Stéphane Kox tests Honda Civic in Italy, targets TCR drive for 2016

The daughter of former British Touring Car Championship factory Honda driver Peter Kox, Stéphane, tested the JAS Motorsport Honda Civic TCR at the Circuito Tazio Nuvolari near the team’s base in Milan this week, and the 2015 BMW Racing Cup Belgium champion has her sights set on a drive in a TCR championship this year.

The car, running in the same Castrol livery as the World Touring Car Championship challenger, was tested by Kox with JAS Motorsport keen to make use of her experience in the rival SEAT León Cup Racer, which she raced in the SEAT Eurocup in 2014.

“It was very special for me as my father has been a factory driver for Honda and now I could do this test for JAS,” said Kox to TouringCarTimes.

“Of course the team is most professional and they really impressed me. I was also impressed by the car.

“It was the completely different for me after I drove the BMW last year. The Civic TCR is of course a front-wheel drive car, with quite some power, no ABS, no traction etc. a real race car, and a pleasure to drive each lap.”

The 22-year-old Dutchwoman is hoping to drive in one of the numerous TCR series this year, targeting either the top tier International Series which enters its second season, or one of the new Western European championships.

“To drive TCR is my absolute goal in motorsport,” she added. “For sure I would really want to do TCR international, but also the TCR national series such as the German TCR or TCR BeNeLux are really championships I would like to enter.”

JAS Motorsport are continuing their development of the Step2 and endurance specification Honda Civics, based on the newly released Type R, as they target a potential build of 35 cars for the start of the 2016 season.

“We are very happy with the feedback from (Stéphane),” said JAS Motorsport business development manager Mads Fischer to TouringCarTimes. “She did a perfect job with us during the test so we will for sure see more to her in the future, and we hope to see her running in a Honda TCR somewhere this year.”

Following Kox’s programme in the car, China Touring Car Championship driver Martin Xie has now taken over the wheel, and the team is aiming to put on a general test in early March.

“We had quite a lot of request from people asking for a test drive in our car therefore we are planning do make a two day event where potential customers can come and try the car,” added Fischer.