The TCR concept successfully landed in Japan last Saturday at Twin Ring Motegi, when four TCR cars took part in the opening round of the popular Super Taikyu endurance series.
The new ST-R class – that will be finally renamed ST-TCR from the second round of the season – was included in the Group 2 (together with the ST-1, ST-2 and ST-5 classes) that took part in a 200 minute race with two mandatory pit stops.
In the early stages of the race the Team Dream Drive Audi RS3 LMS shared by Shozo Tagahara, Takuya Shirakasa and Naoto Takeda and the Motul Dome Racing Project Honda Civic Type-R of Hiroki Kato, Keiji Ishikawa and Takuya Kurosawa had a close fight for the lead. However, soon the Audi dropped down because of a fuel pump.
The fight for the lead shifted between the two Honda cars run by the Motul Dome Racing Project and the Modulo Racing Project driven by Shinichi Ito, Shinichi Ebisawa and Shinji Nakano. Eventually the former crossed the line victorious, beating the sister car by only 13 seconds after 200 minutes of racing.
Third place in the class went to the BRP Audi RS3 LMS of Koichi Okumura, Kei Akiyoshi and Daisuke Yamawaki.
The two Honda TCR cars also won the overall classification, one lap ahead of a BMW Z4 of the ST-1 class.
The second round of the Super Taikyu Series will take place at Sugo on April 28 and 29.