This weekend sees the Kumho TCR World Tour and TCR Europe joining again for a couple of thrilling races at the iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.
The season-opening event in Portimão saw overall victories for Norbert Michelisz (BRC Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N) and Santiago Urrutia (Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03), with John Filippi and Tom Coronel in a pair of Comtoyou Racing Audi RS 3 LMS cars taking maximum points in TCR Europe.
Two weeks after Portugal, TCR Europe’s competitors tackled Pau’s street circuit, where Coronel took won the reversed-grid Race 2 and the Target Competition Hyundai Elantra N of Dušan Borković was victorious in Race 1.
Heading to Spa-Francorchamps, Comtoyou will be strong favourites. The Belgian team will be on home soil for the event and will be fielding no fewer than six Audi cars – two in the Kumho TCR World Tour for Frédéric Vervisch and Rob Huff and four in TCR Europe, driven by Coronel, Filippi, Kobe Pauwels and Victor Davidovski. In addition, there are two Audi cars for the Volcano Motorsport pairing of Isaac Smith and Lewis Brown and another two for the RC2 Racing Team brothers Rubén and Felipe Fernández.
While Audi might be the most well-represented brand on the grid with a total of ten cars, there are also five Hyundai Elantra N and five Lynk & Co 03 cars. Three of the five Hyundai cars are entered in TCR Europe, with Borković’s Target Competition car being joined by the Aggressive Team Italia pairing of Mikael Karlsson and Levente Losonczy, the latter making his first appearance in this year’s championship. The BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse team has two cars for Michelisz and Mikel Azcona, who are first and second in the Kumho TCR World Tour’s standings split by two points only.
Four of the five Lynk & Co cars are entered for the Kumho TCR World Tour, in the hands of Urrutia, Yann Ehrlacher, Thed Björk and Ma Qing Hua, with the MA:GP car of Swedish teenager Viktor Andersson competing in TCR Europe.
Making his debut in the Kumho TCR World Tour is Denmark’s Philip Lindberg, who joins Néstor Girolami in a second ALM Motorsport Honda Civic Type R FL5. Finally, on his second appearance of the season after Portimão is Ben Bargwanna, who drives a Team Clairet Sport – Burson Auto Parts Racing Peugeot 308.
Picture: WSC Group
