Preview: Will the season start to take shape this weekend in Slovakia?
The World Touring Car Cup heads to the Slovakiaring this weekend, which last hosted a WTCC round in 2016, and is back as a last-minute stand-in for the cancelled Argentinian round of the 2018 Cup.
Arguably not the World Cup event that will be on most people’s minds this weekend, the WTCR event nonetheless will likely be pivotal, closing off the quickfire European season as the season spreads out over the remaining four months, with four races in Japan, China, China again and Macau.
This year, it’s difficult to work out who truly is on top in the hunt for the championship, and with the cars’ characteristics, with a little bit of help from the series’ Balance of Performance, varying each weekend, so far each race has proven to be very unpredictable.
Three drivers have so far led the championship; first Gabriele Tarquini seemed to be almost the one you had to have your money on in the BRC Racing Team Hyundai i30 N TCR, while YMR drivers Thed Björk and Yvan Muller seemed like strong candidates, with Muller soon taking the championship lead from his rival and friend Tarquini.
The surprise then came when the ultra-consistent and leading Honda driver Yann Ehrlacher, Muller’s nephew, became the benchmark, though like many, the Frenchman ran into some bad luck in the calamitous Race 1 at Vila Real, and had to make do with a points gathering weekend, with uncle Yvan reclaiming the points lead.
The 5.9km Slovakiaring is the third-longest on the calendar, just behind the epic Guia circuit of Macau, with everyone lagging some way behind the titanic 25km Nürburgring Nordschleife.
The fast sweeping circuit with a very long and wide straight could prove to be one of the season’s highlights, with the majority of European circuits on the calendar so far not handing out that many overtaking opportunities. In theory, the car with the best straight line speed will be the one to worry about, and that typically is the Audi RS 3 LMS, though the German cars have already had their fun in the lap times recently and so will carry a hefty 50kg of compensation weight this weekend that won’t help them.
That leaves many fearing the ultralight Peugeot 308TCRs of DG Sport Compétition, which have won races at Zandvoort and Vila Real with drivers Aurélien Comte and Mat’o Homola. There’s a feeling that the Peugeots have now made the most use of their Balance of Performance gift of -40kg against base weight, which means they’re a substantial 90kg lighter than the heaviest cars this weekend, the Volkswagen Golf GTI TCRs, but a BoP adjustment is unlikely, and would be especially harsh ahead of Homola’s home race.
Speaking of Volkswagens, there will be a season’s best three cars entered this weekend, with Brutal Fish Racing Team entering a wild card car for Andřej Studenič. However, with the Volkswagens running with maximum ballast thanks in part to Rob Huff’s two poles in two race weekends, Studenič will carry a bewildering 80kg of weight on board his car, with 20kg for being a wild card entry as well, which will make his WTCR debut all the more challenging.
All of the Golfs on the grid will be new to the WTCR, with Rob Huff and Mehdi Bennani’s cars being brand new builds to replace their destroyed cars from Portugal. That is also set to play against them, as they’re likely to both carry an engine change penalty into Race 1. Force majeure is typically granted to drivers who retired from a race and damaged their engine due to the fault of another driver, but the Vila Real incident was investigated and neither driver was found guilty, which may mean SLR’s likely request to change engine without penalty, could well be rejected.
Another new factor this weekend will be the topsy-turvy timetable. With the race being a replacement round, WTCR has worked its way into the event which is actually a round of the confusingly similarly named ETRC (European Truck Racing Championship), so practice and first qualifying actually take place on Friday; Race 1, Qualifying 2 and Race 2 on a packed Saturday, with Race 3 taking place just before midday on Sunday, with everything over by 1pm.
Entry list
No – Driver – Nat – Team – Car
5 – Norbert Michelisz – HUN – BRC Racing Team – Hyundai i30 N TCR
7 – Aurélien Comte – FRA – DG Sport Compétition – Peugeot 308TCR
8 – Norbert Nagy – HUN – Zengõ Motorsport – Cupra TCR
9 – Tom Coronel – NED – Boutsen Ginion Racing – Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR
11 – Thed Bjork – SWE – Yvan Muller Racing – Hyundai i30 N TCR
12 – Rob Huff – GBR – Sébastien Loeb Racing – Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR
15 – James Thompson – GBR – Münnich Motorsport – Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR
17 – Andřej Studenič – SVK – Brutal Fish Racing Team – Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR
20 – Denis Dupont – BEL – Comtoyou Racing – Audi RS 3 LMS
21 – Aurélien Panis – FRA – Comtoyou Racing – Audi RS 3 LMS
22 – Frédéric Vervisch – BEL – Comtoyou Racing – Audi RS 3 LMS
23 – Nathanaël Berthon – FRA – Comtoyou Racing – Audi RS 3 LMS
25 – Mehdi Bennani – MOR – Sébastien Loeb Racing – Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR
27 – John Filippi – FRA – Campos Racing – Cupra TCR
30 – Gabriele Tarquini – ITA – BRC Racing Team – Hyundai i30 N TCR
31 – Kevin Ceccon – ITA – Team Mulsanne – Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR
44 – Petr Fulín – CZE – Fullin Race Academy – Cupra TCR
48 – Yvan Muller – FRA – Yvan Muller Racing – Hyundai i30 N TCR
52 – Gordon Shedden – GBR – Team WRT – Audi RS 3 LMS
63 – Benjamin Lessennes – BEL – Boutsen Ginion Racing – Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR
66 – Zsolt Szabo – HUN – Zengõ Motorsport – Cupra TCR
68 – Yann Ehrlacher – FRA – Münnich Motorsport – Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR
69 – Jean-Karl Vernay – FRA – Team WRT – Audi RS 3 LMS
70 – Mat’o Homola – SVK – DG Sport Compétition – Peugeot 308TCR
74 – Pepe Oriola – ITA – Campos Racing – Cupra TCR
86 – Esteban Guerrieri – ARG – Münnich Motorsport – Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR
88 – Fabrizio Giovanardi – ITA – Team Mulsanne – Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR
Timetable
Friday 13th July
12:40 – Free Practice 1
15:50 – Free Practice 2
17:55 – Qualifying 1
Saturday 14th July
12:00 – Race 1 (9 laps)
15:10 – Qualifying 2
19:00 – Race 2 (9 laps)
Sunday 15th July
11:45 – Race 3 (11 laps)
