22 cars set for joint TCR World Tour and TCR Europe opener at Algarve
The first ever event of the new TCR World Tour this weekend at Autódromo do Algarve in Portugal also marks the start of the TCR Europe season – featuring a joint grid of 22 cars.
There’s nine drivers on the grid whose focus is the nine-round World Tour, while the other 13 are scoring points towards the European championship – a decrease of 35% compared to last year’s TCR Europe opener.
Three of the first four TCR Europe rounds will also get World Tour billing, and there are three fixtures packed into the first month of action.
Not all of the drivers that have said they will be racing, in either competition, are actually on the Algarve entry list but the combination format still means fans will be treated to at least 20 cars doing battle this weekend and with the guarantee of warm, sunny conditions.
The World Tour scorers
BRC Racing
The winning team in last year’s World Touring Car Cup maintains its triumphant 2022 line-up and Hyundai Elantra N TCRs, with last year’s runaway champion Mikel Azcona partnered by Norbert Michelisz.
Azcona has form in TCR Europe, having won the 2018 and 2021 titles, but he never raced at Algarve in that time and the WTCR Race of Portugal has also never been held there. That means his rivals may get to worry a little less about his illustrious pace than usual.
Michelisz has been around long enough to have driven at Algarve when the World Touring Car Championship visited in 2010 and 2012, and the 2017 WTCR champion ended last year in strong form with a win and two second places in the last two rounds.
Comtoyou Racing
The Belgian team ran four full-time WTCR entries last year in addition to three full-time cars in TCR Europe. It has six second-generation Audi RS 3 LMS TCRs on track in Portugal, and only two are set to be prioritising World Tour points, despite having confirmed four cars late last year.
The first of those is driven by 2012 WTCC champion Rob Huff, who has switched allegiance after two years racing a Cupra with Zengő Motorsport. He won twice in WTCR last year and came sixth in the standings despite missing a round, which cost him a shot at being championship runner-up.
His World Tour team-mate will be Frédéric Vervisch, who was WTCR runner-up in 2021 with Comtoyou but prioritised his sportscar racing commitments last year as a factory Audi driver. Vervisch has some pretty unique Algarve experience, having won at the track while representing Liverpool FC in Superleague Formula back in 2010.
Lynk & Co Cyan Racing
Another team retaining its 2022 line-up, Cyan Racing has an all-star roster for its refreshed Lynk & Co 03 TCRs.
Thed Bjork, the 2017 WTCC champion, is going into his 11th year with the team, while Santiago Urrutia picks up from his 2022 half-season which featured two wins and two other podiums in eight races.
Ma Qing Hua is looking to recapture the race-winning form of his Citroën years in the WTCC, and Yann Ehrlacher is going into his fifth year with Cyan and targeting a third World Touring Car crown.
Missing from the Swedish outfit compared to its 2022 WTCR programme is touring car legend Yvan Muller who is yet to announce, if any, plans for 2023.
ALM Motorsport
The only one of the four World Tour-focused teams yet to conquer the world, this Estonian operation has spent two years in TCR Italy and has attracted Nestor Girolami by choosing to run the brand-new Honda Civic Type R TCR FL5 model developed by JAS Motorsport, which Girolami is an official driver for.
Girolami has won at least one race at the top level every year since 2019, and was last year’s WTCR runner-up. While being a one-car squad is a disadvantage and running a new car can be a risk, Girolami’s knowledge of the Honda and its development should make it possible to continue his winning run.
It should be noted that the Argentinian driver so far only is confirmed for the European rounds, albeit expected to take part in the full season.
TCR Europe’s returning teams
Comtoyou have four further cars out at Algarve, three of which are driven by very familiar faces. Last year’s TCR Europe runner-up Tom Coronel leads the line-up, and North Macedonian maverick Viktor Davidovski is alongside again having taken a breakthrough TCR Europe win at Paul Ricard in 2022.
The other two cars are filled by 2020 TCR Europe runner-up John Filippi and Belgian teenager Kobe Pauwels who is making the remarkable move across to touring car racing from rallycross. He was Euro RX3 runner-up in 2021 and champion last year.
Target Competition ran three cars last year, but its drivers have moved on and in their place has come touring car returnee Dušan Borković. The Serb came third in TCR Europe five years ago with Target, and won in the WTCR-preceding TCR International Series.
