TCR / 31 March 2025

Triple win across two continents for Honda Civic Type R TCR

Three outright victories plus three more class wins on either side of the Atlantic made for an outstanding weekend of success for the Honda Civic Type R TCR.

The JAS Motorsport-built touring car locked out the podium positions in a frenetic TCR Spain race on Sunday afternoon while also taking a one-two finish in the TCR South America opener at Rosario.

 

TCR South America

Leonel Pernia led Honda YPF Racing team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr home in a one-two finish for the Squadra Martino-run outfit as both outsprinted Leonel’s son Tiago – a first-time pole-sitter – at the start at Rosario.

While Piquet dropped back to third initially, he re-took second spot at two-third distance and finished on his team-mate’s tail with Tiago Pernia fourth.

Mariano Pernia was spun by a rival on the second lap, but fought back well to eighth while Adrian Chiriano won the Trophy class in ninth spot overall.

Chiriano and both Mariano and Tiago Pernia were non-finishers in Race Two with Piquet eighth and Leonel Pernia – who heads the Drivers’ Championship – third. Honda Racing YPF lead the Teams’ points.

 

TCR Spain

Sten-Dorian Piirimagi scored his first TCR victory in a chaotic Sunday afternoon race at Aragon while TPR Motorsport’s Mike Halder got his title challenge back on track with an opening race victory.

It was Piirimagi’s ALM Motorsport team-mate, Ruben Volt, who won the opening race on the road; out-sprinting polesitter Halder at the start to take the lead from the second row and resisting the German’s challenge throughout.

Unfortunately, he was given a time penalty for exceeding track limits and dropped to fifth (and third in the Junior standings). That promoted Halder to a second win of the season and Auto Club RC2 Valles driver Felipe Fernandez to third.

Piirimagi - seventh after also taking a track-limits penalty – aced the start to take an early lead in Race Two and held it to the finish, despite last-lap pressure from Halder, who climbed from 10th on the partially-reversed grid, to second.

Fernandez completed an all-Honda podium in third while his brother and team-mate, Ruben Fernandez, won the Master category in both races in sixth and fifth spots overall after claiming the class pole.

RC2’s Victor Fernandez beat TPR’s Rene Povlsen to third in Master in both races with Demir Eroge sixth in Race One before spinning out later on. Michael Markussen was sixth in Race Two but retired from the opener with a puncture.