TCR / 04 June 2018

Double win for JAS Hondas in TCR Thailand

Pattarapol Vongprai and Chariya Nuya secured a pair of one-two finishes for the JAS Motorsport-built Honda Civic Type R TCR in two exciting TCR Thailand races at Buriram.

Running within the Thai circuit's TCR Asia event, the pair of local drivers ran strongly to take the top positions in their national series.

Vongprai finished third overall in his Vattana Motorsport Civic in Race One to give him a maiden TCR Asia podium and a class victory that increased his TCR Thailand points lead.

Nuya, the class runner-up on Saturday, led Race Two overall in the early stages, but finished third and took the TCR Asia spoils ahead of Vongprai.

After starting 12th, Lo SzeHo was a strong fourth overall - in Race One while his Maximum Racing team-mate Clement Tong took a best finish of 10th on his TCR Asia debut weekend and Nattachak Hanjitkasem scored a pair of fifths in TCR Thailand for TBN MK Ihear Racing.

Modulo Civic TCR, run by the Dome Racing Team, made it three podiums from three races with a second-place finish in the Super Taikyu Series showpiece event, the Fuji 24 Hours, to retain their ST-TCR Championship lead.

Having started third in the ST-TCR class with 50kg success ballast, Tadao Uematsu/Shinji Nakano/Hiroki Otsu/Takashi Kobayashi assumed the lead by half-distance. Unfortunately, a lost wheel in the 17th hour caused a major delay that relegated them to the runner-up spot.

The sister car, fielded under the Floral Civic TCR banner, qualified second. The Hiroki Kato/Richard Wee/Kazuho Takahashi/Hiroshi Hamaguchi/Taiyou Iida car lost the lead in the fourth hour in a collision with a faster GT machine and finished fifth after another on-track incident.

Ollie Taylor switched to a 2018-spec Civic Type R TCR for the latest round of TCR UK at Brands Hatch and was rewarded with a front-row start and a second-place finish for Pyro Motorsport to move up to second in the Drivers' points table.

Series returnee Howard Fuller recovered from being spun off at the start of Race One to claim his maiden series podium with third spot in the second race. He is now sixth in the points while his Sean Walkinshaw Racing Team are third in the Teams' points - one place behind Pyro.

Finlay Crocker and Josh Price took best finishes of seventh and ninth for, respectively Verizon Connect Racing and BMR Autoglym Academy.

Mads Fischer, JAS Motorsport TCR Project Leader, said: "This weekend we saw the real meaning of 'never give up'. Despite carrying 50kg success ballast at Fuji, Dome Racing Team focused on race strategy and it looked like it would pay off as they led by half-distance. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be because the #97 car lost a wheel and the front corner had to be replaced with 25-lap delay, but we’re proud to have customer teams like this who simply wouldn’t throw in the towel and recovered to a vital second-place finish that keeps them at the top of the points. I must also congratulate Billionaire Boy Racing and Vattana Motorsport on their wins in TCR Thailand and Pyro Motorsport and Sean Walkinshaw Racing on their TCR UK podiums. It’s encouraging to see that the older-spec Civic Type R TCR continues to be competitive and we continue to support teams running this model to the same level as those with the newer car."