Premiere for the TCR World Tour in Portugal

Portimão (Portugal) welcomes the resumption of global tourism this weekend. After the disappearance of the World Touring Car Cup, the TCR World Tour makes its grand debut with the first round of TCR Europe. 22 drivers are expected on track.

Published on 27/04/2023 à 14:54

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Premiere for the TCR World Tour in Portugal

Portimão (Portugal) welcomes the resumption of global tourism this weekend.

The WSC teams of Marcello Lotti, the creator of the TCR category, have been hard at work since the start of 2023 to set up the TCR World Tour.

The WTCR alternate arrives at a somewhat mixed time for touring car competition. If the national and continental championships are holding up as best they can, the benchmark championship that was the WTCR did not withstand the waves and storms of last season.

Exit the promoter Discovery Events and the FIA, the TCR WT once again becomes an independent championship as at the time of the TCR International Series (from 2015 to 2017).

To simplify his life and give depth to his starting grids, Lotti had the good idea of having his World Tour competitors participate in TCR championship rounds spread across 4 continents.

Europe, South America, Australia and Asia will be visited for this inaugural season. Prestigious circuits appear on the calendar such as Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium), Bathurst (Australia) and Macau. To close this great first, a final will be contested in February 2024 on the Abu Dhabi circuit at the end of this final event, a world number will then be designated.

A number of participants seen on the decline

For this first year, 15 drivers were expected to participate in the entire season. But some manufacturers preferred not to take on the TCR World Tour challenge.

Audi is therefore only entering two cars via its Comtoyou Racing team. The drivers of the brand with the rings will see their 2023 program a little turned upside down.

Gilles Magnus becomes a full-time competitor in GT World Challenge while Nathanaël Berthon finds himself without a steering wheel and will bounce back in ELMS. Tom Coronel is entering TCR Europe.

Fred Vervisch will be the only official Audi driver entered in the TCR World Tour. He will be associated at Comtoyou with the fiery and experienced Briton Rob Huff.

Honda has decided to distance itself for the moment. Exit Tiago Monteiro and Attila Tassi (Engstler Motorsport). The Civics from Münnich Motorsport will also not be present. Esteban Guerrieri having discovered the charms of WEC for Floyd Vanwall Racing, only Nestor Girolami will be there with a new team. Estonians from ALM Motorsport are entering an all-new Civic Type R FL5 TCR for the 2022 WTCR runner-up.

Looking forward to tomorrow's test day, let's see some features of the @AIAPortimao track🔀‼️#TCREurope #TCRWorldTour @TCR_Series pic.twitter.com/EWTAtloD8K

— Marcello Lotti (@marcello_lotti) April 26, 2023

Lynk & Co versus Hyundai

It is therefore the headliner of this first exercise of the TCR World tour.

The Chinese brand which deserted the WTCR last year is therefore making its comeback with 4 sharp drivers. Four brand new Lynk & Co 03 FL TCRs are entered for Yann Ehrlacher, Santiago Urrutia, Ma Qing Hua and Thed Björk.

Yvan Muller having retired from touring car racing, the Alsatian leaves the way clear for his nephew (already double winner of the WTCR in 2020 and 2021) to continue to make the family aura shine. The Frenchman is perfectly equipped to take on the role of big favorite in this new championship.

Il devra se méfier de son équipier, le flamboyant Uruguayen Urrutia à qui il s’est déjà frotté ces deux dernières saisons. Face à l’armada sino-suédoise, Hyundai fait une nouvelle fois confiance à Mikel Azcona et Norbert Michelisz.

The Spaniard and the Hungarian are both WTCR winners, with the Iberian having brilliantly won the 2022 season. It seems obvious that the fight will be between these 6 boys, but they will all have to be wary of the Audi drivers and Girolami (who is not participating only in European rounds for the moment).

Cyan Racing- Lynk & Co makes its comeback in international competition ©CyanRacing

Only 10 entries, but the 10 best in the world will compete over the entire 2023 season. Each of these drivers has won races at world level. These talented boys mixed with the pelotons of the national TCR championships will offer a spectacle which should allow the TCR World Tour to enter fully into the history of the " touring car " international.