Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing commits to TCR World Tour

Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing will be represented by a pair of Hyundai Elantra N TCR cars this year in the first season of the TCR World Tour.
 
The 2023 season marks the opening of a new chapter of international TCR competition, with the TCR World Tour taking the place of WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup as the highest level for the category. Through the five years of WTCR competition, Hyundai Motorsport cars and customer teams became the most successful in the series – winning a total of 30 races, three drivers’ and two teams’ titles.
 
The Hyundai i30 N TCR – the first circuit racing car built by Hyundai Motorsport – claimed both the teams’ and drivers’ titles from the inaugural WTCR season in 2018, with BRC Racing Team’s Gabriele Tarquini lifting the trophy at the Macau finale, while M Racing-YMR took teams’ honours. BRC man Norbert Michelisz continued the success a year later in 2019 by securing the title in his i30 N TCR under the lights at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia.
 
After switching to the Elantra N TCR, Hyundai Motorsport customers ended the WTCR era on a high with another title double for Mikel Azcona and the BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse team in 2022 after a year of superb performances on track.
 
Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing is ready to continue its excellent record in the new surroundings of the TCR World Tour. Success on track has highlighted the high-performance qualities of Hyundai N-Brand road vehicles and their track iterations, which has been central to the growth of fan communities and sales worldwide.
 
Further details of the Hyundai Motorsport customer team for the series will be revealed closer to start of the season, scheduled for April 28-30 in Portimão, Portugal. 
 
Hyundai Motorsport Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul said: “The Customer Racing department and the TCR programme are very important elements of Hyundai Motorsport. Just like the start of our work on the Hyundai i30 N TCR in 2016, and then the development of the Hyundai Elantra N TCR, the dawn of the TCR World Tour brings another fresh challenge. We embrace this new era with the experience and expertise gained from years of success in the WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup and the confidence that we can start the season with the same strength we have shown before.” 
 
Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing Manager Andrea Cisotti said: “As a manufacturer we enjoyed incredible success in WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup, and we look forward to continuing this record with our customers this season. The TCR World Tour promises to deliver the same exciting, close racing as its predecessor. The events that have already been confirmed will take the series to a truly global audience and some of the best race circuits in the world. This will be only one of several new challenges for our customers and their drivers, but one for which we will support them entirely.”
 
 
About Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Established on 19 December 2012, Hyundai Motorsport GmbH is responsible for Hyundai’s global motorsport activities, including the FIA World Rally Championship, FIA ETCR – eTouring Car World Cup, and Customer Racing projects. Hyundai Motorsport quickly established a strong reputation in WRC, finishing as runners-up in the manufacturers’ championship on three consecutive occasions between 2016 and 2018 before claiming the title in 2019 and 2020. The company then embraced the all-new technical challenge of WRC’s hybrid era in 2022, resulting in the birth of the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid. Since the establishment of its Customer Racing activities in September 2015, Hyundai Motorsport has become a trusted partner for teams and drivers looking for success on the rally stages or on racetracks around the world. From its competitive i20 N Rally2 to the front-running Elantra N TCR, Hyundai Motorsport-built cars have claimed victory in several championships, including national rally series in France and Spain, as well as titles in the FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) in 2018, 2019 and 2022. Designed and built at its Alzenau headquarters, the Veloster N ETCR heralded an exciting new era in 2019, in which electric racing became one of the company’s pillars. Embarking on its tenth year in 2023, Hyundai Motorsport continues to unify WRC, Customer Racing, and electric racing, which play instrumental roles in driving Hyundai’s global high-performance N brand and are supporting an important perception shift for the Hyundai brand around the world.
 
Further information about Hyundai Motorsport is available at: http://motorsport.hyundai.com 
 
About Hyundai Motor Company
Established in 1967, Hyundai Motor Company is present in over 200 countries with more than 120,000 employees dedicated to tackling real-world mobility challenges around the globe. Based on the brand vision ‘Progress for Humanity,’ Hyundai Motor is accelerating its transformation into a Smart Mobility Solution Provider. The company invests in advanced technologies such as robotics and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) to bring about revolutionary mobility solutions, while pursuing open innovation to introduce future mobility services. In pursuit of sustainable future for the world, Hyundai will continue its efforts to introduce zero emission vehicles equipped with industry-leading hydrogen fuel cell and EV technologies.
 
More information about Hyundai Motor and its products can be found at: http://worldwide.hyundai.com or http://globalpr.hyundai.com/