TCR / 26 August 2024

JAS Hondas win on three continents

Montreal Motorsport Group scored their first IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge TCR win on a weekend where both the JAS Motorsport-built Honda Civic Type R TCR and NSX GT3 Evo 22 scored important class victories.

 

IMPC

Montreal Motorsport Group's victory at Virginia looked far from certain when Dai Yoshihara, who had qualified the Civic sixth in TCR, pitted under Full-Course Yellow conditions to hand over driving duties to Karl Wittmer.

But with Yoshihara having climbed to fourth, Wittmer continued the charge. Third with 30 minutes to go and second just 10 minutes later, he chased down the class leader and - after two earlier unsuccessful attempts, grabbed the advantage at Turn One with just three minutes of the two-hour race to go.

While the duo remain fifth in the Drivers' standings, they are now just a handful of points from a top-three spot.

 

Italian GT Sprint

Massimo Ciglia took the lead of the series' Am category as he and NSX GT3 Evo 22 co-driver Rodolfo Massaro scored a double class win at Mugello for Nova Race.

Ciglia took pole for Saturday's race as the pair snared an untroubled first win of the year. From second on the Sunday grid, Massaro impressively helped complete another success.

Further up the road, Felice Jelmini qualified on Pro-Am pole (and second overall) for Race One and was joined on the top step of his class podium by co-driver Filippo Berto. A tougher Sunday race resulted in a runner-up finish. They are second in the points.

Vincenzo Scarpetta and Matteo Simonini were a season's-best fifth in Pro-Am in Race Two and seventh in Race One.

 

TCR South America

Fabio Casagrande re-took the lead of the Trophy standings as he qualified on class pole and shared the wins in the category for semi-pro racers with Squadra Martino team-mate Enrique Maglione at Mercedes, Uruguay.

Maglione drove through the pack to win in the morning, but was sidelined by a technical issue in the pits in Race Two. Casagrande - who is aiming for a third straight title - made it a Martino one-two in Race One.

Juan Manuel Casella was the best overall finisher for Martino with second in Race Two - taking over the spot when team-mate Rodrigo Baptista ran wide at two-thirds distance and later had to pit with a puncture. Baptista's best finish was fifth while Norberto Fontana's was seventh.

 

TCR Asia

Umar Abdullah repeated his Sepang podium with a third-place finish at Buriram, Thailand.

The Delta Garage Racing driver was spun to the tail of the field by a rival on the opening lap of Race Two but recovered to fourth in the Pro class. Z.Speed Racing's Ananthorn Tangiannatchai was one place behind.

 

IMSA

Gradient Racing's hopes of repeating their Road America podium were dealt a blow when Stevan McAleer was hit by a rival with 30 minutes to go at Virginia.

He and Sheena Monk had climbed from 11th to seventh by that stage but the contact caused them to pit for repairs and restricted their NSX GT3 Evo 22 to 13th in GTD.