TCR / 07 May 2018

JAS Hondas in top six in TCR Europe

Honda Civic Type R TCRs secured a pair of top-six finishes as the TCR Europe Series kicked off at Paul Ricard in France.

HELL ENERGY Racing with KCMG driver Josh Files qualified fifth in his JAS Motorsport-built car and finished fourth in Saturday's opening race after resisting huge pressure throughout.

His team-mate Attila Tassi, who is suffering from the flu, retired from Race One after contact from a rival left him with a puncture. He bounced back to climb from 17th to sixth in a damp, but drying, second race and setting the fastest lap.

Files ran as high as second on Sunday, but after an early spin he gambled on switching to wet tyres as the early-race rain increased.

Unfortunately for the Briton, the race was stopped shortly afterwards and was resumed until after the rain had stopped. Files still drove well to recover from 19th to 12th by the chequered flag.
 
JAS Motorsport Official Test Drivers Files and Tassi are fifth and eighth in the Drivers’ Championship with KCMG fifth in the Teams' title race.

Jens Moller was ninth and seventh to lie ninth in the Drivers' points table while his outfit, Reno Racing, are sixth in the Teams' standings.

Cedric Piro and Viktor Davidovski took best finishes of 14th and 16th in Race One for, respectively, Autodis Racing with Piro Sports and PSS Racing Team.

Mattias Andersson netted a double-points finish as the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship kicked off at Knutstorp, Sweden.

Driving a 2017-spec Honda Civic Type R TCR, the experienced Andersson qualified 14th, but battled hard to finish the opening race in 10th place.

He started 10th in the later race, but again fought hard to finish there and lies 12th in the Championship Table for Honda Racing Sweden.
 
Mads Fischer, JAS Motorsport TCR Project Leader, said: "It's good to see our customer teams banking some solid points on a weekend when conditions weren't really conducive to challenging for the top step of the podium. Both Josh Files and Attila are thinking long-term, so getting the best result you possibly can is all-important at this stage of the season. Mattias Andersson showed once again what a hard charger he is when the odds are stacked against him and when he gets to some of the circuits that suit the Honda a bit better, I know he'll fight for some strong results, as he did last year."