Tarquini eager for "one more year" with Honda
Gabriele Tarquini wants to be back on the WTCC grid with the Castrol Honda team in 2016, and expects the developments that are coming will help the team close the gap to Citroen for next season.
Gabriele Tarquini, Honda Civic WTCC, Honda Racing Team JAS
FIA WTCC
The 53-year-old finished fifth overall in the standings this year, the closest challenger to the four Citroens, and says at this point his career he decides on a year-by-year basis whether he wants to continue.
“I want to race again next year,” said Tarquini. “If Honda lets me, I definitely want to race one more year.
“In the last few seasons I always sign one year contracts, as I want to decide at the end of the season what’s best for me and for the manufacturer.
"If I sign, I’ll sign for one more season and at the end of the year we’ll decide again. This is also my suggestion as at some point during the next three, five or ten seasons I will decide to stop!”
Tarquini was disappointed on the whole with his season, and says there’s still work to be done in order to take the fight to Citroen in the French manufacturer’s last year in the championship.
"I’m not happy with the overall performance we’ve achieved in these last two seasons," he said, "so I don’t want to give up at this moment, as I think we will improve and I think I can help.
"The overall performance in terms of the car was quite satisfactory as we are closing the gap to Citroen.
"Even with 40kg we proved we could be the closest car to Citroën, OK in Qatar some cars are a little bit faster than us but they’re on 0kg this weekend.
“We were closing the gap, but we still need to work if we want to beat them, they are the car to beat and the gap’s still there.”
Neil Hudson/TouringCarTimes
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