Gradient Racing to Build Honda Civic Type R Touring Car

Austin-based Gradient Racing is proud to announce a new partnership with Honda Performance Development which will see the team build HPD’s recently announced Honda Type R TC model. The car is the latest addition to Honda's turn-key Civic-based customer racing portfolio and it will be immediately eligible for the 2020 SRO Touring Car Americas TC class as well as the SCCA T2 class and NASA’s ST3 & E0 categories.

“As one of the first commercial customers for our NSX GT3 Evo, we noted Gradient Racing’s high level of engineering skill and attention to detail that will carry over to building our latest ready-to-race Touring Car,” said John Whiteman, Manager, HPD Commercial Motorsports. “We know that our extensive development on the Civic Type R race car means little without a corresponding level of excellence in the production of our customer cars. In selecting Gradient Racing, we know that Honda’s legendary reputation for quality and performance will also be in each of these vehicles.”

For Gradient Racing Team Principal, Andris Laivins, the partnership represents an opportunity to form closer ties with HPD and it will allow his team to lean heavily on its years of experience building race-proven, Championship winning cars. “Sixteen years ago I got my start in the sport building Touring Cars to race against Honda in this same class, so this is a fun project. HPD did all the heavy lifting on the car development; they've had a test car running for months, and the efficient supply chain greatly simplifies the build process.” Laivins went on to outline his enthusiasm for the project. “Our team in Austin has built many cars over the last decade, but it's always a treat when you can start with pristine, bare body-shells off the assembly line, and build a car up from all new parts. The first batch of cars is humming along, and I'm excited to see the first one on the track early next year. Just like the new Honda -powered F3 open wheel car, I think this Type R racer is going to be an incredible value that hits a sweet spot in the market.”

The all-new Type R TC race car is available to Honda Racing Line members with racing credentials exclusively through HPD at a manufacturer's price of $89,900. With more power and performance capability than the Civic Si TCA, the Type R TC combines HPD-designed components with specifically selected and tested partner racing parts to create a modern track weapon worthy of the legendary Type R performance heritage.