TCR World and life

25 In the third event of the season at Okayama International Circuit, Takuro Shinohara won both races in the same way (bottom). He was faster than pole sitter Takeshi Matsumoto at the start and ran away; the Audi driver set a fast pace during the first few laps and built a small margin that enabled him to control the second part of the race. ‘Hirobon’ and Ryo Shimono kept on fighting for P3 throughout the weekend (top right); in Race 1, ‘Hirobon’ passed Shimono after several attempts and she was unable to retake the position; in Race 2 Shimono pushed ‘Hirobon’ wide and finished third, but she was then dropped to P7 by a penalty for making contact with her rival. Another battle involved the Alfa Romeo cars of Junichi Umemoto and Mineki Okura (below). After chasing Umemoto for most of the first race, Okura went off and handed the fifth place to his fellow Alfa Romeo driver; in the second race Okura overtook Umemoto in the early stages and completed a solo flight to finish fifth. Round 3 – Saturday 29 August, Twin Ring Motegi 1. T. Shinohara (Hitotsuyama Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS); 2. T. Matsumoto (Team Wakayama, Volkswagen Golf GTI); 3. R. Shimono (Drago Racing, Honda Civic Type R) Round 4 – Sunday 30 August, Twin Ring Motegi 1. T. Matsumoto (Team Wakayama, Volkswagen Golf GTI); 2. T. Shinohara (Hitotsuyama Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS); 3. R. Shimono (Drago Racing, Honda Civic Type R) Round 5 – Saturday 26 September, Okayama International Circuit 1. T. Shinohara (Hitotsuyama Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS); 2. T. Matsumoto (Team Wakayama, Volkswagen Golf GTI); 3. ‘Hirobon’ (Birth Racing Project, CUPRA) Round 6 – Sunday 27 September, Okayama International Circuit 1. T. Shinohara (Hitotsuyama Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS); 2. T. Matsumoto (Team Wakayama, Volkswagen Golf GTI); 3. ‘Hirobon’ (Birth Racing Project, CUPRA)