TCR / 19 August 2024
500 race wins: A story of success for the Honda Civic Type R TCR
Winning races is no easy business. Winning 100 or even 150 of them is decidedly harder. For the Honda Civic Type R TCR to have claimed its 500th global victory last weekend ranks as one of the greatest achievements by car builder JAS Motorsport.
That it was achieved by Malte Ebdrup at Jyllands-Ringen, Denmark, merely exemplifies the international appeal of the TCR category and shows how far-reaching the success of the Civic has stretched.
Built with the blessing of Honda Motor, every one of the 204 Civic Type R TCRs created has been done so at JAS's Arluno headquarters in Milan, Italy.
A result of tireless work by JAS designers, engineers and technicians, and of extraordinary efforts by a worldwide network of customer teams, the car's 500 wins to date represent the culmination of a tremendous team effort.
Both the FK2 (2015-17) and its successor, the FK7 Civic (2018-22) remain in competition today with global customer support available for the life of the cars by JAS, while the latest FL5 model (2023-present) now leads the way in many series.
At the highest level of TCR competition the Civic remains one of the outstanding models; Esteban Guerrieri and GOAT Racing currently sitting second in the KUMHO FIA Touring Car World Tour rankings after a win at Interlagos recently.
Guerrieri had already made his mark on history with a record 10 wins in the WTCR FIA World Touring Car Cup - each one scored with the Civic - that include one at the Macau Guia Race, held on the world's most demanding street circuit.
Significant continental titles have been won in TCR Europe, TCR Asia, TCR South America and the Pirelli World Challenge (North America) while wins and championships in countries as diverse as Indonesia, Chinese Taipei and Luxembourg have added to those in the traditional motorsport markets such as the UK, Japan and USA.
The Civic Type R TCR has won virtually every significant sprint-racing title in TCR competition including 12 in the car's Japanese homeland and more in the USA, UK, Germany and Italy. In TCR Denmark the car has been particularly dominant with Kasper H Jensen winning four straight titles with two different teams.
There were major endurance racing highlights too; Fugel Sport claiming back-to-back TCR successes at the Nurburgring 24 Hours in 2019 and '20 with line-ups that included Guerrieri, Nestor Girolami and Tiago Monteiro.
Fuji 24 Hours wins for M&K Racing and Team Noah in 2021 and '22 came during a period where Civics won an unprecedented 16 races in a row in Japan's Super Taikyu series (in which it has claimed the ST-TCR title in six of the seven years it has competed).
Female drivers played a significant role in the successes too; Michelle Halder, Anna Inotsume and Rio Shimono among the title winners in a variety of series and Shion Tsujimoto becoming the latest to join the list of race winners in Super Taikyu recently.
And two TCR Model of the Year crowns in 2019 and '20 were also added, making it the first car to win the prize more multiple times.
The victory total stands at 501. Hopes are high of increasing that number considerably over the coming years.
Mads Fischer, JAS Motorsport TCR Project Leader, said: "Five hundred wins is an incredible achievement for the Honda Civic Type R TCR, all three versions of which have been designed, built and supported by the team here at JAS Motorsport. TCR has been one of the most successful global formulas ever created in motor racing and continues to allow teams and drivers from a wide range of backgrounds to compete in a cost-effective way and at a level that suits them. The fact that we have customers competing in established motorsport markets like the USA, Italy and Japan plus developing nations like Panama, Thailand and Chinese Taipei speaks volumes about the concept. I would like to thank every member of staff at JAS that has played a role in creating the Honda Civic Type R TCR and to congratulate every one of our customer teams globally in the role they've played in this achievement. We will not stop here though and will strive for even bigger numbers in the years to come."
500 wins by the numbers
First win: Gianni Morbidelli, West Coast Racing, TCR International Series, Shanghai (11/04/15)
500th win: Malte Ebdrup, Mascot Motorsport with Racegroup, TCR Denmark, Jyllands-Ringen (18/08/24)
Winning drivers: 155 from 33 countries
Most wins (driver): Mike Halder (30)
Most wins (team): MM Motorsport (43)
Most wins (country): Italy (63)
Most wins (series): TCR Denmark (45)
Championships won: 93