TCR / 03 June 2024
Volt heads Civic Type R TCR 1-2 in Austria
ALM Motorsport leapt into the lead of the TCR Europe Teams' Championship thanks to a one-two finish for Ruben Volt and Levente Losonczy in their Honda Civic Type R TCRs at the Salzburgring.
With five other class wins, an overall pole position and several outright and class podiums for both the Civic and the NSX GT3 Evo 22, it was another strong weekend for JAS Motorsport-built racing cars globally.
TCR Europe
Ruben Volt had already shown his class with a sensational start to rocket from ninth to third at the start of a wet opening race; a getaway that resulted in a third-place finish.
The ALM Motorsport driver then took less than two laps to grab the advantage in Race Two and gradually eke out a lead before a mid-race red flag wiped out his advantage.
When racing resumed he headed ALM team-mate, and JAS Development Driver, Levente Losonczy - who had taken the spot after a spectacular move just before the stoppage - to claim his first win of the year.
His victory reversed the finishing order of Zolder two weeks earlier and also confirmed the 20th overall race win for the Estonian ALM team with the Civic Type R TCR. It moved ALM to the top of the Teams' points with half the season complete.
Ignacio Montenegro - another JAS Development Driver - had his best results to date as he qualified and finished second in Race One and added fourth in Race Two. He was the Rookie Trophy winner in both races, ahead of GOAT Racing's Santi Concepcion.
Concepcion's team-mates Felipe and Ruben Fernandez were second and third in the Diamond Trophy running in Race One and Felipe was again second later on.
TCR Australia
Brad Harris continued his domination of the Challenge class with a triple win at The Bend aboard his Wall Racing-run Exclusive Switchboards Civic; the last of which was backed-up by twin brother Will in a team one-two.
Finishing second, fourth and sixth overall in the three races, Brad extended his category advantage.
Team-mate Tony D'Alberto made it three outright pole positions in a row for Honda Wall Racing and converted his starting spot into second overall in Saturday's race.
His Sunday curse continued though; spun from the lead battle down to last at the start by another car and finishing 14th. He recovered to sixth in the finale.
TCR Mexico
Horia Chirigut was a double podium-finisher at Queretaro as the series continued with a pair of sprint races.
The Romanian converted his front-row start into a second-place finish in Race One and then repeated the result later on after dropping to third on the opening lap.
Giada Racing team-mate Hugo Bonilla retired in the pits early in Race One and his co-driver Diego Medina did likewise in the later race.
Italian GT
Felice Jelmini and Filippo Berto put Nova Race's fastest NSX GT3 Evo 22 on the podium at Imola, just as they had done at the Misano opener.
Following a strong opening stint by Jelmini in Race Two, Berto looked set for second place until a safety car at three-quarters distance bunched the field together and left him under attack late on.
Running wide at Rivazza on the penultimate lap dropped him to third, which added to the fourth spot they secured on Saturday when the race was stopped just short of its scheduled distance owing to a red flag.
Their teenage team-mates Vincenzo Scarpetta and Mattia Simonini were seventh and sixth in class.
Luca Magnoni and Massimo Ciglia repeated their results of Misano with a pair of second-place finishes in the Am class. While they could not match the winners, both ran strongly throughout and are second in the points.
Super GT
Team UPGARAGE trio Takashi Kobayashi, Syun Koide and Yusuke Mitsui experienced an up-and-down weekend at Suzuka.
Starting 14th in the GT300 class as a result of the new group-based qualifying format, the 'wasp' fell to 22nd by the first pitstop after a delay, putting its trio of drivers in fightback mode. They rallied well to climb to 13th by the finish.
