TCR / 30 September 2024
Civic Type R TCR wins 100th major touring car crown
The Honda Civic Type R secured an incredible 100th major motor racing championship crown on a weekend when the JAS Motorsport-built car confirmed five more prestigious titles in Europe.
TCR Denmark
Kasper H Jensen cemented his status as the series' King as pole position and a double win at Jyllands-Ringen earned him a fifth consecutive Drivers' Championship.
The Mascot Motorsport with Racegroup driver was beaten into Turn One by his chief title rival Mike Halder in Race One, but the battle for supremacy was short-lived as Halder was twice sent to the penalty lane for jumping the start and finished second.
Contact between the pair in Race Two sent TPR Motorsport driver Halder to the pits with suspension damage and confirmed Jensen's title -the magic 100th for the Civic.
It also ensured Mascot Motorsport with Racegroup - formed in March of this year - were crowned Teams' Champions (moving the Civic's title total to 101).
It was Halder's team-mate Rene Povlsen who claimed his first outright series win in that race - ahead of Jensen. Povlsen, already confirmed as the Trophy class champion from two rounds previously - won the category in all three races.
Jensen's team-mate Gustav Birch secured a second-straight Under-25s title as he won the class in all three races.
His best outright finish was third in Races Two and Three but he was denied the same result in the opener when a penalty for contact with PL Racing's Philip Lindberg - who made it an all-Honda top four in qualifying - dropped him to fourth.
Lindberg and Wunderov Motorsport's Jacob Wunderov had best results of fifth over the weekend while Team Bundgas driver Kim Konig was second in the Trophy twice and TPR's Jonte Engstrom was ninth (and third in the Under-25s) in the opener.
TCR Europe
ALM Motorsport were confirmed as Teams' Champions in Saturday's opening race as first-time polesitter Ignacio Montenegro finished second at Valencia, Spain, and continued his dominance of the Rookie category.
Having already clinched the Rookie title at a previous event, the JAS Development Driver came home second outright in the opener but retired in the pits late in Sunday's race; robbing himself of a shot at the overall crown.
His team-mate Ruben Volt was second on Sunday to finish fourth in the standings - one spot behind Montenegro. Their team-mate Levente Losonczy was seventh on Saturday.
GOAT Racing - newly established just weeks before the start of the 2024 race season - were also celebrating as Felipe Fernandez secured the Diamond Trophy crown for Pro-Am drivers with a sixth class win of the year in sixth overall on Saturday.
His team-mate Santiago Concepcion was a career-best fourth in Race One and then scored his first Rookie class win on Sunday in sixth overall to become the only man other than Montenegro to win in the newcomers' category this year.
Ruben Fernandez - returning to the series after missing Brno - was fourth and fifth in Diamond.
Super Taikyu
M&K Racing dominated Suzuka's five-hour race in the ST-TCR category to take a major step towards a second successive title with a one-two finish with its Civic Type R TCRs.
Shinji Nakano and Mitsuhiro Endo maintained their unbroken run of pole positions in 2024 in the #97 Civic they share with Ryusuke Masumoto and Shion Tsujimoto.
However, they would not be victorious as their team-mates, Lee Jeong Woo, Sena Yamamoto and ‘Kizuna’ seized the upper hand at the start.
The advantage switched between the two cars as the race progressed, the gap never extending beyond the 15s lad #98 built up in the second hour.
In a dramatic finish Yamamoto caught the sister car at the S-curve with just 10 minutes left and made a decisive move for the lead and a first series win for the trio, who have
increased their series lead to 18.5 points with 50 on the table from the final two races.
