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 Schön. 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

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 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 JNC1 twin-turbocharged 3.5L V6 Group GT3 2018 Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK7) Honda K20C1 i-VTEC DOHC Turbo I4 TCR2023Honda Civic Type R TCR (FL5)Honda K20C1 i-VTEC DOHC Turbo I4TCR

Complete World Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant No. Driver Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Pos Points 2012 Honda Racing Team JAS 18 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic S2000 TC ITA1 ITA2 ESP1 ESP2 MAR1 MAR2 SVK1 SVK2 HUN1 HUN2 AUT1 AUT2 POR1 POR2 BRA1 BRA2 USA1 USA2 JPN1 JPN2 CHN1 CHN2 MAC1 MAC2 colspan=2 2013 Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team 3 Gabriele Tarquini Honda Civic WTCC ITA1 ITA2 MAR1 MAR2 SVK1 SVK2 HUN1 HUN2 AUT1 AUT2 RUS1 RUS2 POR1 POR2 ARG1 ARG2 USA1 USA2 JPN127† JPN2 CHN1 CHN2 MAC1 MAC21st 1017 18 Tiago Monteiro ITA1 ITA2 MAR1 MAR2 SVK1 SVK2 HUN1 HUN2 AUT1 AUT2 RUS1 RUS2 POR1 POR2 ARG1 ARG2 USA1 USA2 JPN1 JPN2 CHN1 CHN2 MAC1 MAC2 Zengő Motorsport 5 Norbert Michelisz ITA1 ITA2 MAR1 MAR2 SVK1 SVK2 HUN1 HUN2 AUT1 AUT2 RUS1 RUS2 POR1 POR2 ARG1 ARG2 USA1 USA2 JPN1 JPN2 CHN1 CHN2 MAC1 MAC22014 Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team 2 Gabriele TarquiniHonda Civic WTCCMAR1MAR2FRA1FRA2HUN1HUN2SVK1SVK2AUT1AUT2RUS1RUS2BEL1BEL2ARG1ARG2BEI1BEI2CHN1CHN2JPN1JPN2MAC1MAC22nd710 18 Tiago Monteiro MAR1 MAR210† FRA1 FRA2 HUN1 HUN2 SVK1 SVK2 AUT1 AUT2 RUS1 RUS2 BEL1 BEL2 ARG1 ARG2 BEI1 BEI2 CHN1 CHN2 JPN1 JPN2 MAC1 MAC2 Zengő Motorsport 5 Norbert Michelisz MAR1 MAR2 FRA1 FRA2 HUN1 HUN2 SVK1 SVK2 AUT1 AUT2 RUS1 RUS2 BEL1 BEL2 ARG1 ARG2 BEI1 BEI2 CHN1 CHN2 JPN1 JPN2 MAC1 MAC2 Proteam Racing 25 Mehdi Bennani MAR1 MAR2 FRA1 FRA2 HUN1 HUN2 SVK1 SVK2 AUT1 AUT2 RUS1 RUS2 BEL1 BEL2 ARG1 ARG2 BEI1 BEI2 CHN1 CHN2 JPN1 JPN2 MAC1 MAC22015 Honda Racing Team JAS 2 Gabriele TarquiniHonda Civic WTCCARG1ARG2MAR1MAR2HUN1HUN2GER1GER2RUS1RUS2SVK1SVK2FRA1FRA2POR1POR2JPN1JPN2CHN1CHN2THA1THA2QAT1QAT22nd721 18 Tiago Monteiro ARG1 ARG2 MAR1 MAR2 HUN1 HUN2 GER1 GER2 RUS1 RUS2 SVK1 SVK2 FRA1 FRA2 POR1 POR2 JPN1 JPN2 CHN1 CHN2 THA1 THA2 QAT1 QAT2 Zengő Motorsport 5 Norbert Michelisz ARG1 ARG2 MAR1 MAR2 HUN1 HUN2 GER1 GER2 RUS1 RUS2 SVK1 SVK2 FRA1 FRA2 POR1 POR2 JPN1 JPN214† CHN1 CHN2 THA1 THA2 QAT1 QAT2 2016 Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team 12 Robert Huff Honda Civic WTCC FRA1 FRA2 SVK1 SVK2 HUN1 HUN2 MAR1 MAR2 GER1 GER2 RUS1 RUS2 POR1 POR2 ARG1 ARG2 JPN1 JPN2 CHN1 CHN2 QAT1 QAT22nd 675 18 Tiago Monteiro FRA1 FRA2 SVK1 SVK2 HUN1 HUN2 MAR1 MAR2 GER1 GER2 RUS1 RUS2 POR1 POR2 ARG1 ARG2 JPN1 JPN2 CHN1 CHN2 QAT1 QAT2 Honda Racing Team JAS 5 Norbert Michelisz FRA1 FRA2 SVK1 SVK2 HUN1 HUN2 MAR1 MAR2 GER1 GER2 RUS1 RUS2 POR1 POR2 ARG1 ARG2 JPN1 JPN2 CHN1 CHN2 QAT1 QAT22017Honda Racing Team JAS 2 Gabriele TarquiniHonda Civic WTCC MAR1 MAR2 ITA1 ITA2 HUN1 HUN2 GER1 GER2 POR1 POR2 ARG1 ARG2 CHN1 CHN2 JPN1 JPN2 MAC1 MAC2 QAT1 QAT22nd880 5 Norbert Michelisz MAR1 MAR2 ITA1 ITA2 HUN1 HUN2 GER1 GER2 POR1 POR2 ARG1 ARG2 CHN1 CHN2 JPN1 JPN2 MAC1 MAC2 QAT1 QAT2 18 Tiago Monteiro MAR1 MAR2 ITA1 ITA2 HUN1 HUN2 GER1 GER2 POR1 POR2 ARG1 ARG2 CHN1 CHN2 JPN1 JPN2 MAC1 MAC2 QAT1 QAT2 34 Ryo Michigami MAR1Ret MAR210 ITA1Ret ITA2Ret HUN111 HUN213 GER111 GER2Ret POR1Ret POR213 ARG110 ARG211 CHN1DSQ CHN2DSQ JPN110 JPN2Ret MAC13 MAC215 QAT114 QAT210 86 Esteban Guerrieri MAR1 MAR2 ITA1 ITA2 HUN1 HUN2 GER1 GER2 POR1 POR2 ARG1 ARG2 CHN1 CHN2 JPN1 JPN2 MAC1 MAC2 QAT1 QAT2 †Did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

See also Honda in motorsport

References

External links