Hyundai names first five members of new Junior Driver programme

Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing has named the first drivers who will be part of its new Customer Racing Junior Driver programme.

All five drivers will be competing at international level this season at the wheel of a Hyundai i30 N TCR, with four of those drivers competing in TCR Europe and one in TCR Asia.

Luca Engstler – who has won races in a Hyundai in the TCR Germany championship, TCR Malaysia championship and TCR Asia series – is one of the four drivers from the TCR Europe series to earn a place on the new programme alongside his M1RA team-mate Dániel Nagy, with Target Competition siblings Andreas and Jessica Bäckman earning a spot as they prepare for their first seasons as Hyundai drivers.

Daniel Miranda, who is competing with the Eurasia Motorsport team in his first season in the TCR Asia series, completes the five drivers.

The new Junior Driver programme is open to racers under the age of 24 who are competing with Hyundai customer teams, and has been designed to try and help youngsters on the road to the World Touring Car Cup. The quintet will benefit from additional support from the Customer Racing department and will be able to draw on the expertise of drivers like Gabriele Tarquini, who are racing in Hyundai machinery in WTCR.

“For the first season of the Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing Junior Driver initiative we have selected an extremely talented group and I am excited to help support them,” Hyundai Motorsport team director Andrea Adamo said. “Each of them has the potential to be a race winner in the Hyundai i30 N TCR. We have already seen that performance in TCR Asia and this weekend in TCR Europe should be incredibly competitive for the drivers there.

“With the support we can offer them I am sure they can have an excellent 2019, and continue their excellent progress in their racing careers until we see them winning with Hyundai in FIA WTCR.”