Honda Civic Type Rs Open 2021 Touring Car Season With Wins at Sonoma

March 8, 2021 — SONOMA, Calif.

Eric Powell makes last lap pass to win Saturday's season opener
Kevin Boehm moves into TC competition with a victory on Sunday
Honda Civic Si pilots score top-five results in both TCA opening-weekend races

The HPD Honda Civic Type Rs started the 2021 TC America Presented by Skip Barber Racing School season in grand style this weekend, sweeping Saturday and Sunday races at Sonoma Raceway.

Eric Powell and Kevin Boehm each scored their first wins of the season in the TC class, with Powell using a last-lap pass in Saturday's opener to take the victory while Boehm ran away from the field to win Sunday's event by more than seven seconds.

Powell started from the pole and paced the first half of Saturday's race, but a late-race caution forced a restart that allowed Boehm to take the lead with less than five minutes left in the race. The handling of Powell's Civic Type R came into play on the last lap however as he used a crossover move to slip inside of Boehm in Turn Two and take the victory, leaving Boehm to settle for third.

Powell was not as fortunate on Sunday as contact with Toby Grahovec resulted in a spin which gave Boehm a lead that he would never relinquish. The 2020 TCA champion, Boehm quickly expanded his lead on the restart after the spin and was never threatened in winning just his second TC class start. Powell recovered from his trouble and battled back for a fourth-place finish.

Lindsay Brewer picked a pair of top-10 results on opening weekend including a sixth-place run in Sunday's nightcap. Victor Gonzalez returned in his VGMC Racing Type R after a strong 2020 season, but had contact while battling for a podium finish on Saturday and was unable to compete on Sunday.

Five Honda Civic Si drivers competed in the TCA season openers, which ran simultaneously with the TC cars, paced by fifth-place finishes from Carter Fartuch on Saturday and Jose Blanco on Sunday.

HPD has two ready-to-race Civic models for touring car competition. The line starts with the affordable and reliable Civic Si TCA race car, then leads to the Civic Type R TC racer that puts legendary Type R performance on track, Our unparalleled trackside support at every level from HPD engineers is a unique benefit that no other manufacturer can offer. Find out more about these cars and our touring programs at: https://hpd.honda.com/Motorsports/Touring.

Honda Racing social media content and video links from this weekend's event at Sonoma Raceway are available on Instagram (www.instagram.com/hondaracing_hpd), Twitter (www.twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD).

Quote

Kevin Boehm (#9 DXDT Racing Honda Civic Type R) finished first in TC on Sunday, third on Saturday: “It's down to teamwork. When we got here, we had to make some changes to make the Civic Type R better suited to the [Sonoma] track. But we came up with a plan, and every session we kept inching our way forward. I think the result in today's race [Sunday] is a perfect example of working together as a team. That's how you get the results. The car felt amazing for the whole race today.”

Next

The Honda Civic Type R and Civic Si Touring Car teams will head to the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas for Rounds 3 & 4 on April 30 – May 2

TC America presented by Skip Barber Racing School Sonoma Saturday Race Results

1st TC - #92 Eric Powell, Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic Type R (First win of season)
3rd TC - #9 Kevin Boehm, DXDT Racing Honda Civic Type R
9th TC - #37 Mike LaMarra, LA Honda World Racing Honda Civic Type R
10th TC - #29 Lindsay Brewer, Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic Type R
NC TC - #8 Victor Gonzalez, VGMC Racing Honda Civic Type R

TCA America presented by Skip Barber Racing School Sonoma Saturday Race Results