Photo: WTCR

Gabriele Tarquini calls for immediate BoP adjustment for Hyundai

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Gabriele Tarquini has said he hopes that the Balance of Performance measures will be changed for Hyundai ahead of the next round of the World Touring Car Cup, despite picking up a victory in Race 2 in Morocco and leaving the weekend third in the championship standings.

The reigning champion made the most of the reversed grid second race, where he started from second on the grid, to take the race victory ahead of WRT’s Jean-Karl Vernay, with the Italian taking the lead from his BRC Racing Team team-mate Nicky Catsburg after the Dutchman suffered a brake failure on lap ten.

The strong results for the Italian were offset by his concerns over the balancing measures of the car, which were confirmed by the TCR technical regulations holder WSC Group ten days ago, which put the Hyundai on the highest ride height of 90mm, and the same power reduction as the championship leading Lynk & Co 03 TCRs.

In the 2018 at Morocco, Hyundai took both pole positions and won the two non-reversed grid races with drivers Thed Björk and Gabriele Tarquini.

“It was fantastic to win the second race of the weekend, as well as score important points,” said Tarquini.

“This was despite a non-competitive car caused by the BoP, which we hope will change for the next round. We will keep fighting for more.”

Team principal Gabriele Rizzo added: “It has been a tough weekend for us. We have been struggling to extract the maximum out of the Hyundai i30 N TCR because of the BoP.

“A race win and some important points scored by all four drivers is some positive news from the weekend, but we want to be consistently fighting at the front. We’re hoping the Balance of Performance is adjusted to allow us to do so.”