Starworks, Honda Performance Development Clinch FIA World Endurance Championship in Japan

Finishing second Sunday in the P2 category at a thrilling Six Hours of Fuji in Japan, the Florida-based Starworks team clinched the 2012 P2 teams title in the FIA World Endurance Championship, the first world championship in the 19-year history of Honda Performance Development.

Starworks drivers Ryan Dalziel, Enzo Potolicchio and Stephane Sarrazin enjoyed a trouble-free run to second place in P2, ninth overall. The Honda-powered HPD-03b crossed the finish line almost a minute ahead of the third-place finishing OAK Racing Morgan Nissan, but more important, three positions ahead of the Pecom Racing Oreca 03 Nissan, the closest competitor to Starworks for the P2 title. The result clinched the championship for Starworks with one race remaining, and caps a year that also saw the team win the P2 class at the 12 Hours of Sebring, 24 Hours of Le Mans and Six Hours of Sao Paulo in its first year of world championship competition. It also is the first world championship for engine and chassis supplier HPD of Santa Clarita, California, and the first FIA world championship for an American-based organization since the 1968, when Ford won the FIA International Championship for Manufacturers.

In the P1 category, the British-based JRM team had its strongest outing of 2012, finishing fifth overall and second in the privateer category for independent teams in its HPD ARX-03a. After six hours of intense competition, the JRM trio of David Brabham, Karun Chandhok and Peter Dumbreck finished just eight seconds ahead of fellow HPD-equipped private team of Strakka Racing and drivers Jonny Kane, Nick Leventis and Danny Watts.

Making its debut with Honda power in LMP1, the French OAK Racing team of Bertrand Baguette, Dominik Kraihamer and IZOD IndyCar Series regular Takuma Sato completed 210 laps for an eighth place finish.