Hyundai Motorsport launches Customer Racing Young Driver program
- Hyundai Motorsport has announced the new Customer Racing Young Driver initiative to support drivers racing with its i30 N TCR
- The program is designed to help drivers progress from national championships, through the regional series towards a drive in FIA WTCR
- Candidates will be selected based on their results on track, their ability to work with a team’s engineers and their professional approach to racing.
Hyundai Motorsport has established a new Customer Racing Young Driver initiative, for the first time supporting circuit racers competing with the i30 N TCR.
The new initiative represents the beginning of a long-term commitment to Hyundai Motorsport’s TCR customers around the world. The Customer Racing department already provides on-site engineering and spare parts services to teams in major series. However, the arrival of the Young Driver program extends the support the department can offer directly to i30 N TCR drivers.
Open to any driver under the age of 24 driving with one of Hyundai Motorsport’s TCR teams, the Young Driver program is designed to help with progress through the various national and regional series, towards FIA WTCR, where Hyundai customers won both the drivers’ and teams’ titles in 2018 during the car’s first full year in competition. In total the i30 N TCR won more than 30 races around the world in 2018, claiming titles in Korea and the USA, alongside the World Cup success.
Drivers will be selected based on their results on track in the chosen championship, as well as their ability to work with the teams’ engineers and their professional approach both at, and away from, the circuit. As part of the Customer Racing Young Driver class they will have the honour of displaying a specially designed logo on their race overalls. They will also have the support and mentoring of Hyundai customers’ FIA WTCR drivers, including 2018 winner Gabriele Tarquini, and the opportunity for extra training and media coaching to help them in their professional driving career.
The Young Driver class will also be invited to an FIA WTCR event during the 2019 season, while the best performances will be rewarded with a test with BRC Racing, alongside the regular WTCR line-up.
The introduction of the Customer Racing Young Driver program marks the latest expansion in Hyundai Motorsport’s Customer Racing department, since it was established in 2015. This year will see i30 N TCR customers competing in TCR Asia for the first time, as well as taking part in the all-new TCR Australia Series, as the number of cars sold continues to climb.
Hyundai Motorsport Team Director Andrea Adamo said: “The introduction of the Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing Young Driver initiative adds another layer of support from the department available to our customers around the world. We already have some fantastic drivers racing with our cars, and the opportunities presented by being part of the program will hopefully attract more young talent to Hyundai and the i30 N TCR. Through the new scheme we can help them in their professional motorsport careers, allowing them to progress through the national and regional TCR series towards FIA WTCR. I look forward to working with them in seasons to come.”
TCR Promoter Marcelo Lotti said: “Having this level of support from a customer racing manufacturer for the TCR regulations is fantastic. A major part of the appeal of the category is the ability for drivers and teams to progress from a domestic series to international competition with the same car, so to have the Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing Young Driver initiative embrace that is very encouraging. There are already a great number of very talented up-and-coming drivers racing in TCR, and incentives like this will only make the series more attractive.”
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