JAS Motorsport

History

JAS Motorsport was founded on 1 September 1995. The team raced four Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TIs in the 1996 International Touring Car Championship, scoring seven podiums and a victory at Silverstone with Gabriele Tarquini. In 1997 they raced two Alfa Romeos in the Super Tourenwagen Cup, with two seventh places being their best results that season.

In 1998, JAS became a partner of Honda. It began competing with Honda Accords in the Super Tourenwagen Cup, and would claim a victory in the 1998 season, before scoring four wins, 17 podiums and third place in the drivers' championship for Tom Kristensen in 1999. The team then competed with Accords in the European Super Touring Cup/Championship in 2000 and 2001, where it scored 15 wins – more than any other team – and finished runner-up in the teams' championship in 2001. JAS also helped running the BTCC Honda team in 2000, which claimed seven victories that year, including the last three wins of the championship's Super Touring era.

In 2004, JAS launched the Honda Accord Euro-R for the Super 2000 regulations. Ryan Sharp scored Honda's first World Touring Car Championship podium with the car in 2006, before James Thompson drove it to take the Japanese manufacturer's first overall WTCC win at the Race of Europe in 2008. The car later won three consecutive European Touring Car Cup titles between 2009 and 2011 with Thompson and Fabrizio Giovanardi.

For R3 rallying regulations, JAS made the Civic Type-R R3, which began competing in 2007. The car won the 2WD manufacturers' title for Honda in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge in 2011, before winning the 2WD title in the European Rally Championship in 2013 and 2014.

In 2012, Honda announced that it would join the World Touring Car Championship, with JAS running the team and developing the chassis. The team raced in the final three rounds of the 2012 season, with Tiago Monteiro scoring a podium in Macau. In their first full season in 2013, the team were crowned Manufacturers' World Champions, with the Civics scoring four victories and 20 podiums, including podium lockouts in Slovakia and China. After the introduction of the new TC1 regulations a year earlier than planned in 2014 gave a significant development advantage to rival manufacturer Citroën, the team won multiple races over the following seasons, but did not contend for the title again until 2017. The team scored the most pole positions and main race victories in 2017, but missed out on another title due to numerous incidents, including Monteiro's testing accident. Following increasing interest in the customer-focused TCR regulations, the WTCC was discontinued after the season, with Honda winning its final race.

JAS has built three variants of the Honda Civic for the customer-based TCR category: the FK2, FK7 and FL5, which were introduced in 2015, 2018 and 2023, respectively. These models have been used by customers to win over 600 races and 125 championships, helping the car to clinch the global TCR Model of the Year title in 2019, 2020 and 2024. This tally includes championship wins in the Asian, Australian, Benelux, Brazilian, British, Danish, European, German, International, Italian, Japanese, Middle Eastern, South American and Spanish TCR series, as well as in North America's SCCA World Challenge, Japan's Super Taikyu and the European Touring Car Cup. Other notable results include wins in the Nürburgring 24 Hours, the Fuji 24 Hours, the Macau Guia Race and the touring car gold medal at the FIA Motorsport Games.

JAS Motorsport developed the GT3 racing version of the second-generation NSX sports car in collaboration with Honda, and is also responsible for assembling the cars and providing customer support in Europe, Asia and South America. The NSX GT3 made its racing debut in 2017 and received an Evo upgrade in 2019, followed by an Evo22 update in 2022. The car notably won the 2019 and 2020 championships in the GTD class of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, as well as the 2019 titles in the GT300 class of the Super GT Series, among others. JAS ran the car in the Intercontinental GT Challenge in 2019 and 2020, where they achieved pole position and podium results, finished sixth overall at the 2019 Spa 24 Hours, and nearly won the 2020 drivers' title.

Car constructor

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

†Did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

• Season still in progress.--

References

References

1. "In the beginning…".
2. (2008-09-22). "WTCC: James Thompson drives Honda to first victory on world stage".
3. "Racing cars - HONDA CIVIC WTCC".
4. "Tarquini victory seals world championship title for Honda Civic".
5. (2013-10-14). "How the 2014 WTCC is shaping up so far".
6. (2015-02-17). "WTCC boss expects closer fight between the manufacturers this year".
7. Cozens, Jack. "Brake failure caused crash that hospitalised WTCC leader Monteiro".
8. "Honda secure WTCC runner-up spot with Guerrieri win".
9. (2 December 2014). "JAS Motorsport working on more cars for TC3 throughout 2015". TouringCarTimes.com.
10. (2017-07-12). "New Honda Civic Type R TCR to be launched in 2018".
11. Kilbey, Stephen. (2025-02-10). "JAS To Run European Customer Support For NSX GT3 & Civic TCR".
12. "A story of success for the Honda Civic Type R TCR".
13. (2024-12-19). "Honda Civic Type R TCR wins TCR 'Model of the Year' prize for third time".
14. "600th win and title treble for Civic Type R TCR in Brazil".
15. "HONDA TYPE R PRESS KIT".
16. "JAS Honda wins TCR International crown".
17. fabior. (2019-12-18). "Honda Civic Type R named 2019 TCR Model of the Year".
18. "Honda launches global NSX GT3 customer racing programme".
19. (2021-08-07). "Updated Acura NSX GT3 unveiled".
20. (2020-11-21). "MSR Closes Out Four-Year Run With Acura NSX GT3".
21. "ARTA win Super GT titles with NSX GT3 Evo".
22. Lloyd, Daniel. "Mariani: Two-Year JAS/Honda Factory Effort "Reached" Targets – Sportscar365".
23. Lloyd, Daniel. "Honda "Incredibly Unlucky" to Miss Out on Kyalami Victory – Sportscar365".
24. "無限 MUGEN {{!}} Honda {{!}} NSX GT3".
25. "Tandds {{!}} SUPER GT OFFICIAL WEBSITE".