O’Gorman, Blackstock Go Two for Two in Honda Civic Type R TCR
• Honda Civic Type R claims second MICHELIN Pilot Challenge win of 2019
• Tom O’Gorman and Shelby Blackstock follow Daytona victory with win at Sebring
• Ryan Eversley, Chad Gilsinger finish third for Honda

SEBRING, Fla. (March 15, 2019) – Following up on their season-opening win at Daytona International Speedway in January, Tom O’Gorman and Shelby Blackstock combined to again drive their Honda Civic Type R TCR to another class victory in Saturday’s Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 at Sebring International Raceway.

O’Gorman and Blackstock took control of the TCR class during the second half of the two-hour contest, with their LA Honda World Civic Type R taking the checkers seven seconds ahead of their nearest competitor, despite fuel concerns in the final laps.

Three teams brought a total of five Honda Civic Type R TCR entries to the second round of the re-branded MICHELIN Pilot Challenge (formerly the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge), with the Honda of America Racing Team rebounding from a disappointing qualifying – which saw them start ninth in class – to finish third. In another Honda World Civic Type R TCR, Colin Mullan and Max Faulkner combined to finish fifth.

The Atlanta Speedwerks effort of Brian Henderson and Todd Lamb led the Honda effort in qualifying, starting second and leading the opening four laps, but fell to eighth at the finish, one lap down to the leaders. The third Honda World entry, driven by Mat Pombo and Mike LaMarra, was eliminated in a first-lap collision after being hit from behind and spun in heavy traffic.

The Honda Civic Type R TCR made its North American racing debut in 2018, with Eversley claiming the Pirelli World Challenge TCR Drivers’ Championship for RealTime Racing. Developed by Honda partner JAS Motorsport, the Civic Type R TCR is offered as a race-ready package through HPD.

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Shelby Blackstock (#37 La Honda World Racing Honda Civic Type R TCR) TCR winner, second win of 2019: “I can’t thank Honda and Honda Performance Development enough. We’ve barely scratched the surface of this car. We ran in the top five every [practice] session, had a great start and restarts, then just concentrated on saving the car, saving fuel, before turning it over to Tom [O’Gorman] who brought it home.”