TCR / 09 June 2025

Two poles and two class wins for Civic Type R TCR

Two pole positions and a double TCR Europe class win were the highlights of another successful weekend for the JAS Motorsport-built Honda Civic Type R TCR in global touring car action.

 

TCR Europe

Marco Butti scored his first overall series pole position at Hockenheim and converted it into a second-place finish - and a Youth Trophy victory - in Saturday's opening race.

From 10th on Sunday's partially-reversed Race Two grid he climbed to second spot within sight of the finish, but went off-track on the final lap after a deluge of rain had flooded the circuit and dropped to 13th.

His misfortune was Mikael Karlsson's gain as the debutant took his ALM Motorsport Civic to a double victory in the series' Diamond Trophy. His team-mate, Ruben Volt, was third and fourth in the Youth class.

Victor Fernandez heads the Diamond Trophy points after the Auto Club RC2 Valles driver took a pair of class podiums. His brother, Felipe, was eighth in Race One and briefly led on Sunday, but was one of many slick-shod runners to crash as the rain was at its heaviest.

Their team-mate, Santi Concepcion Jr, retired on Saturday but was second in the Youth class in Race Two.

 

IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge

Karl Wittmer put Montreal Motorsport Group on TCR pole at Mid-Ohio and led the early stages of the double-length, four-hour race, but had to drive off-track to avoid an incident with a slowing GT4 car; necessitating an unplanned pitstop.

Emerging at the tail of the lead lap, Dai Yoshihara, Louis Philippe Montour and Wittmer gradually clawed their way back into contention and climbed from 14th place to third, just a handful of seconds away from victory.

HART's Tyler Chambers spun off at the end of the first hour and rejoined before a mechanical issue ended his day and that of Chad Gilsinger - who qualified fifth - and Cameron Lawrence, who broke the TCR lap record later on.

Damage - a legacy of another car rear-ending it - kept the KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Civic of William Tally and Tim Lewis Jr 'behind the wall' for more than 20 laps. They were running at the finish and classified 12th.

 

TCR Panama

AP Racing's Sebastian Ng and Ivan Salerno endured a challenging weekend at Autodromo Panama.

Ng qualified seventh and converted that to sixth and seventh-place finishes while Salerno was a non-starter in both races following an issue on Saturday.