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MUNDIAL - WTCR

Sexta, 23 Novembro 2018 04:50 | Actualizado em Domingo, 24 Março 2024 15:57


WTCR @ Macau
Gabriele Tarquini beats Yvan Muller by three points

In the end everything went down to three points. That was the final gap between Gabriele Tarquini, who was crowned the first ever WTCR champion, and Yvan Muller, the most unyielding of his competitors.
And three points was also the winning margin in the battle for the Teams' title between M Racing-YMR and BRC Racing Team.
During the season finale at Macau, Tarquini struggled because of his own mistake in the second Qualifying session and the pile up at the start of Race 2, which helped Muller to significantly cut his gap from 39 points to just three. But eventually, the Frenchman had to settle for second position behind his former teammate, his disappointment appeased by the Teams' title secured by his own team.
With all the other title pretenders dropping out of contention after Saturday's Race 1, Sunday in Macau was a glorious day for Hyundai as the i30 N cars claimed the first two spots in the standings for both drivers and teams.
Other drivers were able to taste their slice of Macanese cake during the weekend. Jean-Karl Vernay took an authoritative victory in the first race at the wheel of the Leopard Lukoil Team Audi RS3 LMS; it was the fourth win for the 2017 TCR International Series champion in the season and only Tarquini won more races (five).
Another Audi driver, Frédéric Vervisch, was victorious in Race 2; after finishing on the podium six times, the Belgian claimed his and Comtoyou Racing's well deserved maiden win in the FIA World Cup.
Esteban Guerrieri won the final race in the Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic, a success that helped the Argentine driver and the German outfit to climb to third in the final standings for Drivers and Teams respectively.
Possibly the most disappointed driver during the weekend was Rob Huff, who aimed to add a tenth victory to his already impressive tally of being the most victorious driver on the Guia street circuit. After a faultless performance in Qualifying that gave him pole positions for both Race 1 and Race 3, Huff was not as good a starter as he usually is and had to be contented with a third and a second.
Macau was a perfect end to a brilliant inaugural season for the new FIA World Touring Car Cup. Fifteen different race winners in cars of seven different brands proved that the switch to the TCR regulations was the right move at the right time.

Photos: DPPI; TCR/Photo 4

 

 

WTCR
Tarquini and Adamo comment on the season 

After being crowned the WTCR Drivers' champion Gabriele Tarquini said: “There are times I thought I would never get my hands on the title – even during the Macau weekend. It was a really great feeling to be able to call myself the driver’s champion of the WTCR, the first winner of course. However, it was a team effort for the whole season with the BRC Racing Team, my teammate Norbert Michelisz and the support from Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing. There were a lot more people than just me who worked towards the title victory.”

Andrea Adamo, Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing Deputy Gen. Manager commented: “The cars we produce and the support we offer can only be judged on the results that our customers are able to take. So to have Hyundai teams first and second in the WTCR standings is clear evidence about the quality of the package we can offer. Our department was created to sell cars and to increase the profile of Hyundai in motorsport. We have done that in TCR, taking Hyundai into circuit racing for the first time, and have put the car in the highest profile position possible – at the front.”

Photos: DPPI

 

TCR Australia
Official launch at Sydney Motorsport Park

TCR Australia was officially launched in a media and competitors day at Sydney Motorsport Park, where an array of drivers and teams attended to get a close look at the category.
Four cars were available for testing: Audi RS3 LMS, Hyundai i30 N, Honda Civic Type R and Volkswagen Golf GTI. Drivers who sampled them included 2014 Bathurst 1000 champion Chaz Mostert, James Moffat, Leanne Tander, Tony D’Alberto and Macauley Jones, among others. Leading Australian race team identities, like Garry Rogers, Brad Jones and Jason Bright, as well as other high-profile guests were onsite.
Mostert got his maiden TCR laps in the HMO Customer Racing Hyundai, while Moffat drove the Honda, Tander and Jones steered the Audi and D’Alberto undertook laps inside the Volkswagen.
Many other drivers also got opportunities to drive, including recently crowned Australian F4 Champion Jayden Ojeda, rising star Charlotte Poynting and former track and field athlete turned racer John Steffensen.
TCR Australia used the media and competitor day to announce several key sporting regulations, including Michelin as the official tyre supplier and provisional race formats based on three sprint races per event.

Photos: TCR Australia

 

TCR Australia
Drivers' quotes after the Sydney test

Chaz Mostert: “I haven’t driven too many front wheel drive cars, but it felt pretty cool. They are kind of like a hot hatch, front wheel drive GT3 car. It handles really good, you can get quite a lot of speed up and the way it moves around is quite exciting. They are actually quite comparable to a GT3 car in terms of driver satisfaction. TCR is pretty cool and there’s a lot of potential in the series.”
James Moffat: “TCR is an exciting category and driving the Honda was a lot of fun. TCR is appealing to manufacturers. You can see that with how many brands are involved in the different championships around the world. It will be interesting to see how many different types of cars end up here.”
Leanne Tander: “I loved driving the Audi. It was amazing and so much fun. There’s so much power when you put your foot down and it just goes. I’d love to race one with 15 or 20 cars around. I think the racing would be great and I hope that I can be involved.”
Macauley Jones: “It was very exciting to drive the Audi. My first impression was surprising. They are really nice cars to drive. The power delivery was a lot different to Supercars, but the turn in the car was really cool. It was fun to drive.”

Photo: TCR Australia

 

24H TCE Series @ Austin
LMS Racing wins the 24H COTA

The two Bas Koeten Racing-affiliated Cupra DSG cars finished 1-2 in the 24H TCE Series’ final round at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas.
The LMS Racing car shared by the Finnish trio of Antti Buri, Olli Kangas and Kari-Pekka Laaksonen together with Switzerland’s Ronny Jost completed 550 laps to be classified 11th overall behind ten GTs and one lap ahead of the sister Cupra entered by NKPP Racing car and driven by the Dutch trio of Gijs Bessem, Harry Hilders and Roeland Voerman. Both cars recovered impressively from earlier problems: the NKPP Racing team suffered a loose turbo hose in the opening laps, while a broken shock absorber had dropped the LMS Racing entry out of a two-lap lead.
At the end of the first half of the race, the NKPP Racing car was leading from the LMS Racing’s by two laps, but the latter was able to overturn the situation in the second 12-hour stint.
The Lestrup Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI of Mats Olsson, Peter Fahlström, Stefan Nilsson and Robin Fredriksson completed the podium, 18 laps behind the winners.
The Team Altran Peugeot 308 driven by Cyrus Ayari, Jürgen Nett, Jean-Marc Thevenot and Michel Sallenbach recovered to finish fourth and secured the 24H TCE Continents Trophy.

Photos: Creventic

 

NGK UAETCC @ Dubai
Costas Papantonis dominates the field

Costas Papantonis continued to rule in the NGK United Arab Emirates Touring Car Championship.
The Greek driver and his Cupra TCR entered by Gulf Petrochem Mouhritsa Racing dominated the field in the second event of the series at Dubai Autodrome.
After setting pole position, Papantonis won the first race with a comfortable margin of 53 seconds over fellow countryman and teammate Alex Annivas in a SEAT León Supercópa.
Papantonis encored in Race 2 with a winning margin of 39 seconds, despite starting from the back of the reverse grid.  

Photo: Aaron Meriweather


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