TCR / 28 August 2023

Girolami claims historic World Tour win for Civic Type R TCR

History was made on Sunday as Nestor Girolami scored the maiden TCR World Tour victory for the new Honda Civic Type R TCR FL5 with a strong defensive drive at San Luis.

 

TCR World Tour

Argentinian Girolami had joined Squadra Martino for this latest World Tour event, which was held in his homeland and clung on to the lead after starting Race Two from pole position.

Lap after lap he resisted intense pressure from behind and secured victory by less than one second to move up to fifth in the Drivers’ points. An engine issue put him out of Race One after he'd climbed from 10th to fourth.

In TCR South America, the latest round of which was held together with the World Tour event, Ignacio Montenegro maintained his points lead despite a challenging weekend.

The youngster battled from seventh on the grid to a strong fourth in Race One, but a puncture dropped him to eighth on Sunday. That, coupled with seventh for team-mate Juan Manuel Casella, kept Squadra Martino on top of the Teams' points.

Enrique Maglione took pole in the Trophy division but retired from both races. Fabio Casagrande was second on Saturday.

 

IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge

Mike Lamarra qualified the best of the LA Honda World Racing Civics sixth for the latest round of the series at Virginia and fought for the podium positions throughout the early phase of the race.

Opting to break from the strategy most cars employed by not pitting for fuel under caution at the half-hour mark, he fell back when he made his first stop, but any potential for his co-driver Ryan Eversley to use this to his advantage later on was undone when Lamarra crashed not long afterwards.

William Tally qualified a season's-best seventh in the sister car, but an early spin dropped him to last. Co-driver Mat Pombo climbed to fourth spot, but slowed on the final lap and finished seventh.