WTCC returnee Rickard Rydell fears his Honda Civic faces slow start

After struggling against Citroen's dominant C-Elysees last season, Honda has made a number of changes to Civic's engine specification to address a shortfall in power, but the early start to the season has reduced the development time available.

Rydell missed the official WTCC test at Barcelona last week as his team only received the car one day earlier so had to settle for a shakedown in Italy before it began the journey to Termas de Rio Hondo for next month's season-opener in Argentina.

"You would want five or six test days at a few different circuits to learn about the car," Rydell admitted.

"We really have to treat the first few races as a test, as development.

"By the time we return to Europe, after Marrakech, I hope we can do some test days to learn more about the car, and then hopefully be on the pace by June."

Rydell has not competed full-time in the WTCC since 2009.

The 1998 British Touring Car champion's return is funded by Honda Sweden and the new Civic will be run by Nicklas Karlsson's NIKA Racing, with whom Rydell won the 2011 Scandinavian Touring Car Championship.

"We agreed everything between April and June last year," said Rydell. "So we've been working quite a long time for it to happen.

"It's going to be fun. I'm really looking forward to doing a full season of World Touring Cars again.

"It's a great championship, the circuits we visit are fantastic, and the atmosphere is really good.

"I haven't been involved in the development because we're a private team, but I know they've made the car quicker and found a bit more power.

"Last year the Citroen was quite a bit quicker so they needed to develop the car.

"Honda has been really good last year with private teams, as you could see with [Norbert] Michelisz. They are very open with data so I hope I can learn from them."