22-car FIA TCR World Tour field set for Inje Speedium debut
The FIA TCR World Tour will head to South Korea and Inje Speedium for the first time this weekend with a grid featuring 22 cars as the 2025 season nears its conclusion.
Lynk & Co Cyan Racing’s Yann Ehrlacher has headed the standings since the second round of the season at Valencia and leads Honda driver Esteban Guerrieri by 36 points with a total of 105 points on offer this race weekend which features three heats.
GOAT Racing driver Guerrieri will however carry no compensation weight this weekend while Ehrlacher will carry 30 kilos.
“We drop ten kilos of compensation weight for this weekend and we have carried a lot of weight since the beginning of the season,” said Ehrlacher to TouringCarTimes.
“I think the Hyundais will be strong this weekend as we saw in Australia, especially on the straights, but they carry more weight and they are quite far away in the championship. We need to continue doing our job and be consistent.”
Guerrieri started the season strongly with two wins and the points lead but has been outscored by Ehrlacher at all of the following races and has primarily suffered from inconsistent qualifying and race pace.
The South Korean round means the home race for the Hyundai team and reigning champion Norbert Michelisz continued his recovery from the team’s nightmare season start in the previous round at The Bend and was the best scoring driver.
The Hungarian driver will however carry the maximum 40 kilos of compensation weight this weekend and is still 98 points from championship leader Ehrlacher with just three race weekends remaining of the season.
“The most important and most exciting race weekend of the season is just ahead, and we did quite a lot of preparation in the last couple of weeks,” said Michelisz.
“After Australia, the target is to carry the momentum all the way through the final three race weekends. I know it won’t be easy because of the Compensation Weight, carrying the maximum amount in my case will make it hard but, nevertheless, I have high hopes for podiums and a lot of points.”
Ehrlacher’s team-mates Thed Björk and Santiago Urrutia are placed third and fourth overall, trailing the Frenchman by 53 and 71 points respectively, and will carry no compensation weight in South Korea.
There are 12 additional entries for this weekend, including three local drivers in the form of Junesung and Junui Park of Hyundai team Solite Indigo Racing as well as Choi Jeong Weon of KMSA Motorsport Hyundai.
Dušan Borkoviĉ is back on track for GOAT Racing, having last raced in Vila Real, as is the TCR Australia trio of Josh Buchan, Ryan MacMillan and Lo Sze Ho of HMO Customer Racing.
The grid also features TCR Asia drivers Benny Santoso of Z.Speed N MAS (Hyundai), Reignbert G. Diwa of Euriasia Motorsport (Hyundai) Sean Chang Chien Shang of RevX Racing (Audi).
The race weekend starts on Friday with two practice sessions, followed by qualifying and Race 1 on Saturday, with two further races scheduled for Sunday.
Inje Speedium time table
Times in KST (CEST +7H)
Friday 17/10
14:50 – Free Practice 1
17:25 – Free Practice 2
Saturday 18/10
10:00 – Qualifying
16:05 – Race 1
Sunday 19/10
10:55 – Race 2
16:40 – Race 3
FIA TCR World Tour – Inje Speedium entry list
3 – Choi Jeong Weon – KMSA Motorsport N – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
5 – Ryan MacMillan – HMO Customer Racing – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
23 – Diego Moran – DM23 Ecuador Racing – Honda Civic FL5
30 – Josh Buchan – HMO Customer Racing – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
56 – Benny Santoso – Z.Speed N MAS – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
62 – Dušan Borkoviĉ – GOAT Racing – Honda Civic FL5
69 – Andy Lian Wenyao – Eurasia Motorsport – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
87 – Junui Park – Solite Indigo Racing – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
97 – Junesung Park – Solite Indigo Racing – Hyundai Elantra N 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
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
281 – Lo Sze Ho – Evolve Racing – Hyundai i30 N TCR
288 – Sean Chang Chien Shang – RevX Racing – Audi RS 3 LMS TCR
381 – Reignbert G. Diwa – Eurasia Motorsport – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
