EVENT ESSENTIALS

What? 2020 WTCR − FIA World Touring Car Cup, Rounds 11, 12 and 13 of 16

When? October 30-November 1, 2020

Where? MotorLand Aragón, Alcañiz (Teruel)

Track length: 5.345 kilometres

Race 1 distance: 10 laps (53.306 kilometres)

Race 2 distance: 10 laps (53.306 kilometres)

Race 3 distance: 12 laps (63.996 kilometres)

WTCR qualifying lap record:

To be established

WTCR race lap record:

To be established

EVENT OVERVIEW

The 2020 WTCR − FIA World Touring Car Cup enters a decisive phase at MotorLand Aragón in Spain from October 30-November 1.

With two weekends and six races remaining of WTCR season three, it’s now or never for the title contenders to stake their respective claims for ultimate glory.

After an action-packed WTCR Race of Hungary recently, MotorLand Aragón is gearing up to host the penultimate event of a title chase shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic but packed full of high drama and sheer excitement.

Six drivers representing four customer racing brands have triumphed so far in 2020, with Cyan Racing Lynk & Co’s Yann Ehrlacher winning three times in his Goodyear-equipped Lynk & Co 03 TCR from China-based Geely Group Motorsport.

The 24-year-old from France also wears the yellow jacket as the Goodyear #FollowTheLeader with a 22-point advantage over ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport’s Esteban Guerrieri.

Argentine Guerrieri, last year’s WTCR runner-up, shot back into title contention with a win double at WTCR Race of Hungary in his Honda Civic Type R TCR, becoming the event’s TAG Heuer Most Valuable Driver in the process. He’s now won nine WTCR races, which is more than any of his rivals and travels to MotorLand Aragón from his Barcelona home boosted by the fact he’s raced and tested at the venue in the past.

FIA World Touring Car legend Yvan Muller, Ehrlacher’s uncle and his Cyan Racing Lynk & Co team-mate, is third in the standings but seemingly intent on supporting his nephew’s title ambitions rather than pursuing his own.

Néstor Girolami, who partners Guerrieri at ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport and won the opening race of the season at Circuit Zolder, holds fourth spot after 10 races, equal on points with Team Mulsanne’s Jean-Karl Vernay.

Frenchman Vernay is the WTCR Trophy leader following a hat-trick of category wins in Hungary at the wheel of an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR by Romeo Ferraris. He deposed Tom Coronel for the WTCR Trophy lead after the Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport driver, who is set to hit 500 touring car starts at WTCR Race of Spain, endured a troubled weekend in Hungary. 

Coronel’s Comtoyou team-mates Nathanaël Berthon and Gilles Magnus were also unable to replicate their Slovakia Ring speed at the Hungaroring, although RACB National Team-supported Magnus was at least able to strengthen his grip on the WTCR Rookie Driver classification. Berthon and Magnus are seventh and eighth in the overall rankings respectively.

Home hero Mikel Azcona was on form in Hungary and will be a contender for his first WTCR win of 2020 at MotorLand Aragón, where he made his touring car debut as a teenager in 2011. The Spaniard is armed with the all-new CUPRA Leon Competición run by Zengő Motorsport, which also includes Bence Boldizs and Gábor Kismarty-Lechner in its line-up.

Thed Björk, who became Sweden’s first motor racing world champion when he won the FIA World Touring Car Championship in 2017, is 10th on the overall leaderboard following podiums at Circuit Zolder and the Nürburgring Nordschleife for Cyan Peformance Lynk & Co.

Like Björk, ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport’s Hungarian young gun Attila Tassi was also on the podium in Belgium and Germany and is P11 in the table followed by Björk’s fellow Cyan Performance Lynk & Co driver Santiago Urrutia, from Uruguay, and his own team-mate, Portugal’s Tiago Monteiro, who returned to the WTCR podium in Hungary with a strong drive in Race 3.

King of WTCR Norbert Michelisz will look to a change of fortune in Spain as he bids to win for the first time in 2020 for BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse.

Inaugural WTCR title winner Gabriele Tarquini will also fly the Hyundai flag in Spain, as will WTCR Rookie Driver Luca Engstler and Josh Files, who replaces Nicky Catsburg at Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team for his WTCR debut. Aurélien Comte is entered in Swiss team Vuković Motorsport’s Renault Mégane RS TCR.

Belgian teenager Nicolas Baert steps up from the TCR Europe series to make his debut in the WTCR driving an Audi for his father Jean-Michel Baert’s Comtoyou Racing Team.

WTCR Race of Spain will take place behind closed doors but fans can count on extensive live broadcasting as well fresh and fun content across the WTCR’s social channels. The live broadcasting package covers six continents as part of the WTCR’s biggest broadcast distribution ever.  

HOW THEY STAND

Yann Ehrlacher continues to wear the yellow jacket as the Goodyear #FollowTheLeader and will carry the yellow windscreen strip at the start of the WTCR Race of Spain weekend in his Cyan Racing Lynk & Co 03 TCR. Here’s a reminder of how he and the chasing pack stand following WTCR Race of Hungary last weekend:

1 Yann Ehrlacher (FRA) 169 points

2 Esteban Guerrieri (ARG) 147

3 Yvan Muller (FRA) 114

4 Néstor Girolami (ARG) 106

5 Jean-Karl Vernay (FRA) 106

6 Tom Coronel (NLD) 101

7 Nathanaël Berthon (FRA) 92

8 Gilles Magnus (BEL) 92

9 Mikel Azcona (ESP) 79

10 Thed Björk (SWE) 78

Click HERE for full standings including Teams’ and Rookie Driver classifications.

