Hyundai on nightmare FIA TCR World Tour start: “An unexpected issue”

The BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse team had a nightmare start to the 2025 FIA TCR World Tour season in Mexico, with Mikel Azcona scoring a single top ten finish in Race 1 as their best result of the weekend.

Trouble was showing already in qualifying, with Norbert Michelisz claiming 13th place on the grid as the top Hyundai driver, 1.377 seconds from pole sitter and Honda driver Esteban Guerrieri.

“I’m very proud of how the drivers and BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse have performed this weekend in incredibly difficult circumstances,” said Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing manager Benoit Nogier.

“It’s been great to race alongside our Elantra N TCR customers in TCR Mexico but the FIA Kumho TCR World Tour races in Mexico City have been very tough, from the moment the team saw we were facing an unexpected issue.

“However, everyone worked all weekend to find solutions and the three drivers did everything they could on track. We now have to regroup for the back-to-back weekends in Valencia and Monza in June, when we can bounce back from a slow start to the year.”

The Hyundai team stated that high ambient temperatures and a straight-line speed deficit were the reasons for the poor results.

“We were lacking top speed, and the problem was we couldn’t overtake in the infield section and we were not fast enough to overtake on the straights so it was very difficult,” said Azcona.

Reigning champion Michelisz’s best result of the weekend was eleventh place in the final race and said the weekend was all about damage limitation.

“It was damage limitation this weekend with the target to stay out of trouble and finish the races, which we managed to do,” said Michelisz.

“The car felt good, the balance was fine, but I picked up a puncture on the left rear in Race 1, which was probably caused by some debris.

“As a driver you always want to be in front of the others which we couldn’t do as our speed was compromised. This wasn’t a weekend I enjoyed a lot, and I really hope from the next event we will be back on last year’s form.

“You have weekends which are forming the character and this was definitely one of the most character-forming weekends of my career.”

Néstor Girolami is the best placed Hyundai driver in the standings with 16 points in 12th place, trailing Guerrieri by 79 points.

The team is placed sixth in the teams’ championship, trailing Lynk & Co Cyan Racing by 125 points.