Event preview: WTCR Race of Belgium

When track action gets underway at Zolder next Friday (September 11) to signal the start of the 2020 WTCR − FIA World Touring Car Cup, it will have been 271 days since Norbert Michelisz was crowned King of WTCR and the wait began for his rivals to start their respective bids for revenge.

EVENT ESSENTIALS
What? 2020 WTCR − FIA World Touring Car Cup, Rounds 1 and 2 of 16
When? September 11-13, 2020
Where? Circuit Zolder, Belgium
Track length: 4.0 kilometres
Race 1 distance: 13 laps (52.0 kilometres)
Race 2 distance: 16 laps (64.0 kilometres)
WTCR qualifying lap record: To be established
WTCR race lap record: To be established

EVENT OVERVIEW
When track action gets underway at Zolder next Friday (September 11) to signal the start of the 2020 WTCR − FIA World Touring Car Cup, it will have been 271 days since Norbert Michelisz was crowned King of WTCR and the wait began for his rivals to start their respective bids for revenge.

They’ll finally get their chance at the inaugural WTCR Race of Belgium as an exciting new chapter in the series’ history prepares to be written, in accordance with strict COVID-19 protocol mandated by Appendix S of the FIA’s International Sporting Code.

New drivers, new teams, new cars and new tyres from new official supplier Goodyear will be put to the test. There will also be new awards, the FIA Rookie Award and WTCR Trophy, and wide-ranging rule changes, many of which have been ushered in to make WTCR racing as accessible as it is popular.

While the racing will take place behind closed doors, fans can count on extensive live broadcasting − including on RTBF Auvio in Belgium − plus fresh and fun content across the WTCR’s social channels.

WHO’S ON TRACK?
See below and find out more here: WTCR all-season entries top 20 for 2020. Wildcard entries for WTCR Race of Zolder to be announced on September 7.

1 Norbert Michelisz (HUN) BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse Hyundai i30 N TCR
7 R T Jack Young (GBR) Vuković Motorsport Renault Mégane RS TCR**
8 R Luca Engstler (DEU) Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team Hyundai i30 N TCR
9 Attila Tassi (HUN) ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R TCR
11 Thed Björk (SWE) Cyan Performance Lynk & Co 03 TCR
12 Santiago Urrutia (USA) Cyan Performance Lynk & Co 03 TCR
16 R T Gilles Magnus (BEL) Comtoyou Racing Audi RS 3 LMS
17 T Nathanaël Berthon (FRA) Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport Audi RS 3 LMS
18 Tiago Monteiro (PRT) ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R TCR
29 Néstor Girolami (ARG) ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R TCR
30 Gabriele Tarquini (ITA) BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse Hyundai i30 N TCR
31 T Tom Coronel (NED) Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport Audi RS 3 LMS
55 R T Bence Boldizs (HUN) Zengő Motorsport CUPRA Leon Competición
68 Yann Ehrlacher (FRA) Cyan Racing Lynk & Co 03 TCR
69 T Jean-Karl Vernay (FRA) Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR by Romeo Ferraris
86 Esteban Guerrieri (ARG) ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R TCR
88 Nicky Catsburg (NED) Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team Hyundai i30 N TCR
96 Mikel Azcona (ESP) Zengő Motor,sport CUPRA Leon Competición
99 T Gábor Kismarty-Lechner (HUN) Zengő Motorsport CUPRA Leon Competición
100 Thed Björk (SWE) Cyan Racing Lynk & Co 03 TCR
R = Rookie Award contender; T = WTCR Trophy contender

WEEEKEND DIARY
Friday September 11
Free Practice 1: 17h00-17h45
Saturday September 12
Free Practice 2: 09h50-10h20
Qualifying Q1: 14h00-14h20
Qualifying Q2: 14h25-14h35
Qualifying Q3: First car starts at 14h45
Sunday September 13
Race 1: 10h30 (13 laps)
Race 2: 14h15 (16 laps)
All timings are shown in CET, are provisional and subject to change

KEY NUMBERS
271: Days between Norbert Michelisz being crowned King of WTCR and Zolder Free Practice 1
16: Number of Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport dry-weather tyres allocated to each driver at Zolder
500: Touring car starts Tom Coronel is aiming to make before 2020 is out
7: WTCR win record shared by Yvan Muller and Gabriele Tarquini
4: Zolder track length in kilometres

