Touring car racing Civics have been used for racing ever since their introduction. Civics contested in the Up to 1300 cc class in the
Bathurst 1000 touring car race at
Bathurst in Australia each year from 1973 to 1976, with a best placing of second in class in both 1974 and 1976. In recent years the Civic has been used in a wide variety of racing series, particularly in Japan. It is also used in touring car races in Europe and the United States. The Civic has been used in the UK in endurance series by teams such as Barwell Motorsport and Cartek Motorsport. In 2002, JAS Motorsport entered the
European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) with a
Super 2000 spec Civic and was used until restart season of the
World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in
2005. In December 2005, on the date of the new 2006 Civic Si's launch in the United States, Honda's R&D Engineering Team completed 645 laps in an eighth generation Civic Si coupe (FG2) to place first in the E1 class of the famous '25 Hours of
Thunderhill' marathon race. The drivers on Honda's team were Road & Track journalist Kim Wolfkill, Lee Niffenegger, Chad Gilsinger, Sage Marie, John Sherk, Rich Hays, Andrew Frame, Matt Staal and
Car and Driver journalist Tony Swan. Starting in 2006, a Civic won its class in the
European Touring Car Cup for six out of seven consecutive years. In Argentina, a Civic won the 2008 and
2009 TC 2000 Championship.
BTCC 's
Eighth-generation Civic NGTC at
Brands Hatch in the
2011 BTCC season In the UK, the Civic has been used in the
British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) for several years and is still highly competitive. The Civic Type R made its debut in the
2002 season with the 'Works' team run by
Arena Motorsport. Built to
BTC-T specifications, it gained the team third in the manufacturers championship. In the same year Synchro Motorsport won the BTCC Production Teams Championship with a pair of Civic Type Rs. The
2003 season saw the 'works' team Civics secure an impressive second in the manufacturers championship. The 2003 BTCC Production Teams Championship also went to the Civic again, this time in the hands of Barwell Motorsport. Such was the competitiveness of the Civic in its first two-season,
2004 saw five teams enter Civics, allowing the model to secure second in the manufacturers championship. Although manufacturer support from Honda for the BTCC ended in 2005, several teams still found success running the Civic in
2005 and
2006. in 2017 For the
2007 BTCC season,
Team Halfords ran the new
eighth-generation Honda Civics, built to the latest
S2000 regulations, for
Matt Neal and
Gordon Shedden with limited success and continued to use the Civic into the
2008 and
2009 season. In both 2007 and 2008, the Civic allowed the team to finish 3rd in the Teams championship, behind the two manufacturer backed teams. In 2010, Honda returned to the BTCC as a 'works' team with
Team Dynamics using Civics to win the
2010 manufacturers championship. In
2011, the team returns with its Civic to defend its Team and Manufacturers championship again with the
Neal and
Shedden pairing.
Honda Racing Team swapped to the brand new
ninth generation Honda Civic, built fully to
NGTC rules, for the
2012 BTCC season. They are the first manufacturer backed team to announce their intention to run fully to the NGTC specification. The drivers continue to be Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden, who are the 2011 and 2012 BTCC driver champions respectively.
Andrew Jordan, driving for his family-run
Eurotech Racing team, won the BTCC title in
2013 in their NGTC Civic, whilst Honda retained the manufacturer's championship. However, in
2014, Honda were unable to retain their title, which was won instead by
MG.
WTCC won the
2013 World Touring Car Championship in their first full season. In 2012, Honda announced plans to enter the
World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) with a racer built on the ninth-generation Euro Civic five-door hatchback. The car was powered by a 1.6-litre turbocharged HR412E engine, developed by Honda R&D, with the chassis developed by
JAS Motorsport. The car raced in the last three rounds of the 2012 season in Japan, China and Macau before its first full season in 2013. In their first full season in the series, Honda won the
2013 Manufacturers' World Championship six races before the end of the season, claiming four wins and 20 podium finishes during the year. After the introduction of the new TC1 regulations in 2014, the Civics took numerous race victories and podiums, but were not championship contenders again until
2017. The 2017 season saw the Civic achieve the most pole positions and main race victories, but the team missed out on title success partly because their championship-leading driver
Tiago Monteiro was forced to miss the final rounds due to a testing crash caused by a brake failure, while other incidents also hampered their results that season.
TCR title in 2019, 2020 and 2024. Honda partner
JAS Motorsport has built three variants of the Honda Civic for the customer-based
TCR category: the FK2, FK7 and FL5, which were introduced in 2015, 2018 and 2023, respectively. These models have been used by customers to win over 600 races and 125 championships, helping the car to clinch the global
TCR Model of the Year title in 2019, 2020 and 2024. This tally includes championship wins in the
Asian,
Australian,
Benelux,
Brazilian,
British,
Danish,
European,
German,
International,
Italian,
Japanese,
Middle Eastern,
South American and
Spanish TCR series, as well as in North America's
SCCA World Challenge, Japan's
Super Taikyu and the
European Touring Car Cup. Other notable results include wins in the
Nürburgring 24 Hours, the
Fuji 24 Hours, the
Macau Guia Race and the touring car gold medal at the
FIA Motorsport Games.
Others The car has also been used in the
Japanese Touring Car Championship and won the 2011
Asian Touring Car Series. A Civic was used by
Lawson Aschenbach to win the 2010
Michelin Pilot Challenge and the
2011 Pirelli World Challenge. It also competed in both the Touring and Super-production classes of the
Russian Touring Car Championship.
Tomas Engström entered a Civic into the
2012 Scandinavian Touring Car Championship, winning three rounds.
Roberto Colciago won the
2016 Italian Touring Car Championship.
M1RA won the teams championship in the
2017 TCR International Series.
Josh Files won the
2017 ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship and
2017 TCR Middle East Series. Starting with the
2020 TCR Denmark Touring Car Series, Kasper Jensen won the drivers championship for five consecutive years. A Civic won both the drivers and teams championship in the
2021 and
2023 TCR South America Touring Car Championship.
Tony D'Alberto won the
2022 TCR Australia Touring Car Series.
Team Kunimitsu finished in second place in the
2024 Super GT Series. It has also been used in rallying under
Group R3 regulations, with Zoltan Bessenyey winning the category in the
2014 European Rally Championship. Civics also won a handful of minor categories in both the
Australian Rally Championship and the
New Zealand Rally Championship. A Civic Coupe was used in the
2019 FIA World Rallycross Championship, and the
2016 Global RallyCross Championship. A Civic won Division 2 of the
FIA European Rallycross Championship in 2007 and 2008. The Civic holds the lap record for a front-wheel-drive car at the
Nürburgring. == Sales ==