TCR / 15 December 2025
600th win and title treble for Civic Type R TCR in Brazil
The Honda Civic Type R TCR scored a milestone 600th race win as the JAS Motorsport-built touring car claimed three more championship crowns to round out the 2025 racing season.
Nelson Piquet Jr and Honda YPF Racing clinched the TCR Brasil Drivers’ and Teams’ titles while Adrian Chiriano clinched the TCR South America Copa Trophy prize as both series climaxed at Interlagos, Brazil.
Piquet had to give best to newly-crowned TCR South America champion Leonel Pernia, who headed a 1-2-3 for Honda YPF Racing in a wet qualifying session, and made a slow start to drop to fifth on the opening lap of Saturday’s race.
He established a rhythm and finished fourth overall and third of the TCR Brasil-registered cars, which was enough to secure him his national title and seal the runner-up spot in the South America points.
Piquet then maturely made his way forwards on a wet track on Sunday to take his third win of the year; this time heading Leonel Pernia in a team one-two.
Pernia had finished third overall on Saturday after starting from the back following a post-qualifying engine change.
Leonel Pernia’s son, Tiago, led the opening race in dominant fashion until he suffered a race-ending puncture on the penultimate lap. After an early drive-through penalty in the wet finale he carved through the field to take fourth overall and third in TCR Brazil.
Mariano Pernia – Leonel’s brother – led Race Two convincingly until he was barged out of the lead by a rival and sustained car damage. He dropped to 10th by the finish.
Chiriano’s weekend was equally nervy. He was second in the Trophy class on Saturday and gave up the overall lead of Sunday’s race – which began behind the safety car – as racing began when he sensed an issue with his Civic and dived for the pits.
Resuming last (the ‘issue’ having been nothing to worry about) he persevered and reached the chequered flag to secure the TCR South America Trophy crown – the fourth year in a row that the title has gone to the Squadra Martino team that runs Honda YPF Racing.
Chiriano’s crown capped off a magnificent season for the Civic, which has won 13 major titles globally in 2025 to take the car’s total number to 126.
Mads Fischer, JAS Motorsport COO & TCR Project Leader, said: "Six hundred wins in 10 seasons – an average of 60 per year – is an incredible achievement for the Honda Civic Type R TCR, all three versions of which have been designed, built and supported by the team at JAS Motorsport in Arluno, Italy. TCR has been one of the most successful global formulas ever created in motor racing and continues to allow teams and drivers from a wide range of backgrounds to compete in a cost-effective way and at a level that suits them. The fact that we have customers competing in established motorsport markets like the USA, Italy, South America and Japan plus developing nations like Panama and Chinese Taipei speaks volumes about the concept. I would like to thank every member of staff at JAS that has played a role in creating the Honda Civic Type R TCR as well as our friends at Honda Racing Corporation [HRC] and to congratulate every one of our customer teams globally for the role they've played in this achievement. We will not stop here though and will strive for even bigger numbers in the years to come."