WHAT’S NEW FOR 2020?
THE DRIVERS
*Bence Boldizs, Gábor Kismarty-Lechner, Gilles Magnus, Santiago Urrutia and Jack Young are new
*Nathanaël Berthon is back after a season away, while Luca Engstler prepares to go full time after making two appearances in 2019

THE TEAMS
*ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport adds two cars under the ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport banner
*Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team embarks on its first all-season bid
*Zengő Motorsport returns as a full-season entrant having featured once as a wildcard in 2019
*Vuković Motorsport steps up from TCR Europe with a Renault Mégane-powered effort**

THE LINE-UPS
*Yann Ehrlacher joins uncle Yvan Muller in representing Cyan Racing Lynk & Co
*Tiago Monteiro and Attila Tassi will form the ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport attack
*Jean-Karl Vernay switches to a Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR by Romeo Ferraris
*Nicky Catsburg moves to Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team

THE CARS
*CUPRA’s Leon Competición is all-new for 2020
*The Honda Civic Type R Limited Edition is the WTCR’s new Official Safety Car

THE TYRES
*Goodyear is the new official tyre supplier and will provide its Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport

THE NUMBERS
*Norbert Michelisz takes over the coveted number 1 following his 2019 title triumph
*Gabriele Tarquini reverts to the number 30 he used to win the 2018 WTCR title
*Tom Coronel goes from 50 to 31 to mark the number of seasons he’s been racing

THE EVENTS
*Six-event, European-only scheduled In response to the COVID-19 pandemic
*Zolder, Aragón and Adria are all new to WTCR, which has never held races in Belgium, Spain or Italy

WHAT’S UP FOR GRABS?
WTCR − FIA World Touring Car Cup for Drivers
WTCR − FIA World Touring Car Cup for Teams
FIA Rookie Award
WTCR Trophy
DHL Pole Position
TAG Heuer Best Lap Trophy
TAG Heuer Most Valuable Driver

WTCR QUALIFYING: HOW IT WORKS?
All events feature a three-phase single qualifying session, apart from WTCR Race of Germany where the long track length (25.378 kilometres) requires a single uninterrupted session of 60 minutes.

As well as a move from two sessions to a single session, the main change for 2020 concerns the formation of the grid for Race 1, which will be decided using the final results of Qualifying Q1, although a more detailed breakdown appears below.

At all events, apart from WTCR Race of Germany, one qualifying session split into three phases (Qualifying Q1, Qualifying Q2 and Qualifying Q3) takes place:

QUALIFYING Q1
How long? 20 minutes
Who scores what? Fastest 5 score points (5-4-3-2-1)
Who gets to Q2? Top 12
Anything else? Quickest driver claims the DHL Pole Position for Race 1

QUALIFYING Q2
How long? 10 minutes
Who scores what? No points scored
Who gets to Q3? Top 5

QUALIFYING Q3
How long? Each driver gets one out lap, one flying lap and one in lap
Who goes first in the shootout? The driver who is P1 in Q2 chooses when they run followed by the driver in P2, P3 etc.
Who scores what? Fastest 5 score points (5-4-3-2-1)
Anything else? Quickest driver claims the DHL Pole Position for Race 3

WTCR GRIDS: HOW ARE THEY FORMED?

For events with 3 races…
Race 1: Final order of Qualifying Q1
Race 2: Positions 1-10 from the combined qualifying times line up in reverse order, positions 11-12 occupied by the cars from Q2 that are not in reverse order. All other cars line up behind from P13 downwards (according to their Q1 time)
Race 3: Top 5 positions occupied by order of Q3, positions 6-12 occupied by cars eliminated during Q2 (according to their Q2 time). Remaining positions occupied by cars eliminated in Q1.

For events with 2 races…
Race 1: Positions 1-10 according to the combined qualifying times line up in reverse order, positions 11-12 occupied by the cars from Q2 that are not in reverse order. All other cars line up behind from P13 downwards (according to their Q1 time)
Race 2: Top 5 positions occupied by order of Q3, positions 6-12 occupied by cars eliminated during Q2 (according to their Q2 time). Remaining positions occupied by cars eliminated in Q1.

WTCR Race of Germany…
WTCR Race of Germany Race 1 grid decided by the final qualifying classification with positions 1-10 lining up in reverse order. Race 2 grid decided by the final qualifying order. The fastest five drivers score points (10-8-6-4-2).