Spanish squad Volcano Motorsport has signed two Brits for this year, with Lewis Brown and Isaac Smith renewing a rivalry they previously had in Mini Challenge UK.
Brown started this year in TCR UK, winning at the opening round before the Volcano opportunity arose and he immediately decided to switch programmes. Smith meanwhile was the 2022 TCR UK runner-up, and Volcano’s Audi is a very different car to the Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR he raced last year.
Also based in Spain and running Audis is RC2 Racing Team, previously known as RC2 Junior Team. Last year Rubén Fernández drove an Audi as brother Felipe opted for a Cupra León Competición TCR, but now both will race in the second-generation Audis and it means it is the most popular model on the Algarve grid with ten examples in the 22-car field.
Aggressive Team Italia has two Hyundai Elantra Ns out on track in Portugal, and a third on the way for select outings later in the TCR Europe season. Its lead driver is Nicola Baldan, who switches allegiance after two years with Target, and his team-mate for at least the Algarve and Spa-Francorchamps rounds is TCR Scandinavia race-winner Mikael Karlsson.
Making a change back to familiar settings for 2023 is Team Clairet Sport, which has returned to the Peugeot 308TCRs it last ran in 2021 after two years fielding Cupras in Europe. Its only confirmed entry is for TCR Australia race-winner and S500 racer Ben Bargwanna, whose father is Bathurst 1000 winner Jason.
The last of TCR Europe’s returning teams, PMA Motorsport, hasn’t actually reached the Algarve entry list but its driver Felice Jelmini is at the track. He has been run by the team in many championships over the years, but together they have a new challenge in competing in an Audi for the first time – that is if they get on track.
The all-new entry
MA:GP may be a name familiar to fans of TCR Scandinavia, as Mattias Andersson claimed two poles and a race win for the team last season with its Lynk & Co car.
However his son Viktor is probably a new name to most, as the teenaged Swede is coming from junior single-seater racing to drive his car in TCR Europe. He spent 2022 in the IndyCar-supporting USF2000 series, and this year marks the first time his family team has competed outside of their home country.
Schedule
Times in WEST
Friday – April 28th
11:54 – Free Practice 1
16:42 – Free Practice 2
Saturday – April 29th
09:50 – Qualifying
14:20 – Race 1
Sunday – April 30th
11:30 – Race 2
2023 TCR World Tour entry list
No – Driver – Team – Car
105 – Norbert Michelisz – BRC Racing Team – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
111 – Thed Björk – Cyan Racing – Lynk & Co 03 TCR
112 – Santiago Urrutia – Cyan Racing – Lynk & Co 03 TCR
122 – Frederic Vervisch – Comtoyou Racing – Audi RS 3 LMS
129 – Néstor Girolami – MM Motorsport – Honda Civic Type R FL5 TCR
155 – Ma Qing Hua – Cyan Racing – Lynk & Co 03 TCR
168 – Yann Ehrlacher – Cyan Racing – Lynk & Co 03 TCR
176 – Rob Huff – Comtoyou Racing – Audi RS 3 LMS
196 – Mikel Azcona – BRC Racing Team – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
2023 TCR Europe entry list
8 – Nicola Baldan – Aggressive Team Italia – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
10 – Viktor Andersson – MA:GP – Lynk & Co 03 TCR
11 – Viktor Davidovski – Comtoyou Racing – Audi RS 3 LMS
12 – Rubén Fernández – RC2 Racing Team – Audi RS 3 LMS
19 – Felipe Fernández – RC2 Racing Team – Audi RS 3 LMS
22 – Kobe Pauwels – Comtoyou Racing – Audi RS 3 LMS
23 – Isaac Smith – Volcano Motorsport – Audi RS 3 LMS
27 – John Filippi – Comtoyou Racing – Audi RS 3 LMS
34 – Tom Coronel – Comtoyou Racing – Audi RS 3 LMS
39 – Lewis Brown – Volcano Motorsport – Audi RS 3 LMS
48 – Mikael Karlsson – Aggressive Team Italia – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
62 – Dusan Borkovic – Target Competition – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
71 – Ben Bargwanna – Team Clairet Sport – Peugeot 308TCR
