Honda's Brand New Touring Car Racer Is This Kickass Civic

Honda is testing the brand new Civic WTCC for the '13 season. After completing the last three races of the 2012 championship, a two car works team will try to beat the competition with 2009 World Touring Car Champion Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro behind the wheel.

The Mugen tuned 1.6 liter 4 cylinder direct injection turbo got updated for the challenge, which includes improvements to the turbocharger’s turbine revolution, the turbo-boost control and the pick-up of the engine rev. The intake port was also reshaped for optimizing the intake manifold length as well as modifying the ignition system. Apart from the engine refinement, the 2013 Civic also gets better aerodynamics and an enhanced suspension design, as well as a new front structure. As for the brakes, AP Racing made some bespoke front and rear calipers to help the newbie's championship dreams.

But this time, I actually don't care that much about the specifications. What I'm interested in is what last season's Independent WTCC Champion and fellow Hungarian Norbert Michelisz can do with it after his success with BMW. His team, Zengo Motorsport got the third factory-backed Civic, giving Michelisz the chance to score even higher this year. He just has to be careful with those pigeons...

Photo credit: Zengo Motorsport and Honda

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