JAS Motorsport
 | |
| Founded | 1995 |
|---|---|
| Base | Milan, Lombardy, Italy |
| Team principal(s) | Maurizio Ambrogetti Alessandro Mariani |
| Current series | WTCR TCR GT3 |
| Former series | DTM STW Euro STC BTCC IRC ERC ETCC WTCC TCR Int. Ser. IGTC |
| Website | jasmotorsport |
JAS Motorsport is an Italian motor racing team and an engineering and manufacturing company. It was founded in 1995 by Paolo Jasson, Maurizio Ambrogetti and Giorgio Schon. The company initially competed with Alfa Romeo in 1996 and 1997. Since 1998, they have been an official partner of Honda, and have developed, built and raced cars in various different disciplines for the Japanese manufacturer, as well as provided customer racing services.
History[edit]
JAS Motorsport was founded on 1 September 1995.[1] 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.[2] 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.[3] 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.[4] After the introduction of the new TC1 regulations a year earlier than planned in 2014 gave a significant development advantage to Citroën,[5][6] the team won multiple races, but didn't 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.[7] In 2018, the series became the World Touring Car Cup and switched to TCR regulations, with JAS giving technical support to the Honda teams.[8] The Civic Type R TCR scored 12 wins across the 2018 and 2019 seasons, with its performances in 2019 helping it to win the TCR Model of the Year award.[9]
In 2014, JAS Motorsport announced that it will build a Honda Civic touring car based on TCR regulations. The car became available to customers in 2015,[10] and subsequently won multiple titles, including the 2017 TCR International Series teams' championship.[11] In 2017, JAS announced that it will produce a new TCR car based on the tenth generation Civic, which would be available to customers in 2018.[12] The tenth generation-based model won the TCR Model of the Year award in 2019 after claiming numerous wins and titles.[9]
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.[13] The NSX GT3 made its racing debut in 2017 and received an Evo upgrade in 2019, followed by an Evo22 update in 2022.[14] 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.[15][16] JAS itself raced 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.[17][18]
Car constructor[edit]
| Year | Model | Picture | Engine | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Honda Civic Type-R | 
|
Super 2000 | |
| 2003 | Honda Accord Euro-R | 
|
Honda K20A4 2.0L I4 | Super 2000 |
| 2007 | Honda Civic Type-R FN2 R3 | 
|
FIA Group R | |
| 2012 | Honda Civic WTCC (S2000) | 
|
Super 2000 | |
| 2013 | Honda Civic CTCC FC1 | CTCC | ||
| 2014 | Honda Civic WTCC (TC1) | 
|
Honda HR412E 1.6L I4 | TC1 |
| 2015 | Honda Civic TCR (FK2) | 
|
Honda K20C1 i-VTEC DOHC Turbo I4 | TCR |
| 2016 | 
|
Honda K20C1 i-VTEC DOHC Turbo I4 | TCR | |
| 2016 | Honda Civic TCS | TCS | ||
| 2017 | Acura NSX GT3 | 
|
Honda JNC twin-turbocharged 3.5L V6 | Group GT3 |
| 2018 | Honda Civic TCR (FK8) | 
|
Honda K20C1 i-VTEC DOHC Turbo I4 | TCR |
Complete World Touring Car Championship results[edit]
(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.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "In the beginning…". JAS Motorsport. Retrieved 2020-05-11.
- ^ "WTCC: James Thompson drives Honda to first victory on world stage". the Guardian. 2008-09-22. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
- ^ "Racing cars - HONDA CIVIC WTCC". JAS Motorsport. Retrieved 2020-05-12.
- ^ "Tarquini victory seals world championship title for Honda Civic". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2020-05-12.
- ^ "How the 2014 WTCC is shaping up so far". TouringCarTimes. 2013-10-14. Retrieved 2020-05-12.
- ^ "WTCC boss expects closer fight between the manufacturers this year". TouringCarTimes. 2015-02-17. Retrieved 2020-05-12.
- ^ Cozens, Jack. "Brake failure caused crash that hospitalised WTCC leader Monteiro". Autosport.com. Retrieved 2020-05-12.
- ^ "JAS Hondas to contest FIA World Touring Car Cup". JAS Motorsport. Retrieved 2020-05-15.
- ^ a b fabior (2019-12-18). "Honda Civic Type R named 2019 TCR Model of the Year". TCR HUB. Retrieved 2020-05-15.
- ^ "JAS Motorsport working on more cars for TC3 throughout 2015". TouringCarTimes.com. 2 December 2014.
- ^ "JAS Honda wins TCR International crown". JAS Motorsport. Retrieved 2020-05-15.
- ^ "New Honda Civic Type R TCR to be launched in 2018". TouringCarTimes. 2017-07-12. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
- ^ "Honda launches global NSX GT3 customer racing programme". hondanews.eu. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
- ^ "Updated Acura NSX GT3 unveiled". Motorsport Week. 2021-08-07. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
- ^ Release, News. "MSR Closes Out Four-Year Run With Acura NSX GT3 – Sportscar365". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
{{cite web}}:|first=has generic name (help) - ^ "ARTA win Super GT titles with NSX GT3 Evo". JAS Motorsport. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
- ^ Lloyd, Daniel. "Mariani: Two-Year JAS/Honda Factory Effort "Reached" Targets – Sportscar365". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
- ^ Lloyd, Daniel. "Honda "Incredibly Unlucky" to Miss Out on Kyalami Victory – Sportscar365". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
External links[edit]
- Auto racing teams in Italy
- Auto racing teams established in 1995
- 1995 establishments in Italy
- Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters teams
- World Touring Car Championship teams
- Italian racecar constructors
- International GT Open teams
- Blancpain Endurance Series teams
- Honda in motorsport
- British Touring Car Championship teams