TCR / 30 October 2023
Another double-title success for the Civic Type R TCR
The Honda Civic Type R TCR claimed its 11th major title of 2023 as Shi Shiwei and GH-Team AAI triumphed in TCR Chinese Taipei.
With victory in China and a double-podium in Italy, it was another strong weekend for the JAS Motorsport-built touring car.
TCR Chinese Taipei
Shi Shiwei was crowned Drivers' Champion as he and Shaun Thong won the final race of the season at Lihpao.
Shi dropped to third after making contact with Su Yan Ming's KOE Racing Civic at the first corner in an incident that spun the latter to the back of the pack.
He recovered to second by the end of the opening lap and caught Kevin Chen in the sister AAI car within the first 15 minutes of the race and later took the lead before the pitstops; he and Thong winning the race - and the title - by over six seconds.
Chen and Liu Weizhi's runner-up spot was more than enough to net AAI the Teams' crown - the 11th title of 2023 for the Civic Type R TCR and the 86th in total.
KOE duo Su and Chen Junfu recovered to third; passing the Am class-winning Liming Racing entry of Yang Meng Qiao and Wang Shan Yuan in the closing laps as Hondas filled the top four positions.
TCR China
Jack Young re-took the lead of the championship with a commanding victory and a fourth-place finish at Zhuzhou.
The Northern Irishman qualified on pole position and was unchallenged in Saturday's opener in his Dongfeng Honda Racing Team-run entry, which is run by MacPro Racing Team. His fourth spot on Sunday, which resulted in a six-point series lead, came from 10th on the grid.
Team-mate Andre Couto made it an all-Honda front row and finished second in Race Two. Martin Xie, driving the third DHRT car, was sixth on Saturday.
Spark Racing's Yun Jie Zhou was the best-placed Honda driver in the Am class, finishing fourth on Saturday.
TCR Italy
Niels Langeveld finished the season with a double-podium finish at Imola as the MM Motorsport driver secured the runner-up spot in the championship.
The Dutchman qualified fourth and finished third in Saturday's opener and then added a second-place result from sixth on Sunday's partially-reversed grid; missing out on a final-race victory by just 0.3 seconds.
ALM Motorsport's Ruben Volt qualified on pole position but was eliminated in a multi-car incident at the beginning of the opening race after stalling as the lights went out.
MM's Paolo Rocca, who was leading the Under-25s class coming into the weekend, was knocked out of contention in the same incident. Both cars were too-badly damaged to race on Sunday.
