*Youth and experience unite in Goodyear-equipped CUPRA Leon CompeticiĆ³n cars *WTCR bid in addition to PURE ETCR campaign for ace racers *ZengÅ Motorsport to oversee four CUPRA-powered entries in WTCR
CUPRA has become the latest car brand to reveal its supported drivers for the 2021 WTCR ā FIA World Touring Car Cup, confirming Mikel Azcona and Jordi GenĆ© will drive the Goodyear-supported CUPRA Leon CompeticiĆ³n during the upcoming season.
Todayās exciting announcement from CUPRA follows on from Audi Sport customer racing, Honda Racing, Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing and Lynk & Co, through Cyan Racing, revealing their respective supported drivers for WTCR 2021.
Azcona, 24, is one of the sportās highly rated young talents with two WTCR wins to his name. GenĆ©, who switched to touring car racing following considerable success in single-seaters, was a three-time winner in the FIA World Touring Car Championship and also scored three triumphs in the TCR International Series in 2015. The 50-year-old not only brings considerable pace to CUPRAās WTCR customer racing programme, heās also highly experienced.
Both will combine their WTCR efforts with campaigns in PURE ETCR, the all-electric touring car championship from Eurosport Events, the same promoter behind WTCR. In PURE ETCR, where Goodyear tyres are also used by all drivers, Azcona and GenƩ will do battle in the CUPRA e-Racer.
Top Hungarian team ZengÅ Motorsport, which helped Azcona score the first WTCR win for the CUPRA Leon CompeticiĆ³n at MotorLand AragĆ³n last November, will oversee the WTCR entries of Azcona and GenĆ©, plus two other drivers to be announced in the coming weeks.
Happy Azcona plans world title fight
āIām very happy to continue racing for another season with CUPRA in the WTCR,ā said Azcona, who will also compete in TCR Europe alongside Evgenii Leonov, as part of the Russian Volcano Motorsport line-up. āAfter two years in the highest level of touring car racing with victories, my goal this year is to fight for the world title. Iām convinced that racing next to such an experienced driver as Jordi will be the best formula to be competitive and to get the best performance out of the CUPRA Leon CompeticiĆ³n, a model perfectly suited to this series.ā
CUPRA Leon CompeticiĆ³n pace excites GenĆ©
GenĆ©, whose experience in touring car racing covers more than 25 years, said: āIām very excited to be back racing with CUPRA and alongside a driver as skilled as Mikel. Iāve been involved in the development of the CUPRA Leon CompeticiĆ³n, so I know what this model is capable of. Itās going to be an exciting season.ā
Xavier Gavory, WTCR Director, Eurosport Events, said:Ā āIn Mikel Azcona and Jordi GenĆ©, the 2021 WTCR grid welcomes another two exceptional talents, and we are naturally very pleased that CUPRA is continuing its WTCR participation. Driving for ZengÅ Motorsport, Mikel was able to demonstrate the potential of the CUPRA Leon CompeticiĆ³n when he claimed the carās first WTCR win in only its fourth race weekend. With Jordi, who has so much experience, supporting him, Mikel is in a very strong position to become the second King of WTCR aged 25 or under.ā
Antonino Labate, CUPRA Director of Strategy, Business Development and Operations, said:Ā āAt CUPRA weāre convinced that youth and experience are the perfect combination to achieve our goals. Jordi GenĆ© has a wealth of knowledge in the world of touring car racing, and Mikel is part of the next generation of young talent looking to be the driving force behind the transformation. In 2021, CUPRA will be present in 70 races planned for this season in world, continental and national TCR series and championships. Meanwhile, weāre continuing our electrification strategy with our participation in Extreme E and PURE ETCR, where Jordi and Mikel will also compete together.ā
ZoltĆ”n ZengÅ, Team Principal, ZengÅ Motorsport, said:Ā āWe are very happy to keep working with CUPRA Racing and continue the progress we started making in 2020. Itās a very good feeling that a second CUPRA factory driver in Jordi GenĆ© is joining our team to race alongside Mikel Azcona. He has very good experience and is very fast and we believe he will be able to help a lot the team and Mikel as well. We want to win the WTCR titles for Drivers and Teams and we will do everything possible as ZengÅ Motorsport to achieve this success. Over the next few weeks, we will announce the details of the two other ZengÅ drivers for 2021.ā
WTCR ā FIA World Touring Car Cup 2021 calendar
Rounds 1 and 2: WTCR Race of Germany, NĆ¼rburgring Nordschleife: June 3-5
Rounds 3 and 4: WTCR Race of Portugal, Vila Real: June 26-27
Rounds 5 and 6: WTCR Race of Spain, MotorLand AragĆ³n: July 10-11
Rounds 7 and 8: WTCR Race of Italy, Adria International Raceway: July 31-August 1
Rounds 9 and 10: WTCR Race of Hungary, Hungaroring: August 21-22
Rounds 11 and 12: WTCR Race of South Korea, Inje Speedium: October 16-17
Rounds 13 and 14: WTCR Race of China, Ningo International Speedpark: November 6-7
Rounds 15 and 16: WTCR Race of Macau, Circuito da Guia: November 19-21
