TCR World and life

You emerged as the winner in the TCR Japan Championship’s inaugural season, clinching both the overall title for KCMG and the Saturday Series. How do you feel? “I feel great! It was the first year for me in Touring Cars and the inaugural season of TCR Japan. A nice combination! I had raced in Japan before in Formula 3 and built an excellent relationship with KCMG, so I’m really happy for everyone involved and also really pleased for TCR Japan’s promoters as they have really done an amazing job for the first year of the championship.” You’ve won championships in the past It was a very competitive season; you had a peak at the beginning and another at the end. How do you rate your performance and the level of the championship? “Our beginning was very strong and we actually won the first ever race. Then, during the season we had some ups and downs, engine problems, contacts with other cars, typical Touring car stuff. We had some strengths and some weaknesses depending on the circuits. And obviously in Japan the weather is very unpredictable, which added extra thrills to the season. But we focused on details and worked very hard on the car for Suzuka, the Honda circuit. We improved the car and studied the best set ups for wet and dry conditions because we wanted to collect maximum points. The championship was highly competitive with a number of drivers who won races. When you have a new championship on a domestic level, you can have different situations. Here the level is excellent with some very good young drivers like Kanamaru and Shinohara. They were competitive from the start and completed the field with a number of slightly older drivers who are very experienced like Mitsuyama and Matsumoto. This resulted in a lot of tough battles during the season.” KCMG is deeply involved in TCR competition. It ran cars in the 2018 TCR Europe and this year besides TCR Japan it competes in the WTCR and the Super Taikyu, in which you are one of the drivers. What are your plans for the near future? “The decision to involve me in Super Taikyu, with a front wheel drive car despite my background in single-seaters and prototypes, was good. I got to know the car well and I was amazed by its quality, driveability and performance. It meant I was busy, but I really enjoyed it. As for the future, with KCMG it’s always down to the boss, Paul Ip. I’ve raced for the team in F3, LMP2, winning Le Mans and now TCR Japan. KCMG is very ambitious with programmes all over the world. We haven’t made a decision yet, but we definitely want to maximise this success and keep on racing at this high level.” Three questions to… MatthewHowson