TCR / 11 November 2019

Civic Type R TCR finishes Super Taikyu season on podium

KCMG ended their Super Taikyu campaign on a high as they scored their best result of the year with their Honda Civic Type R TCR at Okayama.

Fresh from taking four titles in TCR Japan just two weeks ago, the Hong Kong team marked themselves out as contenders for the win in practice.

But a mistake in qualifying from Paul Ip meant that he, Jim Ka To and Matt Howson had to start from the back of the ST-TCR grid.

Despite this setback, the trip performed superbly to finish in the runner-up spot; their second podium finish of the season and the seventh for the JAS Motorsport-built car.

Fellow Honda squad Dome Racing Team began the race just half a point from the series lead, and were one of six crews capable of taking the title.

Unfortunately, Hiroki Otsu sustained a left-front puncture just 45 minutes from home while running second.

The delay from pitting for a replacement meant he was seventh when he emerged and, despite a determined charge in which he was the fastest ST-TCR driver on-track, he could only climb to fifth.

This result meant he, Tadao Uematsu, Shinji Nakano and Mitsuhiro Endo, finished second in the championship.

Team Noah's Jun Fujii and Takahisa Oono finished a solid fourth while RFC's Toshiro Tsukada, Yoshikazu Sobu, Shingo Wada and Yuji Wada were classified ninth after a major delay at half-distance.