GT3 / 18 December 2023

NSX GT3 Evo 22 ends season with Thai victory

The NSX GT3 Evo 22 scored a class win in Thailand Supercar GT3 at Buriram as the curtain fell on the star category of the Thai Super Series. And with the Civic Type R TCR in action in Mexico, it was a busy December week for the JAS Motorsport-built cars.

 

Thailand Supercar GT3

A year on from the NSX GT3 Evo 22's most recent appearance in the series, Singha Motorsport Team Thailand ran the car for the first time at the season finale and were one of the key players of the weekend.

Voravud Bhirombhakdi and Carlo van Dam were spectacular during Sunday's season finale; van Dam starting sixth and running fourth for most of his half-hour opening stint.

With Pro-Am crews mandated to remain stationary for 27 seconds longer than the rival Am cars during the driver changes, Bhirombhakdi looked set to be restricted to sixth, but a late safety-car period when a rival stopped on-track gave renewed hope of a podium finish.

Released with enough time for just two racing laps, but with the field now bunched-up, Bhirombhakdi surged forwards and took the Pro-Am lead with just one minute left on the clocks. He secured the class win, just 0.8s away from an incredible overall triumph.

Twenty-four hours earlier Voravud was in a similarly charging mood after slipping from his qualifying spot of fourth to sixth spot within three corners and then recovering to third with a spectacular three-wide move two laps later.

Again serving the 'Pro-Am handicap' penalty during the driver change, the NSX re-emerged sixth with van Dam at the wheel with just over half the race to go. Again his charge took him to second spot overall, but this time it was also second in Pro-Am.

 

Copa Notiauto Endurance

Giada Racing by MM set the pace in Mexico City's annual 24-hour race, which featured over 20 TCRs on Wednesday and Thursday.

TCR Italy front-runner Niels Langeveld qualified second in the Honda Civic Type R TCR he shared with Horia Chirigut, Carlos Marquez and Genaro Davalos, but started 23rd due to issues encountered before the race.

The Dutchman spectacularly charged to second place within the first hour and held the lead at various stages during the opening third of the race; his fastest lap more than a second quicker than any other car.

The Civic never ran lower than fourth during this period, but suspension and driveshaft damage, caused by over-use of kerbs, led to nearly an hour in the pits for repairs and dropped the car to seventh in Class 1 by the flag.

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.