Wall Racing confirms three-car TCR squad

Wall Racing will field three Honda Civic Type Rs in the 2020 TCR Australia Series as well as the Asia Pacific Cup.

The squad earlier this week announced Tony D’Alberto would remain with the team for the coming campaign, and has now confirmed the identity of its two others drivers.

They include John Martin, who raced with the team in 2019, and Hong Kong based racer Paul Ip.

Martin is an experienced and accomplished racer, having represented Australian in the A1GP open wheel competition.

He’s also had outings in prototype machinery at Le Mans, and raced in the Australian GT Championship and S5000.

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“It’s great to be back with Wall Racing and in the Honda for this season,” said Martin.

”We had some success last year, and some bad luck, and if we can eliminate the bad stuff, then we should be in a good position.

“If you look at our speed last year, we realistically should be in the top five and challenging for the title. The team wants that and the cars are fast and very capable of that. If we minimise some of the mistakes and misfortune, then there’s no reason why we won’t be contending.

“There’s a big field of drivers this year. Some well known names and young guys, so I can certainly see the series being even bigger than last year.”

Ip meanwhile is an well known figure in Asian motorsport, where he owns the Nissan KCMG squad, which recently campaigned at the Bathurst 12 Hour.

He’s also an experienced competitor in his own right, including open wheelers, sports cars and the TCR Asia Series.

“It’s great to have our three drivers for the season locked in and ready to go,” said team owner David Wall.

“We felt we had a successful first season. We started with two cars, we now have three in the team full-time and we also supply parts and support from the two private Honda teams (Zac Soutar and Michael Clemente).

“It is obviously our aim to win the title this year. We finished second in 2019, and the competition is stepping up, but it’s great that two of our drivers have been retained. We know both Tony and John are capable of getting the job done.

“I’ve been watching Paul’s racing over the past few seasons, and he does lots of miles in Asia and has been around motorsport for a long time. He did a good job in TCR Asia, and did the Sepang WTCR round last year. He is a welcome addition to the team and will be a good shot within the Pro-Am ranks.

“With JAS, it’s great to have their ongoing support. At certain events, they’ll bring technicians out to Australia, like they did last year, which is an invaluable asset. We are very pleased to have them in our fold.”

The 2020 TCR Australia Series itself begins at Sydney Motorsport Park in late March, after the Asia Pacific Cup in Albert Park on March 12-15.