TCR / 18 November 2024
Civic Type R TCR scores Macau podium lock-out and 20th title of 2024
The Honda Civic Type R TCR claimed a landmark 20th major championship title of 2024 on an incredible weekend for the JAS Motorsport-built touring car that also featured a podium lockout at the world-famous Macau Guia Race.
KUMHO FIA TCR World Tour
Dusan Borkovic scored his maiden series victory with a stunning drive on the streets of Macau to head team-mates Esteban Guerrieri and Marco Butti in a 1-2-3 finish for GOAT Racing.
The seed of victory was sewn when all three GOAT drivers opted to start Sunday's main race - which was delayed due to morning rain - on slick tyres. Despite a damp circuit causing them to start cautiously, as conditions improved, the Hondas were in a class of their own.
Serbian Borkovic timed his charge to perfection, taking the lead at two-thirds distance and pulling away to finish ahead of Guerrieri and JAS Motorsport Development Driver Butti, both of whom similarly cut through the field late in the race.
It was the fourth Macau Guia Race win for the Civic Type R TCR in the six occasions the event has been held for a global TCR series.
Borkovic was seventh in Race One while Guerrieri and Butti were eliminated in a first-lap pile-up that brought out the red flags. Guerrieri finished fourth in the standings with GOAT third in the Teams' Championship.
TCR China
Martin Xie scored his fourth victory of the year at Macau after following GOAT Racing's lead in starting Sunday's race on slicks. The MacPro Racing Team driver was ninth overall but best of the TCR China runners.
He was another unfortunate and innocent victim of the red flag-inducing incident at the start of Saturday's race.
New team-mate Gary Kwok was eliminated at the start of the opening race as he hit a stalled car and was 10th on Sunday. Evolve Racing's Siu Ming Man was ninth in Race One.
Super Taikyu
M&K Racing made it back-to-back titles in the ST-TCR class and in doing so scored the 20th major championship success of the year for the Civic Type R TCR - the first time the JAS-built car has achieved this landmark.
It was the #98 entry, which entered the weekend in the points lead, that claimed the glory as Lee Jeong Woo, 'Kizuna' and Sena Yamamoto qualified on pole position at Fuji and emerged triumphant after four hours of hard racing.
Their nearest rivals coming into the finale were Shinji Nakano, Mitsuhiro endo, Shion Tsujimoto and Thanasiwanat Phongsinnatchaachun in the sister #97 car. They qualified and finished second to complete an M&K one-two in the race and the points.
Newcomers Team Select Hotels Group made it a Honda 1-2-3 in qualifying, but an engine issue put Toshiro Tsukada, Kenta Harada, Hiroshi Nakamura and Osamu Kondo out in the second hour.
