WTCR drivers turn designers for 2019

*Personalised racing number designs to stand out for fans *Drivers will explain their creations in video messages *Multiple uses include racesuits and dashboards

Drivers in the WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup presented by OSCARO don’t just get to choose their numbers – they design them as well.

Promoter Eurosport Events has invited the all-season WTCR / OSCARO racers to create their own number design, having allowed them to choose their race number since the inaugural season.

In the spirit of the iconic number 46 design from MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi, drivers are being encouraged to develop a look and feel that could be either symbolic or have particular relevance to them, but strikes a chord with fans around the world.

While the individual designs won’t feature on the sides or windscreens of the competing cars in accordance with the WTCR / OSCARO sporting regulations from the FIA, they can appear on dashboards to enable capture by on-board cameras and will have a number of other uses, mandatory or otherwise, including:

*Racesuits, safety underwear and safety helmets
*Television graphics, such as starting grid order
*Pit garage frames, backdrops, national flags on pit trolleys
*Autograph tables and posters
*Driver merchandise, social media channels, websites

Gabriele Tarquini, the inaugural WTCR / OSCARO title winner, has taken up his right to use the number ‘1’ on his Hyundai i30 N TCR. “I have left my lucky number 30 and I have chosen number 1,” said the Italian ace. “The logo for the 2019 campaign will be GT1 from the initials of my name and the number 1. And I have put it together with a picture of a wild pig because from the beginning of my career everybody in motorsport was calling me this.”

Esteban Guerrieri’s now-familiar 86 has a tiger as its centrepiece, as the ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R TCR driver explained. “The tiger is not my favourite animal but it’s solitary, it follows its prey, analyses the situation and when it attacks it’s very decisive, which is a bit like my personality in some ways although I’m not solitary! I’m very open and social but there are times when I like to be alone to work, to improve myself in every area. Plus, there is the eyes. Many people highlight my eyes as one of my main features, like I have the eyes of a tiger.”

WTCR / OSCARO promoter Eurosport Events will release number designs along with video messages from drivers from now until the season-opening WTCR Race of Morocco from 5-7 April.

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