STARD unveil their Kia Cee’d TCR challenger at Mettet

Manfred Stohl’s team STARD has unveiled their Kia Cee’d TCR at the Circuit Jules Tacheny at Mettet, with Kia the latest brand to join the TCR fold.

The top specification version of the car, aimed for TCR, will be priced at 122,000 EUR, with a cheaper Cup version available at under 100,000 EUR.

STARD aims to support customer programmes in TCR championships, rather than run the cars themselves, in a set-up similar to JAS Motorsport’s with the Honda Civic TCR.

“I’m happy to show here at TCR Benelux our new car,” said STARD president and former World Rally Championship driver Manfred Stohl. “The idea was born in 2015, and since then it was quite hard work. I’m proud of the team to have made it and I’m proud we’re in a position today to show the car, and I hope all of our work and all of our effort can be seen.”

The Kia runs with the new 2.0 litre Theta II turbocharged engine which comes from the larger Optima saloon, instead of the 1.6 litre turbo engine from the Cee’d GT hatchback.

“The Kia K:Force Cee’d TCR is one of our most important projects,” said STARD CEO Michael Sakowicz at the launch.

“(The engine is) the brand new development from Korea, and the racing version for TCR it has a power output of 350bhp,” he added.

“Our target was to fit as many high-tech components and solutions into the car within tough cost range that TCR offers, as there’s a cost cap of 130,000 EUR.

“We’ll offer the car in two main specifications,” explained Sakowicz. “The basic Cup specification will cost 98,945 EUR, which already features a sequential gearbox unlike other brands on the market, and being a Cup version it has an OEM fuel tank. The top spec version will be 122,000 EUR, and has everything needed to run in TCR, including a FT3 fuel tank, TCR data logger and paddle shift gearbox.

“We’ll start delivery of the car in January 2017 and we’ve already taken orders for the car.”