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MUNDIAL - WTCR COM MAIS NOVIDADES

Quarta, 11 Abril 2018 16:54 | Actualizado em Segunda, 15 Abril 2024 12:26

WTCR @ Marrakech
Tarquini and Hyundai dominated the opening event

The maiden season of WTCR, the new FIA World Touring Car Cup, kicked off at Marrakech where Gabriele Tarquini and the Hyundai i30 N TCR proved to be the best pair of the pack.
The 56-year old Italian claimed two victories out of the three races and walked away from Morocco as the first leader in the standings, with 62 points, 11 ahead his Hyundai fellow driver Thed Björk and 21 more than Race 2 winner Jean-Karl Vernay.
Tarquini won the first race thanks to a great start that propelled him in front of his Hyundai colleague Björk who was sitting on pole. “After that it was just a matter of avoiding mistakes,” he summarized.
Starting Race 2 from ninth on the reverse grid, he was caught in the fights for the positions and eventually retired. “After a clash with another car, something broke in the suspension. So I decided to stop and give the team enough time to repair the car for Race 3.”
In fact, Race 3 was a kind of replay of Race 1. Tarquini sprinted from pole and kept Björk at bay until the penultimate lap, when the Swede made a mistake and handed second position to Yvan Muller for a Hyundai 1-2-3 finish.
On a track where overtaking is nearly impossible and incidents are frequent, the three races were mostly processional and often disrupted. However many of the competitors delivered entertaining battles. Among those who shone were the 2017 TCR International Series champion Vernay, who claimed a lights-to-flag victory in Race 2 with his Audi RS3 LMS; Yann Erlacher, who was chasing the leaders in both Sunday’s races and eventually finished twice fourth in his Honda Civic FK7; local hero Mehdi Bennani, who was the runner up to Vernay in Race 2 at the wheel of his Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR.
If the Hyundai emerged as the car to beat, it was clear that the BoP has succeeded in equalling the cars’ performance, as was shown by the Practice and Qualifying sessions in which twenty drivers were covered by the same second. For the time being, only the Alfa Romeo Giulietta appears to be struggling to stay on the pace, while the Peugeot 308 stands just half a step behind the Hyundai, Honda, Audi, CUPRA and Volkswagen cars.
The championship will resume at the Hungaroring on April 28/29.

Photos: WTCR/DPPI

TCR Germany
The new season starts at Oschersleben

The third season of the ADAC TCR Germany begins this weekend at Oschersleben’s Motorsport Arena. After a successful debut in 2016 that led to a real ‘boom’ in 2017, the German championship has found stability.
The shrink in number of competitors, from nearly 40 in 2017 to the current 30, must be seen as a positive development. In fact, last year the crowding on the track resulted in many incidents and safety car interventions, to the detriment of the show. The 2018 entry list appears more balanced and includes all the top runners, with the exception of the reigning champion Josh Files who has stepped up to the TCR Europe after having won two consecutive German titles.
Seven brands of manufacturers are represented. No fewer than eight drivers have elected to drive the Volkswagen Golf GTI; the contingent is led by the Liqui Moly Team Engstler duo of Luca Engstler and Florian Thoma, and by Benjamin Leuchter who drives for the debutant Max Kruse Racing. The Dutchman Niels Langeveld (Racing One) is the fastest of the Audi drivers, while Austria’s Harald Proczyk looks like a serious contender in the HP Racing Opel Astra. Honda has lost Files, but may count on last year’s vice-champion Mike Halder. The Cupra cars are all in the hands of young rookies, while there is expectation for the maiden appearance of the French cars in the series: the Peugeot 308 of Lukas Niedertscheider and the Renault Mégane, two of which are entrusted to a couple of fast racers: Alex Morgan and Steve Kirsch.

