Photo: procar.cc

CTCC completes first four-car ETCR races at Zhuzhou

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China Touring Car Championship promoter Lisheng Sports completed a first race weekend with the relaunched all-electric ETCR concept during the joint FIA TCR World Tour/TCR Asia race weekend at Zhuzhou in China.

A total of four cars took part in the two races, including the Dongfeng eπ 007 model, which was showcased at Zhuzhou last year, and two newly constructed SAIC Volkswagen ID.3 race cars.

Huang Fujin and Liu Yang drove the Dongfengs for the Dongfeng Yipai team while He Xiaole and Tang Shuyan drove the 333 E Racing Team-pepared Volkswagens.

The pole position time of 1:46.116 was set by Liu Yang, a time which was slower compared to the FIA TCR World Tour pole time of 1:44.306, set by Cupra driver Aurélien Comte.

The quartet drove two 20-minute + 1 lap races, both won the Dongfeng Yipai team as Huang Fujin won Race 1 while Liu Yang took the honours in Race 2.

The race was meant as a showcase for a potential full CTCC Electric Racing Cup season in 2026.

ETCR was originally launched in 2021 by WSC, the TCR rights holders, under the name PURE ETCR. The championship gained FIA status for 2022 but was only held for one season before Discovery Sports Events announced it would withdraw as promoter early 2023.

The new initiative from Lisheng Sports, the promoters of TCR China and TCR Asia, uses the ETCR name in an agreement with WSC.