Attila Tassi happy with qualifying result at difficult track for Honda

Former championship leader Attila Tassi was happy to qualify seventh for the first race at Zhejiang in his M1RA Honda Civic, which converts to fourth for the reversed grid second race, at a track which favours the Volkswagen Golf and SEAT León TCRs.

Tassi qualified one spot behind his returning team-mate Roberto Colciago for Race 1 in the Honda Civic Type-R TCR, which has been struggling more than usual at the new Chinese circuit.

The 18-year-old Hungarian also missed out on making the most of the Friday two-hour test session, but was able to make a last-minute improvement in Q1 to escape the drop zone and get up to sixth, ensuring he could fight to be in the top ten for Q2.

“We worked a lot on my car and my driving style and it seemed to work,” Tassi told TouringCarTimes. “We did our maximum in Q1. In Q2 I couldn’t repeat It, and I was about three-tenths slower, but seventh was still a good result for us after I could only do five laps yesterday in the test as my test engine broke down.

“Today I did my first racing metres in FP1, which is a difficult track to learn. I analysed Roberto (Colciago’s) video all night to learn the track.”

With Tassi’s title rival Jean-Karl Vernay qualifying in second, the extra four points for Vernay has seen the Frenchman retake the championship lead by four points.

The fast pace of the new Hyundais isnt’ worrying the Hungarian either. The i30s of Alain Menu and Gabriele Tarquini start 13th and 14th, but with the fastest pace in qualifying and no championship to think about, they’re expected to fight their way forwards on race day.

“We first need a good start, and then we’ll see what will happen,” added Tassi. “There’s a few cars between us so I don’t think they’ll catch up, as it’s hard to overtake here, but we will see.

“My main focus is on Race 2, to get a good start on the reversed grid and try to get on the podium.”