TCR Europe heads to the Nürburgring as title battle intensifies
The TCR Europe series returns after its summer break with a trip to the iconic Nürburgring circuit in Germany’s Eifel Mountains this weekend, with Mikel Azcona riding high at the top of the standings.
The 2018 Series champion leads PSS Racing’s Franco Girolami by 30 points following a near-perfect weekend at Spa-Francorchamps in July, which produced a clean sweep of victories for the Cupra León Competición driver.
Azcona, who had missed the round before Spa – at Zandvoort – retook the lead in the points standings despite a relatively strong weekend for Girolami, who amassed 46 points across the Belgian weekend.
However, with dropped scores to be taken into consideration heading into the second half of the season, it is the Spaniard Azcona who holds the advantage as his double non-score from Zandvoort means he stands to drop zero points versus Girolami’s 25.
Therefore, this weekend’s pair of races, plus qualifying, will be crucial in how the title race pans out, with reigning Series champion Mehdi Bennani (Sébastien Loeb Racing Hyundai Elantra) just 17 points behind Girolami.
Bennani, whose season has been up-and-down so far, outscored Girolami at Spa and will be hoping that the Hyundai Elantra has the performance to challenge for victories this weekend’s first trip to the Nürburgring in the Series’ history.
Although he is 20 points behind his team-mate Bennani, Niels Langeveld enjoyed a positive weekend in Belgium and moved up a place in the standings to fourth. The Dutchman is yet to claim a race win this year but recent qualifying form has translated into race pace so the former WTCR driver could be one to watch out for.
By its high standards, Audi had a nightmare Spa event, with Tom Coronel and Nicolas Baert managing just 57 points between them over the course of the weekend. Comtoyou Racing team-mate Dušan Borković fared no better and all three will aim to put things right on a circuit which could well favour the aerodynamic RS 3 LMS.
There will be a new entry to the series this weekend, as 39-year-old Pole Łukasz Stolarczyk makes his TCR Europe debut in a self-run BTC Maszyny Audi RS 3 LMS.
The action kicks off as usual with free practice on Friday, which is scheduled to start at 10:50 CEST. Second practice is due to take place later that day at 15:00, each lasting 30 minutes.
Then it’s on to qualifying, which is set to begin at 10:10 on Saturday. Race 1 takes place at 14:55 while the second race is due to start on Sunday at 12:50.
