Kanamaru and Howson make a Honda 1-2 in Race 1

Yu Kanamaru and Matthew Howson made a 1-2 for Honda in TCR Japan’s Race 1 at Suzuka. By clinching his fourth victory of the season, Kanamaru regained the leadership in the overall standings, while the second place meant that Howson was crowned champion in the Saturday’s series.
Their main competitor, Takeshi Matsumoto did not finish after he was involved in a collision with fellow Volkswagen driver Shogo Mitsuyama three laps before the end.
At the start, pole sitter Kanamaru kept Howson at bay into Turn 1, then Shuji Maejima passed Matsumoto for P3; however during the first lap the Alfa driver lost two places to Matsumoto and Mitsuyama. At the end of lap 4 Masayuki Ueda’s Audi went off before the chicane and the safety car was deployed. When racing resumed, with five minutes to go, Kanamaru kept on leading from Howson, Matsumoto, Mitsuyama, Maejima and ‘Hirobon’. Positions didn’t change until lap 9, when the top four had a close fight that ended with the two Volkswagen Golf cars of Matsumoto and Mitsuyama making contact. They both retired, while ‘Hirobon’ benefited from the situation and overtook Maejima for P3. However the latter was able to retake the position and finished third behind Kanamau and Howson.  
Race 2 will follow in the afternoon, at 16:15 local time (08:15 CET) and will be streamed live at www.tcr-series.com and www.tcr-series.tv.

Race 1
1. Yu Kanamaru (Team Goh Models, Honda Civic FK7), 10 laps
2. Matthew Howson (KCMG, Honda Civic FK7), 1.869
3. Shuji Maejima (Go& Fun Squadra Corse, Alfa Romeo Giulietta), 2.896
4. ‘Hirobon’ (Birth Racing Project, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 4.467
5. Resshu Shioya (Team G/Motion, Honda Civic FK7), 5.470

Championship points overall
1. Kanamaru 150 pts; 2. Matsumoto 136; 3. Maejima 132

Saturday series
1. Howson 88 pts; 2. Shinohara 82; 3, Kanamaru 72