Hyundais significantly heaviest on Spa-Francorchamps visit

For the second weekend in a row, the Hyundai i30 N TCRs will run with maximum compensation weight for the third round of the TCR Europe series season at Spa-Francorchamps.

Following another successful weekend last time out at Hockenheim, after which Target Competition’s Josh Files took the lead of the championship, the Hyundais will continue to race with the full 60kg.

Surprisingly, almost all the other brands will race with zero ballast in Belgium, except for the Peugeot 308TCR, which will run with 10kg, down from 30kg at Hockenheim. Frenchman Julien Briché, who lies second in the points, claimed a fourth place in the opening race at Hockenheim before taking his second victory of the season in Race 2.

The main beneficiaries of the release of the compensation is undoubtedly Audi, who look set to benefit at the aero-dependant circuit considering the significant weight difference between main rivals Hyundai.

Files currently leads the championship on 112 points, five ahead of Briché. Behind, local driver Gilles Magnus and former WTCR regular Aurélien Comte – in the lighter Audi RS 3 LMS and Peugeot 308TCR respectively – remain firmly in contention.

There will be two returning drivers to the series this weekend, with Russian Klim Gavrilov and 2017 BTCC champion Ash Sutton making their first appearances since last season’s finale in Barcelona.

TCR UK championship regular Lewis Kent will be making his series debut in the Essex & Kent Hyundai i30 N TCR