Weights come into play as FIA TCR World Tour heads to Valencia

The FIA TCR World Tour field heads to Valencia in Spain and new weights will affect the field after a season opener five weeks ago which saw the Hyundai and Geely teams at the helm.

BRC Hyundai driver Mikel Azcona heads the points table after a solid start to the season with a pole and two second-place finishes.

The Spaniard will however carry 40kg of compensation weight in Valencia, also facing changed Balance of Performance weights which are unique to the FIA TCR World Tour this season.

The BoP parametres for the Hyundai Elantra N EV TCR have been left unchanged while all other cars, bar the Geely Preface TCR of Cyan Racing, have had weight reductions of either 10kg or 20kg.

Reigning champion Yann Ehrlacher is placed second overall after the first race weekend, trailing Azcona by 17 points after a promising debut of the all-new Geely Preface TCR of Cyan Racing.

And the Cyan Racing quartet claimed places two to five in the standings after Misano with Thed Björk in second, Ma Qing Hua, who won the reversed-grid race, in third and Santiago Urrutia fourth.

Former champion Norbert Michelisz had a mixed first race weekend after being let past by Azcona to win the first race and retired from the second race due to a puncture.

The Hungarian driver, who will carry 0kg of compensation weight in Valencia, is placed sixth overall.

Cupra driver Aurélien Comte was “best of the rest” at Misano and holds seventh place with a fourth-place finish in the second race as his so far best result.

And the French driver will benefit from a 20kg BoP weight reduction in Valencia and 0kg of compensation weight, meaning Comte will definitely be one to watch this weekend.

Comte will however be alone in the SP Compétition team as Jean-Karl Vernay has been ruled out due to an injury.

Top Honda driver Esteban Guerrieri had a disappointing season opener, leaving Italy with just two seventh-place finishes in the bag and sits eighth overall in the drivers’ standings.

Guerrieri, and the other Honda drivers, will benefit from a 20kg BoP weight reduction in Valencia and will no doubt be more competitive this weekend.

The FIA TCR World Tour field will be joined by the TCR Spain field in Valencia, although the third and final race is voluntary for the Spanish drivers to take part in, for a total of 29 cars.

The Spanish race weekend starts on Friday with two practice sessions, followed by qualifying and the first race on Saturday and two further races on Sunday.

FIA TCR World Tour entry list Valencia

10 – Viktor Andersson – Monlau Motorsport – CUPRA Leon VZ TCR
12 – Gabriele Covini – BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
13 – Manuel Fernandes – Vannin Motorsport – Audi RS 3 LMS
15 – Luke Sargeant – Vannin Motorsport – Audi RS 3 LMS
24 – Julien Broché – JSB Compétition – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
81 – Damiano Reduzzi – Trico WRT – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
105 – Norbert Michelisz – BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse – Hyundai Elantra N EV TCR
107 – Aurélien Comte – SP Compétition – CUPRA Leon VZ TCR
111 – Thed Björk – Geely Cyan Racing – Geely Preface TCR
121 – Jimmy Clairet – ALM Motorsport – Honda Civic Type R FL5 TCR
145 – Raphäel Fournier – JSB Compétition – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
155 – Ma Qing Hua – Geely Cyan Racing – Geely Preface TCR
168 – Yann Ehrlacher – Geely Cyan Racing – Geely Preface TCR
169 – Jean-Karl Vernay – SP Compétition – CUPRA Leon VZ TCR*
181 – Santiago Uurrutia – Geely Cyan Racing – Geely Preface TCR
186 – Esteban Guerrieri – GOAT Racing – Honda Civic Type R FL5 TCR
196 – Mikel Azcona – BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse – Hyundai Elantra N EV TCR
246 – Jenson Brickley – ALM Motorsport – Honda Civic Type R FL5 TCR
405 – Demir Eröge – ALM Motorsport – Honda Civic Type R FL5
411 – Busián Fontán – RX Pro Racing – Audi RS 3 LMS
419 – Enzo Gianfratti – DSOEM Motorsport – CUPRA Leon VZ TCR
420 – Sebastián Quirno – Monlau Motorsport – CUPRA Leon VZ TCR
431 – Mathieu Casalonga – Team Clairet Sport – Audi RS 3 LMS
433 – Samuel Chaligne – Team Clairet Sport – CUPRA Leon VZ TCR
437 – Sten Dorian Piirimägi – ALM Motorsport – Honda Civic Type R FL5
441 – René Povlsen – ALM Motorsport – Honda Civic Type R FL5
472 – Sandro Pelatti – SP Compétition – CUPRA Leon VZ TCR
473 – Victor Fernández – RC2 Racing Team – Honda Civic Type R FL5
481 – Erik Zabala – Team Clairet Sport – Audi RS 3 LMS

* = Withdrawn due to injury

Valencia schedule

Times in CEST

Friday 12/6
15:00 – Free Practice 1
17:00 – Free Practice 2
Saturday 13/6
10:45 – Qualifying
17:10 – Race 1
Sunday 14/6
11:55 – Race 2
16:40 – Race 3