Hyundais on maximum ballast for Nürburgring after compensation weight kicks in

Compensation weight comes into effect from the third round of the World Touring Car Cup this weekend, with the first race set for Thursday evening at the legendary Nordschleife, and after dominating the first two events in Morocco and Hungary, the Hyundai i30 N TCRs will carry the maximum weight penalty.

With their lap times deemed to the fastest across the first two race meetings, the four Hyundais entered this weekend of BRC Racing Team’s Norbert Michelisz and Gabriele Tarquini, and the YMR cars of Yvan Muller and Thed Bjork will all remain on 60kg of compensation weight, while the majority of the field will shift the full ballast this weekend.

The only exception is Honda, with the tenth-generation Civic Type R proving to be quick in Hungary, with Yann Ehrlacher winning the first race for Münnich Motorsport, and also setting the fastest racing lap of the weekend. The Japanese manufacturer will therefore carry 20kg of ballast aboard.

Of the competing models, the Hyundai will be the heaviest on 1,325kg, with the Audi RS 3 LMS next on 1,275kg, some 50kg lighter.

The Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR and Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR will both run at 1,265kg, with the Honda’s 20kg compensation weight offsetting its -20kg of BoP weight.

The Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR and the Peugeot 308TCR will be the lightest models on the grid at 1,245kg.

This weekend will also be the first time the WTCR cars have run with the latest BoP adjustment, with Honda and Hyundai all staying at 80mm of ride height, while all their rivals have been permitted to drop 10mm in height.