HOW THEY SCORE?
The fastest 5 drivers in Qualifying Q1 and Qualifying Q3 score points as follows:
5-4-3-2-1
(At WTCR Race of Germany the fastest 5 in qualifying score as follows: 10-8-6-4-2)

The top 15 classified finishers score points in each race as follows:
25-20-16-13-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

The same scoring system apples to the WTCR − FIA World Touring Car Cup for Teams

THEY SAID WHAT?
Norbert Michelisz (HUN) BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse Hyundai i30 N TCR, P1 in 2019

“I don’t feel like the defending world champion but someone who has to prove something to the world. But I’m much more confident, I have much bigger self-belief compared to the previous years. The best thing about being world champion is you know you can do it. Many times in the past I had the feeling that I can do it if everything comes together, but then it’s a completely different level if you have the experience of fighting for something and if you have the knowledge you can achieve it. Winning the title has made me a better driver, I am sure of it. It’s opened a new spectrum for me in terms of where I can go and what I can aim for.”

Esteban Guerrieri (ARG) ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R TCR, P2 in 2019

“It’s not the best situation to start the season for all we have been through and for all we are going through with COVID-19. But we have protocols in place and on the sporting side I’m very happy to come back to real racing and get going. I’m not less or more desperate to win, I have the same ambition and the same will to do my best as possible. My team is behind every detail and that gives me a lot of confidence. It’s the same team for three years now and they have been working great. I feel we can deliver and each time we will try to deliver as if it’s the last opportunity. Nothing will be left on the table, we will try to extract the maximum in every situation.”

Yvan Muller (FRA) Cyan Racing Lynk & Co Lynk & Co 03 TCR, P3 in 2019

“Except the first season of World Touring Car in 2005, in all the 13 seasons I have done, I have finished in the top three 12 times and four times I finished third. You always have something to prove, first to yourself and maybe then to others. My career is more behind than in front but I just take pleasure to do what I do but I always do it very seriously. I still have the same motivation, like I had when I started. We have done a good job to prepare, we have done a good job with the car and we know that it can be competitive.”

Q&As with all drivers are being issued ahead of the start of the 2020 season

VIEW FROM THE TRACK WITH GILLES MAGNUS
Comtoyou Racing Audi RS 3 LMS, RACB National Team Rookie Award contender from Belgium

“Zolder is the track where I have done the most laps in my life. The first time I drove there was in 2017 for the 24 Hours of Zolder, the biggest race at the track in terms of the number of spectators. We won it and I have the record for being the youngest winner of this race at 17 years old. I also do the Belcar Endurance Championship with the Norma prototype. So, yearly I do five race weekends on this track and I do quite a lot of laps because the races are two hours long. It’s a nice track with places to overtake, a real old-school track with not so much space to make mistakes and I like these kinds of track. Maybe it doesn’t look as good as Spa-Francorchamps but I really like the layout. It will be fun to drive the Audi TCR there. The track has become two or three seconds quicker [since it was resurfaced earlier this year]. All the little bumps have been taken out and it’s really a flat surface. It’s kind of a new track. Even if the corners are going in the same direction, all the bumps and all the small details have changed. The timing is not good for me because some of my knowledge, some of my advantage has gone. But we did a Belcar Endurance Championship race there so I have driven the new asphalt and it’s obviously much better and quicker.”

DID YOU KNOW?
Circuit Zolder hosted the FIA World Touring Car Championship in 2010 and 2011 with Gabriele Tarquini taking a win each season. Tiago Monteiro and Yvan Muller were on the podium both years.

WTCR 2020 CALENDAR
WTCR Race of Belgium (Zolder, September 11-13) 2 races
WTCR Race of Germany (Nürburgring Nordschleife, September 24-26) 2 races
WTCR Race of Slovakia (Slovakia Ring, October 10-11) 3 races
WTCR Race of Hungary (Hungaroring, October 17-18) 3 races
WTCR Race of Spain (MotorLand Aragón, October 31-November 1) 3 races
WTCR Race of Italy (Adria International Raceway, November 14-15) 3 races

WHERE TO WATCH?
More information coming soon by clicking here.

**The use of the Renault Mégane RS TCR in the 2020 WTCR − FIA World Touring Car Cup is subject to the completion of all technical processes mandated by WSC, the organisation behind the TCR concept and trademark, including the issuing of the WTCR Technical Passport.

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