Photo: TCR World Tour

High-speed Monza next up in back-to-back FIA TCR World Tour weekends

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The iconic Monza circuit in Italy is next up for the FIA TCR World Tour as the championship heads straight from Valencia for round three of the championship with a close trio at the top of the standings.

Lynk & Co Cyan Racing’s Yann Ehrlacher emerged as the new points leader after Valencia where he scored two victories, bouncing back after a tough start to the season in Mexico.

But the double WTCR champion is facing a tough task this weekend as he will carry the maximum 40 kilos of compensation weight following his strong Valencia weekend.

Team-mate Santiago Urrutia is just six points behind in second place overall after a consistent start to the season with four podium finishes in the first six heats of 2025. The Uruguayan driver will carry 30 kilos of compensation weight at Monza.

GOAT Racing driver Esteban Guerrieri will go from 40 kilos at Valencia to 10 kilos at Monza, having scored a reasonable amount of points last weekend and trails Urrutia by just a single point in third place.

The Honda usually performs well on high-speed circuits and Guerrieri is definitely one of the favourites this weekend.

Thed Björk had a tough weekend in Spain while carrying 30 kilos and dropped from second to fourth place overall, trailing team-mate Ehrlacher by 33 points.

The Swede complained about brake issues throughout the weekend and scored 14 points less than Guerrieri who had ten further kilos of compensation weight. However, this weekend will see Björk carry 0 kilos in his Lynk & Co 03 TCR and should be the the main force of the Lynk & Co team at Monza.

The BRC Hyundai drivers had a better weekend in Spain compared to the nightmare start in Mexico, but still rather anonymous and lacking the pace of the absolute top.

Mikel Azcona topped the Q1 session of qualifying, only to drop down to eighth in Q2 with a slower lap time, with Norbert Michelisz instead taking over as the top Hyundai driver in fifth place, three tenths from pole.

Néstor Girolami emerged as the top scoring Hyundai driver over the weekend, clinching the team’s first win of 2025 in the second race and has climbed up to sixth place overall.

Following the uncharacteristically shaky start to the season for the Hyundai squad, it’s difficult to predict their performance ahead of Monza. But just as the Honda, the Hyundai Elantra N TCR usually performs strongly on power-demanding circuits like Monza and the team should be one of the favourites.

The FIA TCR World Tour grid grows for Monza to a total of 19 cars as two TCR Italy entries joins, as well as current TCR South America points leader Leonel Pernía.

Guest entries continuing from the races at Valencia include Ruben Volt, Marco Butti, Felipe Fernández, Viktor Andersson and Julien Briché.

The race weekend at Monza will feature two races of 60 kilometres each on Saturday and Sunday, with two practice sessions on Friday and qualifying on Saturday.

Monza time table

Times in CEST

Friday 20/6
13:40 – Free Practice 1
17:00 – Free Practice 2

Saturday 21/6
09:40 – Qualifying
15:20 – Race 1

Sunday 22/6
11:40 – Race 2

FIA TCR World Tour – Monza entry list

4 – Julien Briché – JSB Compétition – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
10 – Viktor Andersson – MA:GP – Lynk & Co 03 TCR
11 – Marco Butti – GOAT Racing – Honda Civic Type R FL5 TCR
19 – Felipe Fernández – GOAT Racing – Honda Civic Type R FL5 TCR
27 – Ruben Volt – ALM Motorsport – Honda Civic Type R FL5 TCR
44 – Leonel Pernía – ALM Motorsport – Honda Civic Type R FL5 TCR
81 – Damiano Reduzzi – Team Trico WRT – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
82 – Jacopo Cimenes – MM Motorsport – Honda Civic Type R FL5 TCR
105 – Norbert Michelisz – BRC Hyundai – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
107 – Aurélien Comte – SP Compétition – CUPRA Leon VZ
111 – Thed Björk – Lynk & Co Cyan Racing – Lynk & Co 03 FL
112 – Santiago Urrutia – Lynk & Co Cyan Racing – Lynk & Co 03 FL
123 – Ignacio Montenegro – GOAT Racing – Honda Civic FL5
127 – John Filippi – SP Compétition – Cupra Leon VZ
129 – Néstor Girolami – BRC Hyundai – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
155 – Ma Qing Hua – Lynk & Co Cyan Racing – Lynk & Co 03 FL
168 – Yann Ehrlacher – Lynk & Co Cyan Racing – Lynk & Co 03 FL
186 – Esteban Guerrieri – GOAT Racing – Honda Civic FL5
196 – Mikel Azcona – BRC Hyundai – Hyundai Elantra N TCR