TCR / 22 May 2023

Civic Type R TCR wins in Austria and Denmark

Victories in two different European-based series continued the winning streak of the JAS Motorsport-built Honda Civic Type R TCR during a busy weekend of touring car racing.

 

TCR Eastern Europe

Mertel Motorsport’s Davit Kajaia scored his first series win with a commanding drive at the Red Bull Ring on Sunday.

The Georgian pulled clear at the start of Race Two but saw a three-second lead removed when the safety car was dispatched for a mid-race incident. Once racing resumed, he defended hard and won; helping Mertel increase their teams’ points lead.

Team-mate Rene Kircher increased his advantage at the head of the Junior class with a category win in Race Two and the German was second overall on Saturday to stay within four points of the overall series lead.

RTM Motorsport’s Antonio Citera was second in the Trophy class in Race One and third in Race Two while Honda Wyszomirski’s Sebastian Kolakowski was fourth in both races.

 

TCR Denmark

Kasper H Jensen began his quest for an unprecedented fourth-straight title (and his second with GMB Motorsport) with a dominant win from pole position at Jyllands-Ringen.

Not only that, his team-mate Gustav Birch qualified and finished second, claiming the spoils in the Under-25s class at the same time.

Jensen’s weekend was to nosedive, however as he was hit by a rival at the start of Race Two and suffered suspension damage that would eliminate his car. He was seventh – from the back of the grid – in Race Three as Birch finished third.

TPR Motorsport’s Kevin Brandsborg was an excellent second in Race Two on his debut weekend in the series while team-mate Michelle Halder took a best result of fifth in the same race.

Esbjug Motorsport’s Didrik Esbjug was eighth in Race Three with JAS Development Driver Philip Lindberg 12th; the PL Motorsport driver in recovery mode after his new FL5 Civic was eliminated in Race One. Kim Konig was 14th in Race One for Team Bundgas.

 

Sports Car Club of Canada

Tom Kwok was a consistent top-10 finisher as the new season began in mixed weather conditions at Mosport.

The M&S Racing driver was seventh in the TCR division in a damp opener and repeated the result in a fully-wet second encounter on Saturday and a dry Sunday race.

89 Racing’s Jocelyn Hebert came from the back to finish eighth in Race Two after retiring on the first lap of the opener.