WTCR
PWR Racing enters with CUPRA Racing

The Swedish team PWR Racing will make its debut on the world stage, entering in WTCR with two CUPRA TCR cars.
“The team’s progress has been extremely fast since it was founded in 2012 and we are now heading for our first international season. I'm looking forward to it and I'm grateful for the trust that CUPRA Racing has put in us to represent their brand in WTCR,” said Daniel Haglöf, co-founder and CEO.
PWR Racing represented SEAT Sweden and CUPRA Racing in TCR Scandinavia with great success, winning three titles in the last two years. The team will continue to run two CUPRA cars in TCR Scandinavia alongside the WTCR programme.
“This is an important step for PWR Racing; to get the opportunity to represent the CUPRA brand on the international stage is a honour and a great testament to everyone that's been involved with the team over the years,” said team’s co-founder Peter Wallenberg.
The driver line up for WTCR will consist of a mix of experience and youthful talent; the two names will be announced shortly.
Comtoyou Racing will provide technical and logistic supports to the programme.

Photo: Micke Fransson

TCR Europe
A Renault Mégane for John Filippi

John Filippi has been chosen by Milenko Vuković and Eric Nève to drive and develop the new Renault Mégane RS in the 2019 TCR Europe series.
After four years in World Touring Cars, Fillippi’s new goal is to become the first driver to win with the Renault Mégane TCR built at the Vuković Motorsport factory in Switzerland. Eric Nève, the new team manager, has played an important role in Filippi's implication in the project.
“I am so excited by the challenge and very proud to be part of this adventure. I drove the car late last year and felt its potential. I will use my experience to be competitive in TCR Europe; it will be important to perform from the beginning of the season in order to reach our goals,” said the 24-year-old Corsican.
Nève stated: “My greatest challenge as team manager is to create the best working atmosphere. We need to be ready on both the technical and human sides. We need to give the driver the best conditions to perform. John was the logical choice for us. His experience in the World Touring Cars will help us to achieve our goals.”
“I've met John last year and asked him to test the Mégane. He was seduced by the car from the first test day. John is an international driver, he's very clear about his sensations at the wheel. I wanted him in the team and I am sure that together we will be able to fight for good results,” concluded Vuković, the project director.

Photo: DPPI

TCR Europe
Morbidelli and Kangas with WestCoast Racing

WestCoast Racing entered the 2019 TCR Europe series with two Volkswagen Golf GTI cars for Gianni Morbidelli and Olli Kangas.
After clinching the 2018 TCR UK Drivers’ and Teams’ titles, the Swedish-based team took part in last year’s European finale at Barcelona where Ashley Sutton took third position.
Morbidelli returns to the team, which he raced for in the TCR International Series. He will be joined by young Finn Kangas with a background of TCR in Scandinavia, UK and Germany, including victory on the infamous Nordschleife.
Team Principal Dick Jönsson Wigroth said: “I am very happy that Morbidelli returns to us. He is more motivated than ever and we enjoy working with him both on and off the track. I am also excited to welcome Kangas, we have followed him over the past couple of years and believe he can deliver a few surprises.”
Morbidelli echoed: “I'm happy to return to WestCoast. I spent three years with them and have great memories. I'm grateful to Dick Jönsson Wigroth and James Nixon for the opportunity they have given me, it's always a pleasure to work with people I respect and consider to be good friends.”
Kangas concluded: “After a couple of seasons in TCR Scandinavia I’m delighted to join WestCoast and TCR Europe. I'm excited to work with such a professional team and I hope to learn quickly from my new teammate Gianni.”

