TCR / 19 May 2025

Spa TCR Europe victory for Civic Type R TCR

Marco Butti and MM Motorsport scored the Honda Civic Type R TCR's first TCR Europe win of 2025 with an heroic performance at Spa-Francorchamps.

Butti's Race One triumph came just 48 hours after a major crash at the ultra-fast Eau Rouge-Raidillon section caused his JAS Motorsport-built car to roll and led to a huge effort by the MM team to get him back on track.

Work was completed at 0500 on qualifying day and the JAS Driver Development Programme graduate responded by putting himself sixth on the grid. From there he took just under five corners to grab the lead and pulled away to victory.

He was on course for a second-place finish in Race Two when a puncture sent him into a barrier at Blanchimont at high speed, an incident from which he emerged unhurt - a testament to the strength of the car.

Felipe Fernandez took pole position for a second year in a row at Spa, but the Auto Club RC2 Valles driver was gradually shuffled back into the pack and took second and fourth in the Diamond Trophy class; the latter result after a puncture forced a pitstop.

His team-mate Santi Concepcion qualified and finished a career-best third (and second in the Youth class behind Butti) in Race One while Victor Fernandez was sixth and third in Diamond; Felipe's brother having spun late on at Raidillon in Race One.

ALM Motorsport's Ruben Volt qualified fourth and was on course for a podium in Race One when a puncture caused him to crash out. He was sixth in Race Two.

Team-mate Sten-Dorian Piirimagi was running fifth in Race Two on his debut weekend in the series until a double-puncture with three laps to go dropped him to an unrepresentative 13th. Sven Karuse was fifth in Diamond in Race One.