Guess who’s back! Career victory number 28 is a pretty special one, not only because I’ve had to wait quite a while to make a return to the top step of the podium, but because it was achieved in my first ever FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) outing with the Castrol Honda Racing team at Circuit Paul Ricard (1-3 April).
And it didn’t come easy. Sopping wet weather and a lot of standing water made it difficult to take anything from the times set in Friday testing, but it was nice to feel how the car responded in adverse conditions.
For me, the session was all about understanding the team’s processes and procedures and how best to work with my new Race Engineer, Nicola Deval, as the white, red and green camp is still new to me and I know World Championships are won by going through all the same processes I covered with Chevy in 2005, having a strong development plan and patience.
Conditions remained changeable on Saturday (2 April) and I was battling an ill-handling and inconsistent Honda, compromised by a broken splitter and some instability under braking.
One lap I could pull a 1m29.9s and the next would be a 1m30.5s, so I had to leave some room for error, but the silver lining was that I ended Q2 in tenth to secure me the first reversed grid pole of the season.
Then came the inaugural ‘Manufacturers Around the Clock’ time trial, in which the works teams – Honda, Citroen and LADA – are required to nominate three drivers to complete two flying laps on fresh fuel and tyres.
The clock starts when a team’s three cars leave the grid and then stops once the last car completes the second flyer, the fastest team receiving ten points for the WTCC Manufacturers’ Championship, with eight for finishing second and six for third.
We had completed a few MAC3 simulations in FP2 to see how effective the tow was at Paul Ricard and how the cars reacted while following each other,
But you can do all the practice and preparation in the world. It only takes one fluffed start or error to ruin the run and we suffered a significant time-loss when I failed to recognise that I was in the wrong launch setting on the grid.
We finished the first ever MAC3 in third as a result, but that was long forgotten by Saturday evening, which began with high-speed passenger rides for VIP guests from Castrol Edge, with Tiago Monteiro taking a TCR-spec Civic and Norbert ‘Norby’ Michelisz and I getting behind the wheel of road-going Type-Rs.
I drive a Civic Type-R on the road and it’s unreal! The grip is sensational and it just eggs you on, tempting you to go faster and faster, so I was excited to see how it handled when on the limit on a track.
There were certainly a few nervous faces among the Castrol Edge guests – we’re not doing our job properly if there isn’t a little terror – but I’m sure they would have been more frightened had they known how hard I wanted to push.
I purposely set the mirror so I could see my passengers’ faces and it was great to watch their reactions; some were stone-cold quiet, before stumbling out of the car to throw up, others screamed the entire time and then there were those who went for the handbrake or the imaginary brake pedal!
After letting their heart rates stabilise and their stomachs settle, we moved on to the Castrol Honda Racing hospitality suite, and some superb cuisine and good company made for a very pleasant evening.
Honda Racing’s mechanics, meanwhile, were working hard to replace the broken splitter and solve the braking issues for raceday and the WTCC stewards were busy removing Thed Björk from the qualifying results for failing a ground clearance check, promoting me to ninth in the final order and down to second on the Opening Race grid.
Saturday’s problems meant we went into Sunday’s (3 April) races not knowing how the car would perform, but what we found was pleasing, to say the least.
I made amends for my poor start in MAC3 by jumping home hero Hugo Valente for the lead, stretching my advantage before concentrating on simply stroking it home and keeping Mehdi Bennani pegged for pace, while Norby and Tiago battled to third and fourth.
Another belting start to race two saw me rise to just behind the leading Citroens on the run to the first corner, but a rear-end collision wrecked my race. I came back with a vengeance from 16th to sixth and, to be fair, that made for one hell of a race, although my speed makes me think that another podium was on the cards.
It was nice to see the 80kgs of weight taking a toll on the Citroens at the end of the races, as that’s what it’s about.
The fact is, even with weight difference, Tiago couldn’t pass the Citroen and that suggests we’ll have an awesome championship if things remain as they are.
The Balance of Performance obviously will change and it will be a one-man show again, which will be disappointing. However, we’re still finding performance and to come away with four podiums between six drivers over two races gives us little cause to complain.
Ultimately, the feeling off crossing the line in race one and climbing to the top step on my Castrol Honda Racing debut was unbelievable. The car ran flawlessly throughout and I’m truly grateful to have been given the tools to win. We couldn’t have asked for any more as a team.
Oh, and I was also the first recipient of the TAG Heuer Best Lap Trophy for setting the fastest racing lap of the weekend in race one! Not bad for a day’s work!