During 2019, The Checkered Flag is rounding up the news and results from the various TCR Series around the world on a weekly basis.
This weeks review includes The 2019 the Coppa Italia Turismo Championship, The 2019 Creventic 24H TCE Series, The 2019 TCR Europe Touring Car Series and The 2019 FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR).
Here’s a look at all of the action and announcements from the last seven days.
Lloyd all set for TCR Europe debut
Daniel Lloyd. Credit: WSC Ltd/ TCR Europe
The Hockenheimring in Germany plays host to rounds three and four of the 2019 TCR Europe Touring Car Series this weekend, where the field will be joined by Daniel Lloyd, making his debut in the series.
The 2018 TCR UK Champion will join Martin Ryba in the Brutal Fish Racing Team for the rest of the season, where he will drive a Honda Civic FK7 TCR alongside the Slovak driver. Lloyd joins what has been confirmed to be a thirty-two car field, competing at the Grand Prix venue.
Lloyd has already been in action this year, having already competed in the first two rounds of the TCR China Touring Car Championship for the Dongfeng Honda Racing Team, operated by championship-winning squad MacPro Racing Team where he is also driving a Honda Civic.
Files ready for Hockenheim return
Josh Files. Credit: Target Competition / Josh Files Media
After enjoying an exciting first weekend of the 2019 TCR Europe Touring Car Series, Josh Files is returning to familiar ground for rounds three and four this weekend: The Hockenheimring.
Files started his TCR career with Target Competition, competing in the ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship, where he secured the driver’s title two years in a row (2016 and 2017) at the wheel of a Honda Civic FK2. This weekend will see the Triple TCR Champion return to Hockenheim with knowledge on his side.
In Hungary, Files started off well by chasing home team-mate Mat’o Homola to take second place in race one before enjoying a race of epic proportions as he propelled himself from last position on the thirty-eight car grid to finish in eighth place at the flag in race two. Using dry tyres on a damp track surface.
After the first weekend of competition, the Balance of Performance in TCR Europe has seen the Hyundai’s remain on sixty kilos of compensation weight whilst all other models in the field have dropped to thirty kilos of compensation weight.
CAMS hint at plans to bring WTCR to Bathurst
Image Credit: TCR Australia/Daniel Kalisz
Following the highly successful debut of the TCR Australia Series, the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) has spoken to Speedcafe.com about its plans for TCR in the not-so-distant future.
As has been widely reported across the media, the Bathurst Regional Council is looking to add a fifth event to its racing calendar next year. As many as six applications from various different motorsport organisers have been sent thus far, and it looks as though a TCR event could well be one of those.
CAMS CEO, Eugene Arroca, didn’t wish to give too much away about a potential application to race on Mount Panorama but made clear on his wider plans to grow TCR as a concept down under.
“That’s our ultimate objective, to get to a point where we can have an international round here in Australia and you probably know where we’d like to do it,” he said.
“We can’t talk about the (Bathurst fifth event) contenders for obvious reasons because we have to respect the process. But, you know, we’re very vocal about our ambitions to be a WTCR round somewhere along the way…”
Guidetti and Caiola share Coppa Italia wins
Alessio Caiola. Credit: Coppa Italia
BF Motorsport’s Jacopo Guidetti and Sirio Motorsport’s Alessio Caiola shared victories in the fifth and sixth rounds of the Coppa Italia Turismo that took place at Imola.
The young Guidetti, who has already shown his skills in his TCR Italy rookie season, won the first race on the wet track at the wheel of his Audi RS 3 LMS. During the first laps, Alessio Caiola, who had started from pole position, had a close fight for the lead with Mauro Guastamacchia’s Honda Civic, until the latter spun off in the gravel. After a couple of safety car periods, Guidetti overtook Caiola and flew to take the win.
Caiola made up for that mistake in race two, which he led from start to finish. Behind him, there was a close battle for the other podium places and eventually, Guidetti’s co-driver Edoardo Barbolini finished second, followed by Daniele Cappellari.
The series’ next event will be at Monza on June 15-16.
Third win for Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing
Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing. Credit: Creventic
The Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI took its third win of this year in the 24H TCE Series at the 12H BRNO, despite low grip levels affecting the frontrunners throughout the event.
Antti Buri, who was sharing the winning car with Fabian Danz and Kari-Pekka Laaksonen crossed the line to complete 295 laps of the Czech circuit.
The Swiss team has finished every race of the season on the podium and now holds a nine-point lead in the TCE European Championship standings.
The NKPP Racing by Bas Koeten Racing CUPRA of Gijs Bessem and Harry Hilders made a successful return to the series claiming the second place overall. Fellow CUPRA runners Red Camel-Jordans.nl finished a hard-fought third. The father-son-son driver line-up of Ivo, Rik and Luc Breukers had led the TCE division comfortably in the opening stages, but couldn’t fully remedy the handling issues that ultimately cost the Dutch team additional time in the pits.
The Lestrup Racing Team Volkswagen Golf GTI of Stefan Nilsson, Peter Fahlström, Marcus Fluch and Emil Sällberg continued its strong form with fourth. The all-Swedish team benefited from a bizarre incident that saw the AC Motorsport Audi RS 3 LMS of Stéphane Perrin, Vincent Radermecker and James Kaye turfed into the barriers on the very last lap of the race. The Audi was still classified fifth.
The 24H TCE Series will resume with the 24H Portimão on July 6-8.
Files and Briché dominate at Hockenheim
Josh Files. Credit: WSC Ltd / TCR Europe
Rounds three and four of the 2019 TCR Europe Touring Car Series took place on the Grand Prix circuit at Hockenheim in Germany, with the crowds treated to two exciting races on Saturday and Sunday.
With Gilles Magnus and Nelson Panciatici tied for the championship lead coming into the weekend, both Josh Files and Julien Briché put on dominant displays to take the race one and race two wins respectively, after an extremely tight qualifying session to determine both grids.
Several high profile drivers with TCR experience also joined the series, where they will complete the rest of the season. These included the likes of 2018 TCR UK Champion Daniel Lloyd, WTCR competitor Tom Coronel and fan favourite Stian Paulsen.
To see how the races went, you can find out the report of race one here and the race two report here.
