Preview: Four-way showdown for the TCR International title in Dubai

This weekend, the season finale of the 2017 TCR International Series takes place at the Dubai Autodrome in the United Arab Emirates, and there’s a four-way tussle yet again for the crown of the fastest-growing touring car series.

Last season, Craft-Bamboo Racing team-mates James Nash and Pepe Oriola went in to the season finale, then at Macau, in contention for the title against the Team WRT pair of Stefano Comini and Jean-Karl Vernay. Vernay and Oriola were the outsiders, while Nash had a comfortable lead over Comini, but a bit of luck and a bit of drama helped things fall the Swiss’s way, and he won his second title in a row.

Now back with his third team and third different car in three years, Comini heads to the finale in his Comtoyou Racing Audi RS 3 42 points behind with just 55 points available.

It’ll still be dangerous to write him off. A recent Balance of Performance adjustment had also seen more weight removed from the Audi, which will help give him a fighting chance, but it’ll be guile more than outright pace that the 27-year-old will need to retain his title, and maybe a little misfortune for his rivals.

Jean-Karl Vernay heads in as favourite to depose Comini

Last year, Jean-Karl Vernay went in with an outside title shot in his first year in touring cars, but the Luxembourg-based Frenchman heads in as the firm favourite, and all the odds are in his favour, though there’s an added curve ball this weekend.

Firstly, confirmation that the series will race on Dubai’s national circuit has many drivers and team managers saying the title has just been handed to the Team WRT Volkswagen driver, with the nimble Golf GTI TCR able to make much more use of the shorter track, while the Honda Civic Type Rs and Audi RS 3s would prefer more of a power circuit.

Despite this, the Golf has been the car of choice in recent races and would likely hold its own even on the longer circuit against the Civic and RS 3.

Like Comini, Vernay is also his team’s only contender, with the Belgian team’s full focus on making sure he’s the champion. While Comini has sports car front-runner Frédéric Vervisch with him as he has for most of the season, Vernay will have a brand-new team-mate for Dubai, with his regular back-up, Rob Huff, unavailable due to clashing commitments at the Macau Grand Prix.

Huff’s stand-in will be British Touring Car star and three-time champion Gordon Shedden. A left-field choice, especially as by day he’s a Honda factory driver, which surprised many when he was confirmed as the man going against the leading Honda equipped squad in the championship this weekend.

Shedden’s raced little outside of Europe in recent years, but is highly rated and known for being a strong team player at Team Dynamics. The Scotsman’s presence is a random element; he could prove vital in Vernay’s challenge this weekend, or he could be hard-pressed to get to grips with the car in the short timetable and may not be a factor at all.

Three-car M1RA Honda effort as young Hungarian team and young Hungarian driver vie for title

Where there’s a more complicated scenario is at the pseudo-Honda factory squad M1RA.

No factory teams are permitted in the TCR series of course, but M1RA’s ties to Honda are strong, with team principal Norbert Michelisz racing for Honda in the World Touring Car Championship, and with the cars developed and built by Honda’s technical partner JAS Motorsport.

This weekend, Honda heads into the finale with the possibility of lifting the drivers’ title for the first time, and with two different drivers, with 18-year-old Attila Tassi 21 points behind Vernay in the standings, and 49-year-old Roberto Colciago also in outside contention despite missing the Thailand round of the championship due to injury, 46 behind.

With both drivers potentially taking points away from each other, M1RA have expanded to a three-car effort for the third time this year and have added a car for Josh Files, the TCR Germany and Middle East champion, whose purpose is to support both Colciago and Tassi’s title battles, meaning all three teams are effectively fielding “ringer” drivers, whose purpose is to support their team-mates over chasing results for themselves.

The championship is one of the closest battles in motorsport this year, with no real runaway performances. Championship leader Jean-Karl Vernay has only won one race, the Belgian event back in May, while Stefano Comini has also only won two races, the last of which was at Monza, also back in May.

