Shortened Australian weekend kicks off final FIA TCR World Tour season half

A shortened race weekend at The Bend in Australia kicks off the final half of the 2025 FIA TCR World Tour season together with the TCR Australia field.

Delays in shipping of the eleven FIA TCR World Tour cars has forced the organisers to compact the schedule, axing one free practice session and reducing the number of races from three to two.

Lynk & Co Cyan Racing driver Yann Ehrlacher heads to Australia as the hunted one, heading the standings on 250 points, 27 more than main title rival and Honda driver Esteban Guerrieri.

Ehrlacher will carry 40kg of compensation weight while Guerrieri will carry 30kg.

Ehrlacher’s team-mate Urrutia, who is placed third overall, will also carry 30kg of weight while Thed Björk, placed fourth overall, will carry just 10kg.

The Lynk & Co 03 TCRs of Cyan Racing has received an increase in minimum weight of 20kg ahead of this weekend while the other models of the FIA TCR World Tour remain on previous levels.

The BRC Hyundai team has slowly recovered some ground after their disastrous start to the season in Mexico but are still far behind.

Reigning champion Norbert Michelisz is their best placed driver in only sixth place overall on 148 points, trailing points leader Ehrlacher by 102 points, while team-mates Néstor Girolami and Mikel Azcona are placed eighth and tenth overall.

But the three Hyundai drivers will carry no compensation weight this weekend and are expected to perform well.

Cupra driver Aurélien Comte is placed seventh overall, just one point behind Michelisz, and heads to The Bend after a strong run of results during the past two race weekends. The Frenchman will carry 20kg of compensation weight this weekend.

The FIA TCR World Tour field will be joined by eight TCR Australia entries, kicking off their two-race weekend season.

The top three drivers from the 2024 TCR Australia season will be on the grid, including reigning champion and Hyundai driver Josh Buchan, runner-up and Audi driver Zac Soutar and Honda driver Brad Harris.

Garry Rogers Motorsport will bring one of its four latest-generation Peugeot 308 P51 TCR race cars for Jordan Cox who finished fifth overall in the Australian series last year.

The race weekend at The Bend starts on Saturday with an intense schedule of practice, qualifying and the first race within just seven hours.

The teams are expected to receive their cars late on Friday, meaning a race against time to prepare the cars in time for free practice which starts at 07:15 local time on Saturday.

The Bend time table

Times in ACST (CEST +8.5H)

Saturday 13/9
07:15 – Free Practice
09:00 – Qualifying
14:15 – Race 1

Sunday 14/9
12:00 – Race 2

FIA TCR World Tour – The Bend entry list

5 – Ryan MacMillan – HMO Customer Racing – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
22 – Iain McDougall – Challenge Motorsport – Audi RS 3 LMS
30 – Josh Buchan – HMO Customer Racing – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
36 – Cody Burcher – Ashley Seward Motorsport – Lynk & Co 03 TCR
74 – Brad Harris – Harris Motorsport – Honda Civic Type-R 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
210 – Zac Soutar – Team Soutar Motorsport – Audi RS 3 LMS
233 – Jordan Cox – Garry Rogers Motorsport – Peugeot 308 P51 TCR
281 – Lo Sze Ho – HMO Customer Racing – Hyundai i30 N TCR