TCR / 03 September 2018
Ryan Eversley wins first title for 2018 Civic Type R TCR
Ryan Eversley wrote his name into the history books at Watkins Glen as he won the first championship title for the 2018 Honda Civic Type R TCR.
The American set pole position and claimed a superb double Pirelli World Challenge TCR win in the JAS Motorsport-built car.
He clinched the Drivers' Championship at the final race by leading home his RealTime Racing team-mate Mason Filippi for one-two finish.
It was Eversley's fifth win of the year and his 11th podium finish from 12 races to maintain a 100 per cent points-scoring record across the season.
The weekend's results, which included third place for Filippi in the opener, allowed Honda to claim second place in the Manufacturers' Championship and to confirm RealTime in the runner-up spot in the Teams' points table.
There was further success in TCR China as series debutant Andre Couto claimed a double win at Ningbo International Speedpark (below) and the MacPro Racing Team secured four podium finishes to increase their lead in the Teams' Championship.
Despite missing first practice, Couto qualified on pole position and dominated each of Saturday’s sprint races. He was also leading Sunday’s enduro when he pitted for wet tyres as a sudden downpour hit the circuit.
Unfortunately for the Macau driver, the race was stopped just moments later as the weather worsened, meaning he had no chance to recover higher than fourth place.
His team-mates Tang You Xi and Kang Jian Zhong finished second in the endure while Kang was third on his own in the second sprint.
Oleg Kharuk enjoyed his best TCR Russia weekend since switching to the Honda Civic Type R TCR as the Neva Motorsports driver maintained his 100 per cent finishing record with the car at Sochi.
Having qualified ninth in the Trophy class for gentleman drivers, Kharuk finished fifth in the category on Saturday and repeated the result on Sunday to sit seventh in the points table with just the season finale at Grozny to come.
Lubner Motorsport took part in the sixth VLN race of the season at the legendary Nurburgring Nordschleife. Roger Vogeli, Frederic Yerly and Roland Schmid qualified fifth in the TCR class.
The trio were classified sixth; adding that result to the podium finishes claimed by the car in the previous two events.
Ryan Eversley, RealTime Racing, said: “We had the most podium finishes this season, which means we had the best reliability. That’s what Honda is known for doing best. When you’re talking about Honda race cars and JAS Motorsports building cars for Honda since the 1990s, I knew right away, before the start of the season, that it was going to be a successful and consistent program. My goal coming into this weekend was to try to get a pole, and try to maximise points. It’s probably the best way we could have won the championship – with a double win.”
Mads Fischer, JAS Motorsport TCR Project Leader, said: "It's fantastic to be able to call the 'new' Honda Civic Type R TCR a championship winner and we offer our most enormous congratulations to Ryan Eversley and RealTime Racing. Ryan has scored points in every race and only missed the podium once, which shows the speed and reliability of the car, but of course the team have made the very best use of it. It’s a shame we didn’t get the showdown everyone had hoped for with the two title contenders going wheel-to-wheel to the chequered flag, but we’ve seen enough tremendous battles during the year to know that TCR has been a fantastic addition to the Pirelli World Challenge. The performance in TCR China was also excellent and it’s a shame Andre could not complete his treble win because of the way the weather turned. It’s incredibly pleasing to see Neva Motorsport have their best weekend yet with the Civic in TCR Russia."
