Photo: TCR Media

Gabriele Tarquini says Hyundai i30 N TCR “a strong basis” for title challenge

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Gabriele Tarquini had his first taste of the Hyundai i30 N TCR in the dry of 2018 this week at Monza, Italy, after a very wet winter has hampered testing plans so far.

“This winter we had a few days of testing but it was the first time we’ve fitted dry tyres in Monza, so that alone was good,” said Tarquini to TouringCarTimes. “We came to a fast track, where we’d never tested before, with kerbs which are not too dissimilar to Marrakech’s. We came here (to be ready) for fast tracks like Macau or Nordschleife, so that was nice.”

With Tarquini now officially back racing full time, the Italian says this won’t change his approach which to-date has been about developing a car for customers, although he will allow himself to be a little more “selfish”.

“The approach is always the same, but what has changed is the spirit as now I’m not just working for a project, but also for myself,” he said. “It will be useful when it will be time for door-to-door action on track. I’ve always been motivated, but our goal before was to deliver the customers a good car, which would be pleasant to drive.

“We’re now trying to make it suit me more and fine tune it. The basis is obviously strong, so now our development is about helping BRC Racing Team deliver results.”

As for the i30 N TCR, Tarquini is not sure it will be the car to beat as a lot will depend on the TCR and FIA derived Balance of Performance.

“It’s a fast car, it works well under all circumstances and I’m sure we will be in the fight for the championship. We have made some choices and we’ll have to see if they pay off, as the Balance of Performance is always a factor. We’ll see how the championship starts and let’s just hope that the BoP will be able to equalise several different cars to make the championship interesting and spectacular.”

Tarquini tested alone on the first day, and was partnered by team-mate Norbert Michelisz during the second day of the test. The team will follow up with an official launch of their car on their Facebook page at 10:30 CET at https://www.facebook.com/BRCOfficial/ today.