KC Motorgroup Ltd. (KCMG) heads to Autopolis this weekend (16-19 May) for the inaugural TCR Japan Touring Car Series round, with a pair of Honda Civic Type R TCR FK8 for Matt Howson and Yukinori ‘Yuke’ Taniguchi.
Following its global success, the popular touring car category sets up camp in Japan this year for the first time, supporting the Super Formula championship, with the five-round campaign kicking off this weekend from the Kyushu-based Autopolis venue.
The Hong Kong squad had its first taste of the new series during pre-season testing at the Fuji Speedway, in which driver Howson went third fastest, confirming the strong pace of the Honda Civic Type R.
Howson heads to the undulating 3.022 km circuit with further experience of the Type R from his experience in the Japanese-based Super Taikyu endurance series with KCMG. This marks the Brit’s first Autopolis appearance, where he will contest the overall classification on board the #18 car.
The 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP2 winner is joined at KCMG by local driver Taniguchi, who makes a return to touring cars this weekend, having raced GT3 machinery in Super Taikyu and Blancpain GT Series Asia since 2017.
Yuke contested the World Touring Car Championship on-and-off from 2008 to 2014, with a best result of seventh at the 2011 Race of Japan at Suzuka. He will drive KCMG’s #72 Honda Civic in the Gentleman class for bronze competitors.
KCMG has enjoyed various success in TCR categories around the world and last year was crowned TCR Europe teams’ champions, taking four wins. In 2019, the squad has entered a Honda Civic Type R in the World Touring Car Cup, scoring a best result of sixth after three rounds.
There’s track action on Friday with free practice, before the first qualifying and race gets underway on Saturday. A second qualifying session and race will take place on Sunday.
Matt Howson: “I’m extremely excited to get the TCR Japan season started at Autopolis, a circuit I haven’t driven but always wanted to! Pre-season testing has shown the KCMG Honda Civic Type R has real pace and we expect to be contenders all year. It’s a weekend of firsts, as KCMG and I are new to touring car racing, so I’m hoping for a solid start to set us up nicely for a championship challenge.”
Yuke Taniguchi: “I am very excited to return to touring car racing in my home country. TCR Japan is a great concept and I’m sure it will be very successful. KCMG are an experienced outfit and the Honda Civic Type R is a very quick car, so I feel I’m in the right place to compete at a good level this weekend. Thank you to everyone at the team for the opportunity, I’m looking forward to getting out on track.”
Paul Ip: “We have seen how competitive the car is and how well the team works with our Super Taikyu campaign so far. We’ve shown good pace in that and I’m sure we’ll be challenging at the front end this weekend with Matt and Yuke. Autopolis is a tough circuit at high altitude, so set-up and making as few mistakes as possible will be the main focus for the drivers.”
[info]For more information about KCMG please visit www.kcmg.com.hk. To keep track of all the latest updates, please like KCMG’s Facebook page or follow on Twitter and Instagram.[/info]
[notice]Who is KCMG?
KC Motorgroup Ltd (KCMG) is an international motorsport services group established in 2007 by Paul Ip. The group, with its headquarters located in Hong Kong, has operations reaching across the Asia Pacific region. KCMG operates closely with many partner companies and racing organisations around the world to provide unrivalled motorsport services, equipment, team management and quality distribution in the automotive industry. For more information on all of the team’s activities please visit www.kcmg.com.hk or email info@kcmg.com.hk.[/notice]
