2021 WTCR – a revitalised field promises an exciting season
The 2021 World Touring Car Cup season will kick off at the fearsome Nürburgring Nordschleife later this week, with a revitalised field of 22 full-season entries ready to do battle.
The series took a hard hit last year following the pandemic (as all sport did) with a shortened, Europe-only calendar and just 18 full-season entries, a decrease of 31% compared to the year before.
And while the WTCR isn’t back to its pre-COVID grid numbers, the 2021 field is certainly not lacking quality, and the season is scheduled to return to Asia for the final leg of the season (more on that later in this article, though).
What’s new for 2021?
The most talked about news is the arrival of the all-new Hyundai Elantra N TCR, of which there will be no less than six (seven if you count the Nicola Baldan wildcard entry) on the grid.
There has already been controversy regarding its Balance of Performance, with competing teams expressing surprise over the vastly different figures in place compared to its predecessor, the Hyundai i30 N TCR.
But Hyundai are not alone in fielding a new car, with four of the new Audi RS 3 LMSs being entered by Comtoyou Racing.
There is one major change to the race format for 2021, with two race heats per race weekend instead of three, as was the case in 2020.
New to the calendar is Estoril for round two, replacing the Portuguese Vila Real street race that had to be cancelled due to COVID restrictions.
Adria in Italy is also new, hosting the fourth round of the season.
The field is set to head to Asia for the final three races, but there are some question marks around whether that will happen, as the countries involved require long periods of quarantine that will prove very costly for the teams and organisations.
But the plan is still for the championship to head for Inje Speedium in South Korea – a new circuit for the WTCR – for round six, before heading for Ningbo in China for round seven and the season finale at the legendary Macau street circuit in November.
Who will fight for the 2021 title?
There is no doubt that the fight for the 2021 title will be tougher compared to 2020.
With all teams running the latest generation TCR machinery this year in contrast to 2020, all represented manufacturers have serious title contenders.
Lynk & Co Cyan Racing – Lynk & Co 03 TCR
The Swedish outfit with the Chinese car clinched both titles last year, with Yann Ehrlacher coming out on top of the drivers’ championship after a consistent and strong season with solid support from his team-mates.
The team will run an unchanged line-up for 2021 and is effectively the favourites; the one everyone wants to beat. And the inter-team fight will no doubt be at least as exciting to follow as the overall title fight.
Ehrlacher has obviously shown that he is a force to be reckoned with, especially after having the unconditional support from his uncle Yvan Muller last year. But will he this year?
The quadruple world champion is not going to stand back this year after helping his nephew to win last year and is – despite his age – certainly not lacking in speed.
2017 world champion Thed Björk cannot be written off either, showing glimpses of impressive speed last year in what ultimately was a disappointing season for the Swede. Redemption is certainly on the menu for him this year.
But the strongest end to the 2020 season came from Santiago Urrutia, who made his WTCR debut for the team last year.
The Uruguayan driver won the last race of the season in style and finished on the podium in four of the last six races. Urrutia will certainly put up a very strong fight to his team-mates, meaning that he can challenge for the overall title as well.
Münnich Motorsport – Honda Civic Type-R TCR
The German team will once again run the Honda machinery in the WTCR with, just as Cyan Racing, an unchanged line-up.
The Honda Civic Type-R TCR is now the oldest TCR car in the field, being one of the first “second generation” TCR cars when launched in 2017.
The question is whether it will be enough this year, against a field of considerably newer TCR machinery. Although the most recent BoP weight break will certainly help.
There is no doubt last year’s lead driver in the team is up to the task, as Esteban Guerrieri was the main title challenger to Ehrlacher in 2020.
And team-mate Néstor Girolami showed impressive form in the first part of the season, leading the standings after the Zolder season opener. His charge faded as the season progressed though, with some inter-team rivalry between him and Guerrieri handing further advantages to their competitors.
Another question mark for the Honda line-up lies with the ALL-INKL.DE line-up of Attila Tassi and Tiago Monteiro.
While both are very capable drivers, the duo has struggled for pace for the past two seasons, failing to break into the top ten in the overall standings.
And in order to properly challenge its rivals this year, they need to take steps forward in terms of consistency and performance. An intense pre-season test schedule could indicate a promising development on this though.
Comtoyou Racing – Audi RS 3 LMS
Comtoyou Racing looked set for a strong 2020 season, an experienced squad running a proven car, the first generation RS 3 LMS, with a favourable Balance of Performance.
But inconsistency thwarted a serious challenge to the titles, with Gilles Magnus finishing fifth overall as the team’s top driver, 62 points behind champion Ehrlacher.
The situation for 2021 is vastly different with the all-new Audi RS 3 LMS and an expansion from three to four cars.
The line-up is unchanged from last year with Magnus, Nathanaél Berthon and Tom Coronel being joined by Frédéric Vervisch who raced for the team in the 2019 WTCR season.
Neither of the drivers have the same level of credentials as its competitors, but should certainly not be written off.
While the drivers lack outright titles to their name, they can no doubt deliver under the right conditions – which the new Audi model certainly could provide. Just like Honda, a solid pre-season testing schedule promises well.
Zengő Motorsport – Cupra León Competición
Zengő Motorsport will certainly be a team to keep an eye on for 2021.
Last year saw the team arriving to the first race weekend with the cars so new that the team had not even had time to put the stickers on.
The team had to play catch-up for the most part of the season, trying to wrap their heads around the all-new León.
Mikel Azcona made impressive progress towards the end of the 2020 season, a telling sign for this season. The Spaniard should definitely be able to fight for the title this year.
He has also got much stronger team-mates this year, with the Hungarian team running four Cupras for experienced drivers Jordi Gené and Rob Huff. The Brit joined them just two weeks ago after opting to not defend his STCC title with Lestrup Racing Team and will definitely be one to watch on his return.
Not to forget is the Hungarian youngster Bence Boldizs, driving the fourth Cupra of the team.
The only question mark might lie with Zengo Motorsport lacking some experience compared to its rivals.
BRC Racing Team/Team Engstler/Target Competition – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
The Korean manufacturer will be represented by no less than three teams and six cars this year in the form of BRC Racing Team, Team Engstler and Target Competition.
And as previously mentioned in this article, controversy has already begun over the BoP of Hyundais, picking right up on last year’s Nürburgring debacle which saw Hyundai Motorsport pulling its customer teams out of the German weekend.
All that aside, there is no doubt that they Hyundai will be a serious contender to the title this year.
2018 and 2019 champions Gabriele Tarquini and Norbert Michelisz will again team up at BRC, both certainly able to challenge for the title.
Luca Engstler has been joined by Jean-Karl Vernay at Team Engstler, with the Frenchman coming off an impressive and consistent 2020 season where he finished third overall for Team Mulsanne in the Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR.
While Engstler is yet to make a mark on the WTCR scene, Vernay could very well challenge both Tarquini and Michelisz for the number one Hyundai spot and with that the overall title.
Swedish siblings Andreas and Jessica Bäckman will make their WTCR debut for Target Competition this year and will no doubt face a steep learning curve, unlikely to play any part in the title fight.
A wide open season
While the pandemic and the coming electrification of touring cars (and racing in general) made things look ominous for the WTCR leading up to 2021, we can put those doubts aside.
The 2021 season has all the ingredients for an exciting season with 22 drivers, seven teams and five manufacturers represented, all with more than one serious title candidate.
