Howson places his Honda on pole at Autopolis

Matthew Howson drove his KCMG Honda Civic to set the first ever pole position of the new TCR Japan Championship at Autopolis International Racing Course.
In rainy morning, the Briton posted a fastest lap of 2:10.625 in the final part of the 20-minute session that had been disrupted by a red flag after five minutes in order to recover the Go&Fun Squadra Corse Alfa Romeo Giulietta of Shuji Maejima that was stranded onto the gravel trap.
Takuro Shinohara qualified second in the Hitotsuyama Motorsport Audi RS 3 LMS (2:11.050) and was followed by Yu Kanamaru in the Team Goh Honda (2:11.273) and Shogo Mitsuyama in the Green Brave Volkswagen Golf GTI (2:11.601).
The inaugural race of TCR Japan starts at 16:30 local time (09:30 CET); live streaming at www.tcr-series.tv.

Qualifying
1. 2:10.625 Matthew Howson (KCMG, Honda Civic FK7)
2. 2:11.050 Takuro Shinohara (Hitotsuyama Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS)
3. 2:11.273 Yu Kanamaru (Team Goh, Honda Civic FK7)
4. 2:11.601 Shogo Mitsuyama (Green Brave, Volkswagen Golf GTI)
5. 2:11.898 Takeshi Matsumoto (Team Wakayama, Volkswagen Golf GTI)