TCR / 15 April 2024

Double win for Harris and Civic Type R TCR in Australia

A dynamic double win by Brad Harris in TCR Australia was the highlight of the weekend for JAS Motorsport customer teams, but there were strong performances on three other continents and a pole position for JAS Development Driver Ignacio Montenegro.

 

TCR Australia

Brad Harris, already the dominant driver in the new Challenge Class in 2024, had his best-ever weekend in the series at Phillip Island as he qualified second to complete an all-Honda front-row and then won twice on Sunday.

Aboard his Wall Racing-run Exclusive Switchboards Honda Civic Type R TCR, he dropped to third early in Race One but made a daring move on the last lap to recover second by the flag.

He then drove superbly in the remaining races to score a double success and claim his first ever 'event' win as the highest scorer across the weekend.

Brother Will finished second in the Challenge class - behind Brad - in all three races to make it an even better weekend for Wall Racing.

Tony D'Alberto made it two pole positions in a row as he topped qualifying, but the Honda Wall Racing driver was biffed off the track at the first corner and dropped to the tail of the field; which was where he finished.

He recovered from last to eighth in Race Two and then made more progress in the finale to come home fourth.

 

TCR South America/TCR Brasil

JAS Development Driver Ignacio Montenegro combined with full-season Squadra Martino driver Juan Manuel Casella to qualify on pole position for the opening race of both series at Interlagos.

The endurance format featured Casella starting the opening 40-minute race, which set the grid for the 40-minute finale that Montenegro would take part in.

Casella gradually dropped from first to fourth, but Montenegro asserted himself in Part Two; getting back into third and closing on the leaders thanks to a late safety car.

However at the restart with five minutes left he was an innocent victim as three cars behind collided and collected him as he braked for the Senna S; Montenegro suffering broken suspension as a result.

That incident rounded off a luckless race for Martino. Rodrigo Baptista/Diego Nunes suffered a puncture while Fabio Casagrande/Franco Coscia and Enrique Maglione /Rodrigo Aramendia had technical issues.

 

TCR UK

The opening round of the season at Brands Hatch featured a strong sixth-place finish for Civic Type R TCR newcomers Go-Fix Honda by 77Sport and Will Powell.

Powell's error-free Saturday performance netted him his best result of the weekend. That was added to with eighth and ninth-place finishes on Sunday; Powell running as high as fourth in Race Two after a lightning start.

 

SuperGT

Team UPGARAGE duo Takashi Kobayashi and Syun Koide began the new season in the GT300 class with their NSX GT3 Evo 22 at Okayama; the track where they kicked off 2023 with a race win.

This time the pair qualified 16th as the new qualifying format did not favour them. They made progress in Sunday's race until a final-lap puncture ensured they finished where they started.

The NSX was competing as part of the NSX GT3 Customer Racing Programme; a global collaborative project with JAS Motorsport responsible for assembly of all cars.
 
Honda Performance Development (HPD) and M-TEC handle sales and technical support in North America and Japan respectively, with JAS responsible for these areas across the rest of the world.