TCR Russia
The field grows up to twenty cars

One of the first championships to embrace the TCR concept, back in 2015, TCR Russia is now harvesting the fruits of the promoter’s far-sightedness. In fact, a field of 20 cars is expected for the 2018 season that kicks off this weekend at Fort Grozny.
This success pushed SMP, the promoter of the Russian Circuit Racing Series, to reserve the Touring class for TCR cars.
SMP’s CEO, Oleg Petrikov commented: "As soon as we have started collecting the entries we received a lot of applications. The TCR Russia series has not stopped growing since we launched the category four years ago. This season will offer one of the best field in Russian motorsport in terms of both, quantity and quality.”
Some familiar faces have already confirmed their participations: the 2016 and 2017 champion Dmitry Bragin (TAIF Motorsport Audi RS3 LMS), the 2015 champion Aleksey Dudukalo (LUKOIL Racing Audi RS3 LMS) and the trio of LADA Sport Rosneft formed by Vladimir Sheshenin (2017 vice champion), Kirill Ladygin and Mikhail Grachev.
After competing last year with two LADA Vesta TCR cars driven by Ladygin and Sheshenin, the Russian manufacturer has entered a third Vesta for Grachev a former race winner in the TCR International Series. The Vesta TCR was allowed to race in 2017 with a temporary homologation form, but has just successfully completed the TCR homologation procedure.
LADA Sport Managing Director, Vladislav Nezvankin added: "This is our second season in the TCR Russia after our comeback to national motorsport. During the off-season, we have worked to improve; we have retained Ladygin and Sheshenin who formed the backbone of the team and have added Grachev who has international experience. In 2018 we have the task to consolidate the results of last year and to aim for winning races and the title.”
The field will be completed by other drivers in Audi, SEAT León and Volkswagen Golf GTI cars.

TCR Europe
Borković joins Target Competition

In his first TCR Europe season Dušan Borković will drive a Hyundai i30 N TCR car for Target Competition. The Serbian joins Kris Richard from Switzerland and Reece Barr from Northern Ireland.
“This is a team that knows how to win. They are experienced and very competitive. I believe that the combination between the team and the Hyundai i30 N TCR will offer me the opportunity to satisfy my ambition. For the time being I am completely happy with the car’s performances. I can’t wait for the championship to start,” Borkovic said.
The Serbian driver won two rounds of the 2017 TCR International Series and maybe considered one of the pretenders to the European crown: "We will use the time left before the start of the championship for testing and preparation, but we are ready and fully motivated."

24H Nürburgring
Two Hyundai cars in the Qualifying Race

Following a successful outing at the season opening VLN race last month the Hyundai N team will return to the Nürburgring Nordschleife this weekend with a pair of i30 N TCR cars for the Nürburgring 24 Hours Qualifying Race. Then, on May 10/13 the team will take part in the ADAC Nürburgring 24 Hours.
An experienced line-up of eight drivers will be split between the two cars for this weekend’s six-hour Qualifying Race and the 24 Hours. Jae-Kyun Kim, Nicola Larini and Manuel Lauck who had taken part in the VLN round will be joined Nordschleife experts Andreas Gülden and Peter Terting. The line-up is completed by TCR Germany race winner Moritz Oestreich, Byung Hui Kang, a Korean journalist who will be racing a i30 N TCR in this year’s inaugural TCR Korea season, and Guido Naumann who has been part of Hyundai Deutschland’s line-up for the Nürburgring 24 Hours three times.

TCR Scandinavia
WestCoast Racing signs Fredrik Ekblom

The WestCoast Racing will field a three-car line-up in the 2018 TCR Scandinavia, with Fredrik Ekblom as its leading driver.
Ekblom returns with the team with which he claimed in 1998 the first of his three Swedish Touring Car Championship titles; last year he finished as runner up in TCR Scandinavia, scoring five race wins in a Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR run by Kritsoffersson Motorsport.
”The mission is simple, I am here to win and to add another title to the collection. I have experienced some of my best and most enjoyable years with this team and it feels truly motivating to be back,” said Ekblom.
Ekblom will join siblings Andreas and Jessica Bäckmann in one of the team’s three Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR cars.

WTCR
Attila Tassi and Dániel Nagy join at the Hungaroring

Hungarian youngsters Attila Tassi and Dániel Nagy will make a one-off appearance in the WTCR for their home event at the Hungaroring, one week before starting their campaigns in the new TCR Europe Series.
After winning the 2017 TCR International Series races at Budapest's Grand Prix Circuit, the 18-year-old Tassi - JAS Motorsport Test and Development Driver - will drive a Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR for the Hell Racing Team.
“I’m incredibly excited. To race in front of my home crowd in an FIA World Cup event is a dream come true. The level of competition will be higher than anything I’ve experienced in my racing career, but I’m not going there to make up the numbers and will instead push for the absolute best result I can possibly achieve,” he said.
Nagy will take part in the WTCR Hungarian event with a Hyundai i30 N TCR run by M1RA, the Hungary-based outfit that won the 2017 TCR International Series Team's title.
“My focus this year is to be competitive in the TCR Europe Series, but I am extremely motivated by this opportunity to race in the WTCR in front of my home crowd. I will drive exactly the same car as the other Hyundai drivers, so I am very curious to see what I can achieve compared to that group of champions. I hope I can improve my self-confidence a bit with a good result one week before the start of TCR Europe,” said Nagy.
At the Hungaroring, Tassi and Nagy will increase the group of the local driver to five, joining Norbert Michelisz, Norbert Nagy and Zsolt Dávid Szabó.

