TCR / 05 August 2024
D’Alberto’s dominant double for Civic Type R TCR
A double win for Tony D'Alberto and Honda Wall Racing was the highlight of another ultra-successful weekend for the Honda Civic Type R TCR.
There were also class successes for Brad Harris and Fabio Casagrande on different continents while the JAS Motorsport-built car remained in contention to win the KUMHO FIA TCR World Tour.
TCR Australia
Tony D';Alberto dominated the Queensland Raceway event; the 2022 series champion taking a double win for Honda Wall Racing and ending the weekend as its top scorer.
D'Alberto qualified second but led at the start of the opener and was never troubled; something he repeated in Race Three. In between he was fourth in the reversed-grid second race.
Fellow Wall driver Brad Harris led brother and team-mate Will in a one-two finish in the Challenge class in all three races: the twins taking best overall finishes of fifth and eighth respectively.
KUMHO FIA TCR World Tour
Esteban Guerrieri maintained his title challenge with sixth and third-place finishes at El Pinar, Uruguay, but the GOAT Racing driver had to recover in the later race after being shoved off the track - and out of second - by a rival early on at Turn Two.
His team-mate Marco Butti - a JAS Motorsport Development Driver - was a victim of an identical assault at the same corner and fell to 10th. Contact had put him out of Race One before even reaching the first corner.
Dusan Borkovic was one of the stars of Race Two as he stormed from 18th to sixth. The Serbian was 11th in Race One.
TCR South America
Fabio Casagrande re-took the lead of the Trophy division with a double class win for Squadra Martino; the South America races run concurrently within those of the World Tour.
The Brazilian was unchallenged at the front of the category while team-mate Enrique Maglione - third in the points - was third and second.
Ex-Formula 1 driver Norberto Fontana was third overall in Race Two, just ahead of Juan Manuel Casella, who had been fifth earlier on, right behind the returning Rodrigo Baptista.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge
Dai Yoshihara claimed his first TCR pole position in the series and the fourth in five races for Montreal Motorsport Group before co-driver Karl Wittmer staged a dramatic late charge to the podium.
Yoshihara led the first half of the race but a delay during the driver changes - which took place in a crowded pitlane under Full-Course Yellow conditions - led to the #93 Civic dropping to eighth.
Wittmer settled into a rhythm and was sixth with two laps to go, but the Canadian dramatically climbed to third by the flag to bag a second-straight podium. An incident in qualifying for Jon Brel meant he and Louis-Philippe Montour did not start.
IMSA
Sheena Monk scored her first IMSA GTD podium finish as she and Gradient Racing co-driver Stevan McAleer came home third in a dramatic race at Road America in their NSX GT3 Evo 22.
From 13th on the grid Monk made early progress and, after remaining on track until the end of her mandatory 45-minute drive time instead of pitting after half an hour during a Full-Course Yellow, handed over to McAleer in eighth spot.
McAleer continued to climb the order despite two more lengthy caution periods restricting his progress and was sixth when green-flag racing resumed with 15 minutes left.
He was still there with five minutes left but took advantage of his team's fuel strategy and capitalised on a collision between two rivals to climb to third place on the final lap.
TCR Eastern Europe
Rene Kircher claimed his first podium finish of the year as the Mertel Motorsport driver brilliant climbed from sixth on the grid to third in the opener at Most, Czechia.
Team-mate Davit Kajaia was eliminated on the first lap of Race One after being hit by a rival but the Georgian recovered to finish fifth on Sunday - two places ahead of Kircher.
Jorden Dolischka, driving the third Mertel Civic, started Race Two from the front row and twice finished third in the Junior class.
MM Motorsport's Giacomo Ghermandi qualified a career-best second, but was involved in contact in both races and scored a best result of 11th on Saturday.
Super GT
The series continued at Fuji as Team UPGARAGE duo Takashi Kobayashi and Syun Koide battled hard throughout the 71 laps in their NSX GT3 Evo 22.
The duo qualified 17th in the GT300 class and, after dropping outside the top 20 at the start, made their way up the order steadily; Kobayashi gaining two spots in the last 10 minutes to finish 15th.
