TCR / 05 May 2025
Guerrieri and Civic Type R lead Kumho FIA TCR World Tour
The Civic Type R TCR heads the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour following a stunning opening weekend by Esteban Guerrieri and GOAT Racing at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City.
There were also significant performances in TCR Italy and in the Italian GT Championship as the NSX GT3 Evo 25 made its race debut.
Kumho FIA TCR World Tour
Guerrieri qualified his JAS Motorsport-built car on pole position and won two of the three races on a weekend on which the Argentinian was simply untouchable.
A slow start to Race One - caused when Race Control incorrectly displayed the five-second board and began the starting-lights procedure together and left the Argentinian insufficient time to pre-load his clutch - dropped him to 13th by the first corner.
But he fought back heroically to finish fourth and the did an even more magnificent job in Race Two. From seventh on the partially-reversed grid, he was fourth by Turn One and leading by the third lap as he charged to victory; a result he repeated in Race Three.
Team-mate Ignacio Montenegro qualified and finished a career-best fourth, but retired from Race One due to a first-lap suspension issue, which forced him to start Race Two from 14th spot.
A fantastic charge brought him to seventh by the flag and he added fourth in the finale; this time from ninth on the grid.
The three races ran as part of the latest round of TCR Mexico. In the national series the M&M Racing Civic was driven by Marco Montoya, Jose Luis Hernandez and Ignacio Sanchez, who took part in one race each. Sanchez fared best with seventh in Race Three.
TCR Italy
MM Motorsport debutant Michal Bartoszuk claimed a double-podium finish in the Rookie class as the new season began at Misano.
The Polish racer was second in the category in both races with a best result of 12th overall while team-mate Marco Pellegrini was second in the Masters category on Sunday and 11th overall.
Jacopo Cimenes was the highest-placed Honda driver overall with sixth in qualifying and eighth and ninth spots in the races. He finished third in the Under-25s class in Race One.
Italian GT Endurance Championship
Nova Race had the honour of debuting the 'Evo 25' version of the NSX GT3, featuring improved aerodynamics and cooling, in the season-opener at Misano.
Team owner Luca Magnoni, Paolo Rocca and Andrea Bodellini qualified second in the Am class, but Bodellini was unlucky to be caught-up innocently another car's incident and had to retire on the first lap with damage.
The sister car of Giovanni Berton, Rodolfo Massaro and Francesco de Luca started 11th in the Pro-Am category but ran well through the three-hour race and finished fifth.
