Jack Young finishes second in the TCR China championship at Macau

Jack Young has finished in second place in the 2023 TCR China drivers’ standings in his first year in the highly-competitive touring car category, the top tier of motorsport competition in the country, following an anticlimactic curtain-closer at Macau.

Young impressed with third and fourth in the two practice sessions, despite never having driven on the 6.1km Guia street circuit before, considered one if not the most challenging tracks in the world, and was all set to fight for pole in qualifying. Despite setting the fastest time in Q1, the session was stopped four times due to incidents for other drivers, and with only six cars able to set a lap before the end of qualifying, it was aborted with practice times used to set the grid, which put Jack P5 for Race 1.

At the start, Jack’s team-mate André Couto stalled his Civic Type R right in front of him, but Jack managed to dart around the side and was on the way into the fast Reservoir bend on the way to grab third place, when the Hyundai of Zhang Zhen Dong alongside turned into him, taking him out of the race with terminal damage to his wheel. With Zhang’s Hyundai stablemate Martin Cao taking the win and also the points lead, nothing but a win from sixth on the grid would do on Sunday.

The race started OK, though Jack lost momentum coming off the throttle to avoid one of the Lynk & Cos, and dropped as many places as he’d been looking to gain at the start. Then, on lap three, Cao dived on his team-mate and the Hyundai of Yang Xiao Wei, taking both himself and Couto out of the race at Lisboa. With Couto in the barrier partly blocking the track, Jack was unable to navigate the corner and dropped to 12th. Jack was now on fire, setting the fastest lap and had recovered to ninth place by the final lap, before an incident with one of the Lynk & Cos saw him forced to retire, ending the season with his first double-DNF.

Despite this, Jack still secured second in the drivers’ championship after an intense season on Dongfeng Honda Racing Team’s return to TCR China after three years away.

Jack Young said:

“It’s racing isn’t it. I think we showed our true potential this weekend, going so fast in Race 2 in what’s such a tough and difficult track, and one that I’ve never been to before. I lost a lot of ground at the start when a Lynk & Co squeezed me on the straight, and then I was making up ground again, before we came across Andre at Turn 3. I’m getting stronger and stronger every year, and this year we were also able to really help Dongfeng Honda Racing Team push forward and fight for the championship straight away. I can’t wait to see what they can do next year, whether that’s with or without me. To finish second in the championship in my first year, I can’t really complain. It’s been an incredible season and I can’t wait to see what the future holds in 2024.”

About Jack Young
One of the most exciting new talents in touring car racing. Jack Young burst onto the scene in the 2017 Renault UK Clio Cup, where he was the Junior Champion in his first year. Jack then won the 2018 Clio Cup International Final, before going on to win the Clio Cup UK championship in 2019 with seven wins from 18 races, and also made his TCR debut late that year.

After competing in WTCR in a limited programme in 2020, he made the move to Honda machinery in 2021, joining the JAS Motorsport Driver Development Programme. After fighting for the title in 2022 in the TCR Europe series, Jack’s now graduated from the programme as a factory-supported driver for Dongfeng Honda, racing in the ultra-competitive TCR China championship for 2023

All images-  Dongfeng Honda Racing Team