Starting dead last after a post-qualifying technical infraction is not the setup for a race win. Rocco Pasquarella and Tim Lewis did it anyway. The #5 KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Honda Civic Type R TCR crossed the finish line first at Watkins Glen International on June 30, capping Honda’s second consecutive victory in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge TCR competition and tightening an already tight manufacturers’ title fight.
The infraction came out of qualifying, where the KMW entry had earned what would have been a second-place grid spot. A post-session technical inspection found a violation, and the car was shuffled to the back of the grid. It is the kind of setback that can turn a competitive weekend into a damage-control exercise. Lewis, who noted it was the first time in 75 races the team had failed tech, described his crew’s response as resilient. Pasquarella called the win memorable precisely because of the circumstances. Starting from last, he said, made it pretty memorable compared to any ordinary first win.
The recovery unfolded methodically. Pasquarella worked through the field over the opening half of the race, climbing into the top three by the midpoint, then took the lead in the closing stages and held it to the checkered flag. Nine cautions and a field thinned by attrition helped create opportunities, but the KMW car had to be fast enough to exploit them, and it was.
Honda’s qualifying dominance was the clearest evidence of outright pace. Three of the four fastest qualifying laps in the TCR class came from Honda entries, with LP Montour taking pole position in the #93 MMG Honda Civic Type R TCR. That car and co-driver Karl Wittmer led the opening stages and looked like the class of the field before a fuel pressure issue ended their afternoon early. The #72 Pegram Racing Honda of Riley and Larry Pegram also retired, with suspension damage the culprit. Nearly one-fifth of the field failed to finish, and two of Honda’s most competitive entries were among the attrition.
The #89 HART Honda Civic Type R TCR salvaged what became the second-best result of the day for the brand. Tyler Chambers led the opening stint before handing off to Chad Gilsinger, who faced a fuel conservation window as the two-hour clock wound down. The pair finished fourth, their second top-four of the season after a runner-up result at Daytona.
The championship arithmetic shifted meaningfully at Watkins Glen. Honda moved to within 20 points of the TCR Manufacturers’ Championship lead with the win, maintaining pressure after back-to-back victories. The KMW entry climbed to fourth in both the Drivers’ and Team standings. The prior round at Mid-Ohio had also produced a pole for the KMW car, though a different result, so the team arrives at each weekend with legitimate pace credentials.
Next up is Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on July 11, a circuit where Honda won the TCR class in 2025. Two consecutive wins heading into a track with a recent positive history is about as good a position as the Honda camp could have drawn up.
Twenty points is close enough to smell.
Source: Honda. Images courtesy of Honda.
