Honda confirm three car WTCC title assault

For the second season in a row, Honda are set to run three cars in the World Touring Car Championship. Tiago Monteiro, part of the Honda project since 2012, remains with the team as does Hungarian Norbert Michelisz, they will be joined by Ryo Michigami - who will become the first ever Japanese driver to contest a full season of the WTCC with a works driver after he competed for the team at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit last year, finishing eleventh and seventeenth.

2017 marks Tiago Monteiro's fifth full season with Honda and he is set to be a strong title contender after finishing third in the points last year with two wins. Teammate Norbert Michelisz also won a race last year and finished fourth in the standings, just one point behind Monteiro. Honda began preseason testing last December and are set to continue doing so in Spain later this month before moving on to other locations.

Monteiro and Michelisz pictured at the French round of the 2016 season have both been retained

Commenting on the lineup, Masashi Yamamoto, General Manager of Honda's Motor Sports Division said "In 2017 we are delighted to partner Tiago Monteiro and Norbert Michelisz – two of the world’s finest touring car racers – with Ryo Michigami, whom we welcome into the Honda works team as the first Japanese driver to contest a full season in the FIA World Touring Car Championship. With a long and successful career in Japan behind him, we are confident that he will make the very best of his opportunity. With a strong driver line-up and a Civic WTCC that has been made even more competitive during the winter, our aim is to win the drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles this year. Finally, I’d like to thank Rob Huff for his enormous contribution to the WTCC programme in 2016 and to wish him the very best for the future.”

Honda last won the manufacturer's championship back in 2013, their first full season and with Volvo being their only factory competition, it is very likely that the Japanese marque will achieve this feat again. Couple this with the fact that Monteiro and Michelisz are both coming off the back of their best season's to date and the possibility of Honda winning both championships is looking rather likely.

Image credit: www.fia.com

-Jordan Hines

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