Honda Racing Team Sweden on Verge of Points in Moscow

Honda Racing team Sweden on verge of points in Moscow

Moscow, June 7, 2015

Honda Racing team Sweden came close to scoring points on its return to the FIA World Touring Car Championship grid in Russia this weekend, completing both of Sunday’s two races at Moscow Raceway to gather some much- needed information for the future.

The Moscow event finally saw the all-Swedish team re-join the WTCC paddock with driver Rickard Rydell having recovered sufficiently from thyroiditis, which had forced the outfit to sit out the previous three rounds. On his return, Rydell finished 13th in the opening race of the weekend, and then just missed out on the final points-paying position as he came home 11th in the subsequent Race 2 – three seconds ahead of reigning world champion José María López (Citroën).

Honda Racing team Sweden’s efforts over the weekend were severely compromised by an issue clearing customs, causing the team to miss Friday’s free practice sessions.

Victories in Russia were claimed by Yvan Muller (Citroën) and Castrol Honda factory driver Tiago Monteiro respectively.

The next round of the FIA WTCC season takes place in Slovakia on June 19-21.

RESULTS WTCC Race of Russia | Moscow Raceway

Race 1: Race 2: 1: Yvan Muller (France/Citroën), 16 laps 1: Tiago Monteiro (Portugal/Honda), 16 laps 13: Rickard Rydell (Sweden/Honda), +24.517s 11: Rickard Rydell (Sweden/Honda), +21.686s

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS After 5/12 rounds

1: José María López (Argentina/Citroën), 199 p. 2: Yvan Muller (France/Citroën), 164 p. 3: Sébastien Loeb (France/Citroën), 135 p. 17: Rickard Rydell (Sweden/Honda), 3 p.

Rickard Rydell (driver)

”A pretty unusual weekend. We missed all of free practice on Friday, which was the last thing we needed after already running behind schedule. Also, I had never been to Moscow Raceway before this weekend, so I would have really needed those laps to learn the circuit. The car only arrived a few hours before the start of Saturday practice, which left us with very limited time to prepare the right set-up ahead of qualifying.

“Still, we did manage to complete two solid races, and we learned a lot from that. We are still in the middle of a steep learning curve, but we are improving all the time.”

Nicklas Karlsson (team principal)

”Given the circumstances, there wasn’t a whole lot more we could achieve this weekend. You just can’t afford to lose a full day of practice if you’re competing in a world championship, and the situation at customs control meant we were always going to be one step behind. We simply had to do our best, and I specifically want to highlight the efforts of our fantastic personnel. They always stay positive and work as hard as ever when the going gets tough. Ultimately, we didn’t have the pace we wanted this weekend, but there were very real reasons for that and we are already looking forward to the rest of the season.”

CONTACT DETAILS FURTHER INFORMATION Nicklas Karlsson (team principal) | T: +46 (0)73-342 83 83 www.hondaracingteamsweden.se Stefan Lindberg (sporting director) | T: +46 (0)70-587 93 35 www.honda.se Mattias Persson (PR/media) | T: +46 (0)73-267 16 83 www.fiawtcc.com Maria Johansson (Honda Sweden) | T: +46 (0)73-699 07 09

HONDA RACING TEAM SWEDEN Sweden’s only world championship-level motor racing outfit. Announced at a press conference in Stockholm in early 2014, the project has come to fruition thanks to the combined efforts of Honda Sweden and specialist motorsport squad NIKA Racing, which competed in the WTCC back in 2013. Back then, the team managed to claim an impressive three overall race wins despite holding privateer status, but a radical rules overhaul ahead of 2014 saw the arrival of the new TC1 era – which heralds a set of entirely new challenges for the Honda Racing team Sweden venture. NIKA Racing also ran Rickard Rydell to the 2011 Scandinavian Touring Car Championship title. www.hondaracingteamsweden.se

RICKARD RYDELL 47-year-old Rickard Rydell is one of Sweden’s most experienced and successful racing drivers of the modern era, having clinched titles in both the British (1998) and Scandinavian (2011) Touring Car Championships and becoming the first-ever Swede to claim victory in the prestigious Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix in China (1992). Rydell raced full-time in the WTCC between 2005 and 2009, with 2015 marking his return to the international touring car arena as he embarks on an all-Swedish attack on the world championship – flying the flag for Honda Racing team Sweden. www.rickardrydell.com

HONDA CIVIC TC1 WTCC Rickard Rydell’s weapon for the 2015 WTCC campaign is a brand new Honda Civic TC1 WTCC, built to the latest and most advanced set of technical regulations. The car had its shakedown test at Italian Honda tuner JAS Motorsport’s facilities on the outskirts of Milan in late February, before being flown to the curtain-raising round in Argentina. The introduction of the TC1 regulations in 2014 has made WTCC cars faster – and more spectacular – than ever before.

FIA WTCC The FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) is sanctioned by international motorsport governing body the FIA, and currently features entries from Honda, Citroën, Lada and Chevrolet.

The 2015 WTCC campaign boosts 12 rounds staged all across the world, taking teams and drivers to a wide variety of venues and exotic locations. Among new additions to the calendar are Buriram, Thailand, and a season-ending visit to Qatar, while a much-talked-about mid-May appearance at the fabled Nürburgring Nordschleife promises its own fair share of drama. www.fiawtcc.com

2015 CALENDAR WTCC

Race 1: Argentina (Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo) 6-8 March Race 2: Morocco (Circuit Moulay El Hassan) 17-19 April Race 3: Hungary (Hungaroring) 1-3 May Race 4: Germany (Nürburgring Nordschleife) 15-16 May Race 5: Russia (Moscow) 5-7 June Race 6: Slovakia (Slovakia Ring) 19-21 June Race 7: France (Paul Ricard) 26-28 June Race 8: Portugal (Vila Real) 10-12 July Race 9: Japan 11-13 September Race 10: China (Shanghai) 25-27 September Race 11: Thailand (Buriram) 30 October-1 November Race 12: Qatar (Losail) 20-22 November