Slovakian driver Martin Ryba has announced that he will return to the TCR Europe Touring Car Series for a second campaign, remaining with the Brutal Fish Racing Team.
Ryba competed in the top European TCR series last season, at the wheel of a Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR, where he took the car to a best finish of thirteenth place in the second race at the Hungaroring.
The Brutal Fish Racing Team driver used the car over the winter to compete in the inaugural TCR Malaysia Series, where he took part in all six races against the likes of newly crowned champion Luca Engstler, WTCR race winner Rob Huff and ADAC TCR Germany Series regular Kai Jordan.
Ryba ended the season in third place overall in the Drivers Championship, whilst in the Cup class, he finished in second place.
“We were very happy with the winter programme in TCR Malaysia. It’s a well-organized series and it was useful practice for us. We have managed P3 overall and P2 in the Cup so it was also our first success in TCR,” explained Ryba.
Martin Ryba drove the Volkswagen Golf in both TCR Europe last year and TCR Malaysia this year. Credit: WSC Ltd / TCR Europe
For the new season, the Slovakian driver has switched to a 2019 Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR, which he has already had the chance to test and acclimatise to.
The Slovakian driver is very happy to be getting to grips with the Honda Civic TCR and becoming a customer of JAS Motorsport.
“It’s great to join this fantastic series again. The starting grid is looking even ‘faster’ than it was last year. I will approach it with great respect and hopefully looking for some serious results,” explained Ryba.
“Now we are happy members of the JAS family, having switched to the Honda Civic. The new car looks fantastic, we have just done some testing and it feels great. We have great expectations for the 2019 season, but as always we at Brutal Fish are looking to have fun and enjoy ourselves.”
