TCR / 24 June 2024

Three wins for Civic Type R TCR for Piccin and Kwok

Three more wins for the Honda Civic Type R TCR made for another excellent weekend for the JAS Motorsport-built car in Europe and North America.

 

Coppa Italia Turismo

Samuele Piccin scored the first series win for the FL5 Civic Type R TCR in the first of two races at Misano.

The MM Motorsport driver qualified on TCR class pole and led until the latter stages. After finishing second on the road, he was promoted to victory as the car ahead was penalised post-race.

Piccin's Civic was an innocent victim in Race Two as rain began to fall on the opening lap as another car spun backwards into him on slick tyres.

 

Sports Car Championship Canada

Gary Kwok scored his first major TCR victory for three years with a superb drive at a wet Calabogie; the M&S Racing driver rising from second in class in qualifying to win.

He made it a double on Sunday as he came home more than nine seconds clear of the opposition while team-mate Jonathan Young finished seventh in both races.

 

IMPC

Louis-Philippe Montour gave the Civic its third straight TCR pole in the series while Dai Yoshihara made it an all-Montreal Motorsport Group front row at Watkins Glen for a second race in a row.

Saturday was less successful as Montour sustained a puncture as he crossed the line to start the race. By the time he'd been to the pits for a replacement he was a lap down and he and Bryan Ortiz finished ninth.

Yoshihara and Karl Wittmer were one place further up after suffering penalties and issues of their own, including running out of fuel on the last lap.

Chad Gilsinger never got to drive after contact for co-driver Tyler Chambers on the formation lap put the HART Honda out while Racers Edge Motorsports' Daniel Wu and Tazio Ottis also retired late on with a mechanical issue.

 

IMSA

Gradient Racing regulars Sheena Monk and Stevan McAleer were joined by Tatiana Calderon for the third 'Endurance' event of the year; the Six Hours of Watkins Glen, aboard their NSX GT3 Evo 22 and the trio showed strong speed on raceday.

From 17th on the GTD grid, qualifying driver Monk rose to 15th by the end of her opening stint; an early Full-Course Caution neutralising the field and preventing her from making up more ground.

Calderon and McAleer continued the charge and had the Acura into seventh spot by half-distance, despite a clutch issue affecting their getaways at pitstops.

Heavy rain forced a red flag with two hours to run. Despite cars not moving for over 60 minutes while conditions improved, the race clock kept ticking. It meant that when racing resumed - at a point where the team received two penalties - there was little time left to regain what was lost. They finished 13th.