MOTORSPORT: Honda back for TCR battle

Honda Australia has boosted its backing as it shoots for success in the carsales TCR Australia Series with Tony D’Alberto in 2020.

The Japanese brand was one of the foundation supporters of the inaugural TCR championship and has renewed its commitment to the Civic Type R and its lead driver.

D’Alberto finished second in the championship last year to Will Brown of Hyundai with as many as three Civics battling at the front of the field, including Argentinian factory driver Nestor Girolami who scored a clean sweep at the Sandown leg of the series.

“I was the first loser last year, so there is only one way I’m planning to go. I’m out to win the title,” D’Alberto tells carsales.

“Everything was new last year, from the category to the cars and a lot of the drivers. But we learned a lot and this time we can hit the ground running.”

As many as five Civics are expected to front through the 2020 season thanks to David Wall, the team boss for the factory Honda cars who has also sold several of last year’s Type Rs.

Honda Australia is planning a major promotional push around the TCR series with a bigger spend in 2020, following Renault’s lower-level second-year commitment to the championship and Hyundai’s potential involvement after its success last year.

“We love this category. It’s good fun. We’ve happy to be involved,” Honda Australia director, Stephen Collins, tells carsales.

“It’s also relevant to the cars in our showrooms and our customers. The TCR racecar connects strongly to our high-performance Civic Type R road car.”

D’Alberto says he is also seeing a younger fan group at TCR races, as well as younger drivers.

“It’s a younger crowd, for sure. And it really does have a link to the Type R road car. It’s not just a plastic body or some badges, the TCR car starts life in the same factory as the regular Civic.”

Wall Racing is yet to confirm its other Civic drivers, but other teams are firming their driver line-ups for the coming season.

Aaron Cameron, one of the stand-out youngsters in his rookie TCR season with a Volkswagen Golf, is moving to a Peugeot 308 with Garry Rogers Motorsport.

He has renewed for TCR Australia after testing a car from the British Touring Car Championship at the end of last year, as well as making a successful return to top-level kart racing.

“This year with GRM we are hoping to be back in the top three and we’ll see where the year takes us,” says Cameron.

His GRM deal includes working on the shop floor with the race team, a traditional approach that worked for Scott McLaughlin, Michael Caruso, Garth Tander and others during their early years in motorsport.

“It will be good to show him what an honest day of work is really like,” Rogers laughs.

“The first thing we need to do is get him a nickname.”