Spa-Francorchamps next stop for TCR Europe
TCR Europe will head into its third event of the year at Spa-Francorchamps with Hyundai’s Dusan Borkovic and Cupra’s Mikel Azcona leading the championship standings equal on points.
After the Serbian’s dominance at Paul Ricard, where he scored the perfect weekend by taking 55 points for pole position and two wins, Azcona scored enough points to just equal his title rival. The championship is very much wide open, though, and not just because only two races have gone by.
Josh Files showed improved form at Zandvoort compared to Paul Ricard, as the Honda driver endured a torrid second race in France but went on to take his maiden win of the season in his KCMG Civic. The Brit lies third in the championship, 16 points off the lead. Team-mate Attila Tassi is a further six points adrift in fourth.
Daniel Nagy’s difficult weekend at Zandvoort proved costly, as the Hungarian dropped down from second to fifth in the championship standings. All Hyundai drivers lamented the harshness of the Balance of Performance measures, which imposed a minimum ride height of 100 millimetres for all i30 N TCRs. That has been revised ahead of the Spa weekend, though, as the Korean cars will be allowed to run at 90 millimetres, which should help them with the balance of the cars.
After missing Zandvoort due to a clash with WTCR, Audi driver Jean-Karl Vernay will be back in the European series. The Frenchman will only add to the spectacle that is easy to predict on an iconic track such as Spa-Francorchamps.
Double TCR International Series champion Stefano Comini had also missed the Zandvoort event, although for different reasons. After struggling all weekend in the Top Run-built Subaru WRX STi, the Swiss skipped a weekend and will be back in the championship in a new Honda Civic, with strong backing from a Luxembourg-based dealer. Comini will be hungry for success after enduring such a difficult time in the first two races of the season, whilst also having very little pressure to bag points after skipping Zandvoort and scoring a single point at Paul Ricard.
The weekend will start on Friday with free practice, the first session scheduled for 10:48 and the second for 16:35, both lasting 30 minutes. Qualifying will be held on Saturday at 10:55, with the usual Q1-Q2 format. The first race of the weekend is also scheduled for Saturday, starting at 17:20 and lasting 25 minutes. The second heat will start at 11:20 on Sunday.
TCR Europe – Spa-Francorchamps timetable:
Friday 8th June:
10:48 – Free practice 1
16:35 – Free practice 2
Saturday, 9th June:
10:55 – Qualifying
17:20 – Race 1
Sunday, 10th June:
11:20 – Race 2
