TCR / 16 September 2024

Civic Type R TCR scores 50th win of 2024 and another major title

The Honda Civic Type R claimed its 50th win of 2024 and a sixth major title of the year on what was another ultra-successful weekend for the JAS Motorsport-built car.

 

TCR Denmark

The Constructors' crown - the 96th major championship won by the Civic Type R TCR - came as a result of a double-win at Padborg Park for Kasper H Jensen, who closed in on the lead of a series he's aiming to win for a fifth-straight year.

The Mascot Motorsport with RaceGroup driver was beaten to the line in Race One by polesitter Mike Halder, but the TPR Motorsport man was excluded post-race when his car failed a ride-height test.

Halder charged to second place from the back of the grid in Race Two, but controversially spun Jensen out of Race Three and was penalised two places in the results - finishing fourth. The pair will now dispute the Drivers' crown at the final round.

Halder's position penalty moved Jacob Wunderov (Wunderov Motorsport) up to a career-best second place, with TPR's recently-crowned Trophy Champion Rene Povlsen - who also won the class in all three races - third overall.

Jensen's RaceGroup team-mate Gustav Birch was third, sixth and fifth overall and won the Under-25s class in all three races. With Malte Ebdrup not present after his incident at the previous event, that allowed Birch to take over the lead of the class.

PL Racing's Philip Lindberg, Team Bundgas driver Kim Konig - second in Trophy in all three races - and TPR's debutant Jonte Engstrom scored best results of sixth, eighth and sixth respectively.

 

TCR Asia

Delta Garage Racing';s Umar Abdullah scored his first series victory after an inspired rive from the back of the field at Buriram, Thailand.

The Indonesian started a wet second race from the front row, but bogged down badly and was one from last by the opening corner. He fought back brilliant to lie fifth by half-distance and took over third in the closing stages.

He finished there, but was later promoted to victory when the first two drivers over the line were given time penalties for driving offences. Abdullah retired from fourth spot in Race One with a suspension issue.

 

Coppa Italia Turismo

Luciano Martinez made a perfect series debut by taking pole position and a double win at Vallelunga.

The Argentinian, who had his first event with MM Motorsport the previous weekend in TCR Italy, was in inspired form as he topped Saturday's qualifying session and then led every lap of the opening race too.

He was forced to resist extreme pressure from behind for the first half of Race Two, but was left to cruise to the finish when his chief rival retired with a puncture.

 

TCR South America

Juan Manuel Casella drastically closed on the lead of the championship with a pair of second-place finishes at San Juan, Argentina.

The Squadra Martino driver battled with new team-mate Matias Cravero for the spot through most of the opening race, eventually making the move stick at two-thirds distance and finishing just a second off the victory.

He then drove through from seventh on the partially-reversed grid to take another runner-up spot later on as Cravero was hit on the opening lap and retired.

Enrique Maglione snatched the lead of the Trophy standings with a third class win of the year and a second-place finish.

This was largely because team-mate Fabio Casagrande - the Trophy Champion for the past two seasons - crashed out three laps from the end of Race Two while leading. He was third in Race One.