Photos: TCR-Photo 4

The new Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce
is ready to impress

A lot of work has been done at Romeo Ferraris to develop a new Alfa Romeo Giulietta for TCR competition. The new-born car, named Giulietta Veloce, differs in a number of parts from the model that has been raced so far. The whole framework has been lightened, the front bumper-splitter group and rear wing’s mounting have been redesigned to reduce drag, the weight distribution has been optimized.
Operations manager Michela Cerruti explained: “It’s a brand new project and we haven’t had enough track time to compare the two models. But we have built the Veloce with the aim of improving performance. The outside look is still quite the same, but the main changes are inside; the lighter framework and new weight distribution have been conceived to make the car more driveable and agile, improving the fields where we were struggling.”
So far, 14 Giulietta TCR have been sold to customer teams in Europe, USA, Australia and Asia.
“It is still a competitive car, with the potential to achieve brilliant results,” Cerruti said. “We will keep on providing on-site technical support to our customers, just like we are currently doing in North America. We have already received orders for the Veloce, the first one from Australia, but we don’t make predictions on future sales. However, we are confident that in 2019 the new model will be racing in a minimum of two series other than WTCR.”

Photos: TCR-Jordi Rierola

TCR Asia
Team Engstler will defend its titles

Days after Luca Engstler was crowned champion of the inaugural TCR Malaysia championship, Engstler Motorsport announced the plan to defend both the TCR Asia Drivers’ and Teams’ titles.
Luca Engstler – who won the 2018 championship at the wheel of a Volkswagen Golf GTI – will be the leading driver once again but in a Hyundai i30 N.
He will team up with Ahmed Khalid (21) who emerged in the selection promoted by the Sepang International Circuit to launch young Malaysian drivers and follows last year’s candidate, Mitchell Cheah who will now move on to compete in TCR Germany. Khalid was selected ahead of Mark Darwin, Brendan Paul Anthony and Ahmad Akid Azlee.
“We placed them all in TCR Malaysia, with the mission to select one of them for TCR Asia under the SIC Talent Development Programme. All four are very talented and it was indeed a difficult and painful decision that we had to make. The selection was not just based on the results in TCR Malaysia; but on an overall assessment based on fitness, performance and behavioural qualities,” explained SIC Chief Executive Officer, Dato’ Razlan Razali said in a statement today.

Photos: TCR Malaysia

TCR DSG Endurance
Dindo Capello's comeback to racing

Rinaldo ‘Dindo’ Capello, three times a winner of the 24H Le Mans and 1996 Italian Super Touring Champion will make his comeback at the wheel of a racing car in the TCR DSG Endurance Champion.
Tomorrow the 54-year old will take part in the official test at Misano in view of his possible participation in the series’ opening round at Monza on April 7th. Having spent most of his career at the wheel of Audi cars, it’s no wonder that he will drive an Audi RS 3 LMS.
“I’m happy to be back in a racing car and a bit nervous,” he admitted. “I haven’t driven a car with the aim of racing since two or three years and I’m curious to see my reactions.”
A brand ambassador for Audi, Capello will attend the DTM event at Misano that will include the TCR DSG Endurance night race. “If the schedule will permit, I could also take part in the race. It will be at night and it would be like going back in time, to my sportscar years.”  

Photo: Audi Sport

Cyan Racing's TCR car for the road

Cyan Racing's race engineers and drivers have developed the 528-hp Lynk & Co 03 Cyan Concept, road-going version of the TCR race car. It is the latest performance car concept from Cyan Racing, formerly named Polestar, following the Volvo C30 Concept and Volvo S60 Concept.
“This is a natural step for us together with Lynk & Co. To build a road version of a race car is a great way to learn more about a car and its characteristics,” said Christian Dahl, founder and owner of Cyan Racing. “This is a concept but it might also be a first step towards a performance offer for Lynk & Co customers were we bring what we learn on the track to the road.”
The Lynk & Co 03 Cyan Concept road car has been developed by largely the same team that developed the previous concept cars of the company, the 450-hp C30 Concept and the 508-hp S60 Concept.
“Our engineering philosophy has always been to build cars for all conditions,” said Henrik Fries, Head of Automotive R&D at Cyan Racing. “A championship winning race car must never surprise its driver. It stays balanced no matter the circuit or weather. Building the Lynk & Co 03 Cyan Concept road car is no exception. We strive to make it perform on all roads, all seasons and in all conditions.”
The development of the concept car is currently underway on the roads in Spain.