Much-awaited World Touring Car Cup campaign goes green in Belgium
The World Touring Car Cup finally gets underway this weekend at Zolder following the extensive delay brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, with 20 full-season entries confirmed for the condensed 2020 campaign.
It’s been a long time since the stars of world touring cars last battled it out at Sepang last December, with BRC Hyundai’s Norbert Michelisz clinching an emotional first WTCR title in a dramatic conclusion to the 2019 season.
Michelisz returns to defend his title in 2020, once again partnered at BRC by 2018 WTCR champion Gabriele Tarquini.
There is change to the remainder of Hyundai’s operations, however, with BRC scaling back from four cars to two this year and dominant TCR Asia Series champions Engstler Motorsport instead brought in to field its own pair of i30 N TCRs.
One of those will be driven by the impressive Luca Engstler, the on-track catalyst of success for his father Franz Engstler’s eponymous team in TCR Asia last year.
The 20-year-old German steps up full-time to WTCR following two exploratory outings at Slovakia Ring and Macau in 2019, slotting in at his family team alongside the experienced Nick Catsburg – who is still waiting for his first WTCR podium finish.
Expected to lead the pursuit of Michelisz and Hyundai is Honda, which – interestingly – has gone down the opposite route to its main rival in terms of team structuring. While Hyundai is splitting its effort between two teams, Honda is now relying on just one to run its four cars in 2020, gathering Esteban Guerrieri, Néstor Girolami, Tiago Monteiro and Attila Tassi under one roof at Münnich Motorsport.
2019 championship runner-up Guerrieri recently said he expected the new structure to hand Honda a critical advantage, implying that it could widen the scope for tactics including team orders.
Girolami was especially impressive out of the blocks last season, winning three of the first nine races. If he can replicate that sort of early form in the much-shortened, six-round 2020 campaign, the Argentinian could well stage a serious title challenge.
Touring car stalwarts Yvan Muller and Thed Björk both return to lead the Lynk & Co Cyan Racing attack, the Swedish team also retaining the services of Muller’s nephew Yann Ehrlacher.
Joining in, meanwhile, is new signing Santiago Urrutia, who replaces the outgoing Andy Priaulx following a successful shootout for Cyan Racing’s fourth seat at Anderstorp this summer.
The Uruguayan was a frontrunner in Indy Lights from 2016-2018, finishing each season inside the top three, before making the switch to touring cars in the TCR Europe Series last year. Despite not winning a race, Urrutia finished the campaign as top rookie in third, and will be determined to make the most of what could prove a career-decisive break at Cyan Racing.
After Audi Sport ended its formal Customer Racing support of WTCR teams over the winter, fans of the German marque will be pleased to see the Four Rings keep a presence on the grid this year with Comtoyou Racing.
The Belgian outfit is not only racing on home soil this weekend at Zolder, but is also adding to the national touch with local driver Gilles Magnus aboard one of its Audi RS 3 LMS TCRs.
Nathanaël Berthon and the colourful Tom Coronel complete the Comtoyou Racing line-up.
Speaking of teams with a national cachet, Zengő Motorsport is fielding not just one, but two Hungarian drivers this season in newcomers Bence Boldizs and Gábor Kismarty-Lechner. The squad – which is famously credited with talent-spotting Norbert Michelisz back in 2005 – is hoping that 23-year-old Boldizs could be its next superstar, with team manager Zoltán Zengő labelling his recruit “a potential future champion”.
Boldizs is lacking in experience, however, coming from the Hankook Racer Cup for 100-bhp Suzuki Swifts. Stepping up into the all-new CUPRA Leon Competición that Zengő will run in 2020, with more than three times the power, is going to be a significant task.
Kismarty-Lechner, meanwhile, is preparing for his own WTCR debut despite sitting at the other end of the age span at 43.
The most notable signing for Zengő, however, is Mikel Azcona. The Spaniard finished sixth in a headline-grabbing rookie WTCR campaign last year, driving a CUPRA for PWR Racing, and took a maiden win in Portugal.
A couple of one-car teams are rounding out the full-timers. Team Mulsanne is trusting ex-Audi man Jean-Karl Vernay into its sole Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR, while arguably one of the most interesting – and young (by several metrics) – additions to this year’s grid is coming from Vuković Motorsport.
The Swiss team is bringing along the new Renault Mégane RS TCR for Ulsterman Jack Young – befitting his name at 18 years of age to make him the youngest driver in the field.
Young is the reigning Renault UK Clio Cup champion and also made a promising one-off TCR Europe appearance with Vuković in Barcelona last season, sealing a brace of fourth places and beating the likes of Tom Coronel and Gianni Morbidelli on his debut.
Vuković Motorsport is also running the first wild card entry of the season this weekend at Zolder; a second Mégane RS TCR for Dylan O’Keeffe. 22-year-old O’Keeffe will become the first-ever Australian to compete in the WTCR when he takes up his wild card opportunity this weekend.
The first round of WTCR since the outbreak of coronavirus will inevitably have its many challenges, with teams, drivers, the media and fans alike all affected by these unprecedented times. The meeting in Zolder will be held behind closed doors with no spectators allowed in, and the remaining five rounds of the season are likely to follow the same routine according to Francois Ribeiro of series promoter Eurosport Events.
Still, TouringCarTimes will be present at Zolder to try and bring our readers the latest news as they happen.
Running in Belgium gets underway with a day of official testing on Thursday. Free Practice 1 takes place on Friday afternoon, with a second FP session on Saturday morning. In a change for 2020, there is now just a single qualifying session per weekend, with the number of races then alternating between two and three at the various venues.
For Zolder, there are two races, with both being run on Sunday.
Schedule WTCR Race of Belgium
Thursday September 10th
09:00-12:00 – Testing 1
13:00-17:00 – Testing 2
Friday September 11th
17:00-17:45 – Free Practice 1
Saturday September 12th
09:50-10:20 – Free Practice 2
14:00-14:45 – Qualifying
Sunday September 13th
10:30 – Race 1
14:15 – Race 2
