Jordi Gené: “The ETCR will be very close”

The inaugural PURE ETCR series season kicks off this weekend at Vallelunga and Zengo Motorsport X Cupra driver Jordi Gené believes that the competition will be very close among the cars from the three manufacturers represented – Cupra, Hyundai and Alfa Romeo/Romeo Ferraris.

Gené, who’s returning to racing this year with a double ETCR and WTCR programme with Cupra, will drive the new Cupra e-Racer that the Spaniard has helped to developed from day one.

“Racing is something I’ve done all my life and, although I’ve been working as a development driver for a few years, I hope to get up to speed quickly and I’m looking forward to competing again,” said Gené.

The Cupra e-Racer has got a power output equivalent to 670 bhp and a maximum torque of 960 Nm, a stark difference to other touring cars Gené has raced.

“The car is very challenging because it has a lot of power,” added the Spaniard. “The power is also very instant and the car is rear wheel drive, which is even more challenging for the drivers and it can take some time to adapt to it.

“Usually, no racing car can be easily driven, but these cars are even more difficult because, an added handicap, is that it is very heavy [circa 1,700 kg], which has to be taken into consideration, for instance under braking.

“So there is a limit and we have to be careful to not go over it as, with all these features, we also don’t know how the tyres are going to react.”

The 50-year-old has been a SEAT/Cupra driver for nearly two decades but does not think this gives him an advantage over his rivals.

“I don’t have an edge over the others,” Gené told TouringCarTimes. “Yes, we have completed a lot of testing kilometres with the car but, after a while, the others have also done a lot of work and we’ve all got to know the limits of the car.

“The people at Hyundai and Romeo Ferraris are very professional, the level of the drivers is high and I think the competition this year will be very close.”