acceptable. I just got through to Q2 with a 12th place but it was good to join Norbert ‘Norby’ Michelisz in the Q3 shootout, making it through in fifth, which was ultimately where I would end up. This put me in a good spot to challenge for podiums in both races.
The bonus for the weekend was to have my good buddy James Thompson back on the grid. James and I had had a lot of fun in our season and a half together at LADA. When James left abruptly mid-season we never really got a chance to catch up, so seeing him back on the grid was great. He doesn’t change… oh, and that suit!
Raceday came and I was cautiously optimistic. From P5 I got a decent start and found an errant Hugo Valente on a mission to go backwards from reversed grid pole. In the race he decided to meet my passing challenge by pushing me wide at full chat onto the grass, not once, but twice! Thanks Hugo, appreciate that! I took the opportunity after the race to pause at the LADA SPORT garage on the way to the podium to let him know where I was going.
The rest of the race, I sat as a passenger watching the show as Tiago Monteiro harried Mehdi Bennani, just waiting for my chance. With a few laps to go, Tiago took his opportunity and I tried to capitalise, but the gap was only momentary and Bennani held station. I did what I could to pass on the final lap, but settled for third and a welcome podium with my teammate.
In the second race I had another decent starting position – fifth. I got away reasonably well, but those in front got decent starts and I found myself still in P5 on the first lap, behind Norby and ahead of Tiago.
This is pretty much how it remained, a train of fast-moving nose-to-tail Hondas running fourth, fifth and sixth until the penultimate lap, when both myself and Norby got punctures. That was that.
However, it was good to see Tiago’s patience prevail as he jumped former race leader Nick Catsburg, gathering great points for himself and the team.
In the press conference afterward, I was stunned by the line of questioning of a local journalist who was suggesting we had failed to deliver on our promises for the weekend! A win, a second and a third between us to hold the initiative in the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ Championship. Seems good to me!
So, a few days at leisure before Budapest next weekend, which is bound to be crazy with a Hungarian as my teammate. Hopefully this will let me go about my business while Norby takes the pressure and I’ll see if we can consolidate our position.
My last visit to Budapest ended in a hospital bed after my LADA disintegrated at Turn 1 during post-race testing, so I will certainly not be wanting a repeat of that! Driving the Honda Civic Type R, we should be just fine!