Tassi’s charge has built up as the season progressed, though the Hungarian has also only won two races, both at his home track in June, while Colciago has won the most races of anyone this season with three victories, but his crash in Germany which forced him to miss the next round in Thailand has put a serious dent on his title chances.

Last chance glory for everyone else – WestCoast, Bamboo, DG Sport and Hyundai

While all eyes will be on the seven drivers at these teams, everyone else will be chasing an end-of-year high, with WestCoast Racing on form in recent rounds, also running the favoured Volkswagen Golf, with drivers Gianni Morbidelli and Benjamin Leuchter likely to mix it up front.

UK and Hong Kong-based squad Craft-Bamboo Racing head to Dubai with an outside shot of the teams’ title, with none of their drivers able to win the drivers’ title for the first time. The SEAT-equipped outfit are also chasing theirs and SEAT’s first victory since the season opener at Georgia back in April.

DG Sport Compétition field perhaps their most competitive line-up since the start of the season, with Mat’o Homola now joined by their TCR Benelux star Aurélien Comte in the Opel Astra TCRs, with the Belgian team surprisingly yet to score a victory despite coming close on many occasions, while the GE-Force Alfa Romeos of Dusan Borkovic and Davit Kajaia switch from fast to luckless with alarming regularity, though the region was a good hunting ground for the team and Kajaia in the TCR Middle East series at the start of the year.

The real wild horses though are the two actual wild cards. The not-a-factory but basically-a-factory entry from Hyundai Customer Racing, the two i30 N TCRs run by BRC Racing Team are back, with Alain Menu and Gabriele Tarquini onboard, though this time with the same Balance of Performance measures they ended the China weekend with, 40kg of ballast and a 5% power reduction – and also due to the way the sporting regulations work, will be forced to start from 13th at best for both of the races.

Although their cars are invisible to points, they’re not immovable objects, and it’s likely the championship contenders will give them a wide berth as they inevitably work their way up the order on race day.

Entry list

No – Driver – Nat – Team – Car
1 – Stefano Comini – SUI – Comtoyou Racing – Audi RS 3 LMS
2 – Jean-Karl Vernay – FRA – Team WRT – Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR
4 – Denis Dupont – BEL – Comtoyou Racing – SEAT León TCR
5 – Roberto Colciago – ITA – M1RA – Honda Civic TCR
6 – Frédéric Vervisch – BEL – Comtoyou Racing – Audi RS 3 LMS
9 – Attila Tassi – HUN – M1RA – Honda Civic TCR
10 – Gianni Morbidelli – ITA – WestCoast Racing – Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR
13 – Benjamin Leuchter – GER – WestCoast Racing – Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR
16 – Davit Kajaia – GEO – GE-Force – Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR
17 – Daniel Lloyd – GBR – Craft-Bamboo Racing – SEAT León TCR
18 – Duncan Ende – USA – Icarus Motorsports – SEAT León TCR
27 – Aurélien Comte – FRA – DG Sport Compétition – Opel Astra TCR
28 – Aurélien Panis – FRA – Boutsen Ginion Racing – Honda Civic TCR
30 – Gabriele Tarquini – ITA – BRC Racing Team – Hyundai i30 N TCR
33 – Alain Menu – SUI – BRC Racing Team – Hyundai i30 N TCR
54 – James Nash – GBR – Craft-Bamboo Racing – SEAT León TCR
62 – Dušan Borković – SRB – GE-Force – Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR
70 – Mat’o Homola – SVK – DG Sport Compétition – Opel Astra TCR
73 – Gordon Shedden – GBR – Team WRT – Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR
74 – Pepe Oriola – SPN – Craft-Bamboo Racing – SEAT León TCR
95 – Josh Files – GBR – M1RA – Honda Civic TCR

Timetable

Friday 17th November
09:30 – Free Practice 1
11:50 – Free Practice 2
15:30 – Qualifying

Saturday 18th November
11:10 – Race 1 (17 laps)
15:35 – Race 2 (17 laps)

* All times GST (CET+3 / GMT+4)