Autoblog announced yesterday (March 6, 2013) that during the 2013 Geneva Motor show, Honda officially took the wraps off on the car that it’s going to campaign for the 2013 FIA World Touring Car Championship series. Honda has already piloted this particular chassis before during the last three races of the 2012 WTCC season debuting in Japan finishing 11th, then 13th in China and finally 5th in Macau. Honda recently recommitted to its racing plans for 2013, and highlighted this WTCC car to be one of its key components to get back into racing.
This WTCC car already garnered a bit of attention back in summer of 2012 when they revealed their HR412E 1.6 liter turbocharged direct injected bespoke race motor for their WTCC Civic. Final power numbers are unknown at this time, but Honda aims to be competitive.
The team will be headed under JAS motorsports and the drivers are Italian Gabriele Tarquini (2009 World Touring Car Champion) and Portuguese Tiago Monteiro.
The Honda Racing Team JAS will be pitted against a private team, Hungarian-based Zengo Motorsport, who confirmed earlier this year that they will enter the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) with the Honda Civic WTCC. The car will be driven by Hungarian driver Norbert Michelisz. J.A.S. Motorsport will build the car for the team to the same specifications as Honda's own Civic WTCC.
Over the winter, Honda spent extensive time testing and improving aerodynamics as well as improving suspension,braking and numerous engine and turbo enhancements.
What our hope is that Honda will not only win extensively on the track, but will translate what they've learned from WTCC and implement that racing DNA back into their sports cars. Turbocharging and direct injection are the current state of the art when it comes to increasing engine power and improving efficiency, and this new HR412E just might find its way replacing a few K series motors in the new feature, all under the banner of Honda Earth Dreams.
Source: Autoblog
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