Portimao next stop for the TCR International Series

After an intense weekend in Valencia, Spain, for the opener of the European season of the TCR International series, the championship is back on track in Portugal for a back-to-back event in Algarve.

An exciting Race of Spain saw SEAT dominate the weekend, with a Craft-Bamboo Lukoil 1-2-3 led by local star Pepe Oriola in Race 1 and a Target Competition 1-2 in the second heat, with Stefano Comini taking the honours.

The Swiss is now back in the lead of the series, which he regained straight after qualifying by taking three points on Saturday, and further extended his lead with his second win of the year, progressing to a 15 point advantage over rival Gianni Morbidelli. Comini will carry 20kg of ballast in Algarve as a result of his success in Spain.

WestCoast Racing’s Morbidelli had a comparatively tough weekend, largely due to an extra 65kg of ballast on his Honda Civic TCR, which altered the balance of the car. In spite of this, thanks to a consistent drive in the second race and penalties awarded to several drivers who overtook under safety car, the Italian climbed up to fourth, which became third when Target Competition’s Andrea Belicchi was excluded for not having served his drive-through penalty.

WestCoast Racing Team Principal, Greger Petersson, said: “Everybody involved with WestCoast Racing is hopeful prior to the next round of the TCR International Series at Autódromo Internacional Algarve and we’re quite certain that we will perform better than in Valencia last weekend. As always, the team is working flat-out to perfect our cars’ performance and reliability, so we’re looking forward to a positive weekend in Portimão.” The team already called for a revised Balance of Performance, as the Swedish outfit believes the decisions taken ahead of Valencia were too hard on the Civic TCR. The layout of the Portuguese circuit should however suit the superior top speed of the Honda much better than the Ricardo Tormo.”

Oriola is now in third, two points behind the Honda driver, but he will have to carry 30kg of ballast in Portugal after being the most successful driver at his home race. The Spaniard was the protagonist of a spectacular weekend, even receiving the Man of the Race award in Valencia, due to his outstanding performances as well as the thrilling duel with Michel Nykjaer, whose Target Competition SEAT León will be laden with 10kg.

“To be back in Portimao it will be very exciting, because there I got my first podium in the WTCC,” said Oriola. “I am feeling really good after the victory in the first race of Valencia and I am very motivated to repeat it in Portugal. The car is very competitive and I hope that we will be able to demonstrate our potential once again on the track”

Andrea Belicchi is now in fourth, paying the price of his exclusion from Race 2 after failing to serve a drive through. With 75 points to his name, the Italian remains in the leading group, 14 shy of Oriola, but the gap from Target Competition team-mate Stefano Comini is now up to 31 points.

Honda driver Kevin Gleason is in fifth, 49 points behind the leader, but four ahead of SEAT driver Jordi Gené. The Spaniard did not have luck on his side so far, his bad moment reaching its peak at the start of Race 2, when he was in a good position to take the lead before hitting the sliding Opel Astra OPC of Oscar Nogués, who was later penalised for the incident.

After a difficult start of the season, Michel Nykjaer finally reached a well deserved podium in Spain after a hard but fair battle with Oriola, and now lies seventh in the championship. Behind him is Sergey Afanasyev, who scored a very positive second place at the Ricardo Tormo circuit.

Target Competition enters the Portuguese weekend in the lead of the championship, 41 points ahead of Craft-Bamboo Lukoil and a further 5 clear of Honda’s WestCoast Racing.

The weekend will once again include a full day of testing on Friday, starting at 9.00 local time, with a three-hours morning session. Action will then resume at 13.00 and will last until 17.30. On Saturday, two 30-minutes Free Practice sessions will start at 9.20 and 11.10 respectively, while Qualifying will be held at 14.00 with the usual format, as the top twelve drivers will progress to Q2, which is scheduled for 14.25.

On Sunday, a 10 minute shakedown will be performed at 10.00, before the two races. Race 1 will start at 12.35, while the second is scheduled for 14.05.

TCR International Series Portugal Timetable

Friday 8th May
09:00 – Free Test 1
13:00 – Free Test 2

Saturday 9th May
09:20 – Free Practice 1
11:10 – Free Practice 2
14:00 – Qualifying

Sunday 10th May
12:35 – Race 1 (15 Laps)
14:05 – Race 2 (15 Laps)