Campeonato España Resistencia
Spanish drivers like endurance racing

The Campeonato España Resistencia (CER) kicks off this weekend at Valencia's Circuito Ricardo Tormo with the TCR class forming the strongest contingent.
No fewer than sixteen TCR teams will be taking part in the season’s opening 2-hour race and it’s not surprising that the cars branded SEAT or Cupra will take the lion’s share in the field, with only one model each of Audi RS3 LMS and Peugeot 308 expected to join.
Amongst the participant are some well-known names for TCR competitions. Teams like Baporo Motorsport, Monlau Competición, Veloso Motorsport and PCR Sport all boast a long experience in the category, while the driver list includes a bunch of successful Touring Car experts like Fernando Monje (2012 FIA ETCC champion), Alba Cano Ramírez (2017 24H TCE Series champion), Guillermo Aso, Joan Vinyes, Jaime Font (2016 CER champion) and Edgar Florindo (2017 TCR Portugal race winner).

VLN
Gülden completes a four-hour solo flight

The comeback of Mathilda Racing and Andreas Gülden to the VLN series turned into a success, as they won the TCR class. Gülden he undertook a real ‘tour de force’, winning the 43rd DMV 4 Hours – second round of the VLN – without sharing his Cupra TCR.
He qualified third in class, but was fast and consistent during the race and relegated the Lubner Motorsport Opel Astra TCR of Thorsten Wolter, Rudolf Rhyn and Thomas Jäger to second place with a gap of two-and-a-half minutes. The Norwegian trio of Håkon Schjærin, Alte Gulbrandsen and Kenneth Østvold finished third a further 26 seconds adrift in their Audi RS3 LMS.
The series third round will take place on 23 June.

Endurance Champions Cup
A SEAT wins the Mugello 3 hour race

The SEAT León TCR entered by the RS+A team and driven by Mariano Costamagna, Marco Costamagna and Roberto Olivo won the Mugello 3 hours, opening round of the Italian Endurance Champions Cup.
There was only another car in the TCR class, the MM Motorsport Honda Civic FK7 of Emanuele Alborghetti and Luigi Bamonte. The RS+A trio was able to keep a more consistent pace, beating the Honda on the 3-hour distance.
The next round of the series will be the 3 Hours of Misano on 5 May.

TCR Italy
Enrico Bettera with Pit Lane Competizioni

After running the car with which Nicola Baldan won the 2017 TCR Italy title, Pit Lane Competizioni will race again in the Italian championship. The first driver announced by the team is Enrico Bettera who will be driving an Audi RS3 LMS.
Bettera scored his first TCR victory in the 2016 TCR Italy final race at Monza; in 2017 he took part in the 24H TCE Series – finishing second in the 24H Silverstone – and made occasional races in the TCR Italy and the TCR International Series.
“I am pleased to stay with the team and race the full season in the TCR Italy. The level of the championship has been much improved since 2016 and I hope I can be among the top runners. I wish to make a few appearances in the TCR Europe Series too,” said Bettera.

The TCR events of the week

14 / 15 April - TCR Germany, Rounds 1 & 2 @ Oschersleben, Germany
14 / 15 April - TCR Russia, Rounds 1 & 2 @ Fort Grozny, Russia
14 / 15 April - Campeonato España Resistencia, Round 1 @ Valencia, Spain
14 / 15 April - 24H Nürburgring Qualifying Race @ Nürburgring Nordschleife, Germany

Live streaming at www.tcr-series.com and www.tcr-series.tv.

Saturday: TCR Russia, Race 1 - 14:55/15:25 local (13:55/14:25 CET)
Saturday: TCR Germany, Race 1 - 11:55/12:25 CET
Sunday: TCR Germany, Race 2 - 10:00/10:30 CET
Sunday: TCR Russia, Race 2 - 11:40/12:15 local (10:40/11:15 CET)