KEY NUMBERS

100,000: The WTCR’s #RaceToCare programme in support of the FIA’s #PurposeDriven movement aims to raise €100,000 by the end of the season in the fight against COVID-19

34: Overtakes completed by Spain’s Mikel Azcona at WTCR Race of Slovakia

16: For WTCR Race of Spain, each car is allocated 16 new Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport tyres

2012: Not since 2012, when the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia hosted the action, has Spain staged an FIA World Touring Car race

3: Three young hopefuls, Bence Boldizs, Luca Engstler and Gilles Magnus, are eligible for the WTCR Rookie Driver points at WTCR Race of Spain

WTCR Q&A: MIKEL AZCONA

Mikel Azcona will fly the Spanish flag on his Goodyear-equipped CUPRA Leon Competición TCR at WTCR Race of Spain. This is what the Zengő Motorsport-run 24-year-old has had to say ahead of his home rounds of the WTCR − FIA World Touring Car Cup.

You’ve been waiting a while to race in the WTCR at home. How excited are you?

“I am super-excited because this is my home track, it’s where I started in 2011 and I have a lot of kilometres on this track. I am also very motivated because I think we can be in a very good position during the weekend. The track I know perfectly and, at the same time we are improving our set-up and how to drive with the Goodyear tyres, which are completely different compared to what we had last year. It’s my home track, it’s a world championship so it’s the best combination for me.”

You’re also driving a Spanish car. How is the new CUPRA Leon Competición progressing?

“It’s very good and obviously better than the previous model. But it’s been very difficult for us but not because it’s a new car. The car has a very good potential and I am sure we will be on the first position very soon. When we arrive in this position it will be difficult to go lower. It’s very nice to drive the car, it’s on the limit in every aspect, which is how it should be at this level, and this helps a lot for the driver. At the same we have to remember we started in the free practice in Zolder with zero kilometres on the Goodyear tyre while the other teams and brands had 1000s of kilometres with this tyre, so a huge difference. But after four race weekends I am so happy that we improved really a lot. We are on a high level and we can start to battle for the podium positions.”

As well as a new car and new tyres it’s also a new team for you this season. How are you settling in at Zengő Motorsport?

“It’s another big important thing for me because everything was new at the start of the season. It’s been a hard beginning but I am happy with the Zengő team. It’s an amazing atmosphere and I really like this atmosphere. They are very hard-working people and they are always thinking how to improve, how to get the car faster. This feeling I like because I am very competitive and I want to win always. We are working together better and I am very happy with the team.”

How good will the racing be at MotorLand Aragón?

“You have a very long straight in the last sector. It’s a very wide track and you have a lot of space to overtake. I have not driven there for two years but the racing will be a lot of fun.”

What would winning WTCR Race of Spain mean to you?

“It would mean a lot to win a world championship event in my country with a car from my country, the best feeling. I try to win every race weekend but if I could win in Spain it would be amazing and a big pleasure for me.”

MIKEL AZCONA’S MOTORLAND ARAGÓN TRACK GUIDE

Having started his touring car adventure at MotorLand Aragón in 2011, CUPRA-driving Spaniard Mikel Azcona is the perfect guide to the 5.345-kilometre track, venue for the first WTCR Race of Spain.

Early overtaking possible but patience is required: “Overtaking at the first corner is possible but from T1 until T5 it’s very difficult because T2-T3 is flat out.”

Risks might not be rewarded: “After T5 we enter the second sector, which is also very technical.    It’s very risky to try the overtake at T7 because you are braking with load on the car and it’s not very easy.”

The Corkscrew in opposite: “T8 and T9 is like the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca but you go from right to left, not left to right. Of course, it’s downhill and very nice to drive.”

Onwards to sector three: “T10 is a flat corner and not possible to overtake but then you arrive to the third sector. It’s only three corners but it’s very important. You arrive to the T12 and it’s possible to overtake because it’s a hard-braking corner and straight braking but at the same time it’s very tricky because exactly on the moment you are braking, you don’t see the apex, it’s a blind corner, very tricky.”

Things get important: “T13 is easy flat but T14 and T15 are honestly very important. It’s a slow part of the track but at the same time you have to really prepare the exit of T15 a lot because after you have this corner you have a very long straight to T16. Depending on your exit of T15 you can overtake or not at T16.”

Time to make a sacrifice: “You have to sacrifice T14 to have a very good exit from T15. On the long back straight, you are at more or less 250kph and you arrive to a very, very slow corner.”

From fast to slow: “The hairpin at T16 is in first gear maybe 60kph and you have to reduce from 250kph. On the TV it’s going to be very fun this corner with a lot of overtakes.”

DID YOU KNOW?

Motor racing in Alcañiz, the town closest to MotorLand Aragón, dates back to 1965 when the first City of Alcañiz Grand Prix was held on the Circuito Guadalope and promoted by Dr Joaquín Repollés. Despite huge enthusiasm and support, growing safety requirements and difficulties staging top-level events meant time was called on racing through the streets in 2003, which led to the MotorLand Aragón project being conceived.