Santiago Urrutia: “I still have a chance to win”

Santiago Urrutia has not given up on his 2026 FIA TCR World Tour title hopes despite a difficult weekend at Zhejiang where he collided with title rival Mikel Azcona and lost vital points.

“It’s 75 points on the table and I’m 39 points behind, so I still have a chance to win,” said Urrutia to TouringCarTimes.

The penultimate race weekend in China was one of ups and downs for the Geely Cyan Racing driver.

He reduced the gap to Hyundai driver Azcona to just 17 points after the second race, only for the gap to open back up to 39 points after the third race.

Urrutia managed to snatch the lead at the start of Race 3, but Azcona quickly caught him and the two made contact which resulted in a puncture and pit stop for the Uruguayan driver.

“I had jumped to P1, but the Hyundais were a lot quicker than us in the straights, so I didn’t think I was going to have any chance to keep them behind,” said Urrutia.

“Mikel was already looking to overtake and we had contact. I mean, it’s a shame that my tyre basically blew up, but nothing further to say about it. It’s racing.”

The Geely Preface TCR driver will head to the Macau season finale with less weight than Azcona, 10kg vs 30kg.

“We go to Macau, of course with less chances, but it’s going to be difficult anyway because they’ve been on pole with 40 kilos twice already this year,” said Urrutia.

“Especially in sector one of Macau, I think they can still be quick. It seems like the weight doesn’t really affect them a lot.”

With 75 points left on the table in Macau and a gap of 39 points to Azcona, Urrutia has got a tough task ahead of him.

“I will go for it. Otherwise, I can stay home,” said Urrutia.

“It’s all to play for, plus we have the chance to win the team title as well, so many things on the table.”