The Honda Civic Type R TCR has secured its first title of 2021 – more than five months before Honda Racing-supported Néstor Girolami, Esteban Guerrieri, Tiago Monteiro and Attila Tassi begin their individual bids for the WTCR crown.

Earlier this week, Floral Racing with Uematsu was declared the Super Taikyu ST-TCR champion after winning two of the five Japanese endurance series’ races in 2020.

It topped the class points ahead of the planned final round with drivers Tadao Uematsu, Shintaro Kawabata and Yuji Ide.

That final event was due to have been held at Suzuka last weekend, but was postponed earlier in the month due to the growing severity of the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.

After series officials announced this week that it will not be possible to reschedule the event, they have confirmed the Uematsu team as the ST-TCR champion.

It is the third class title for the JAS Motorsport-built Civic Type R TCR in four seasons of Super Taikyu competition and the 38th in total for the car. As well as the success enjoyed by Uematsu, the Dome team took a further win to finish fourth in the points despite skipping a round.

Mads Fischer, the TCR Project Leader at JAS Motorsport, the organisation behind the Honda Civic Type R TCR racer, hopes the success in Super Taikyu will be emulated in the WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup.

“To start a new year off with another title – the 38th for the Honda Civic Type R TCR built by JAS Motorsport – is obviously great news,” said Fischer. “Although the circumstances with the pandemic are not what anybody would wish upon our friends in Japan, the Floral Racing with Uematsu team thoroughly deserve their title and have delivered a third Super Taikyu ST-TCR title in four years for the Honda Civic Type R TCR.

“Super Taikyu is a true endurance series and the car that blends strong speed with bulletproof reliability is the car that will succeed, so it’s great to prove the strength of the Civic and the first-class customer service provided by our Japanese partner Dome Racing Team.

“It has already been announced that four Honda Racing drivers will race in WTCR this year and I hope that each one of them can use this success to drive them on to add the world title in 2021.”

Photo: Super Taikyu

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