TCR World and life

You have been involved in the development of the CUPRA e-Racer from the very beginning and now you are about to race it in the PURE ETCR. What does this mean to you? “I am very proud to be part of this new concept of competition. The CUPRA e-Racer is also something totally new and I am very proud to have worked on its development from the beginning. With the first generation of the e- Racer, that was a combustion racing car fitted with batteries and an electric motor, we completed between 15 and 20 days of testing. The new car is different in everything as it has been conceived to be electric. This involves improvements in terms of weight distribution, the position of the battery, the aerodynamics... In short, it is a better car in every way. With the new e-Racer we have done the first tests at Motorland-Aragón and Vallelunga, so it is still quite new to me. We are still learning. The car is new, but not the electrical technology, because at CUPRA we have been working on its development for more than two years. Now I am looking forward to race in the PURE ETCR and I hope I can be competitive in the final stage of my career!” What was like to learn how to drive an ETCR car? “My long experience as a racing driver in so many different categories has helped me in learning a little bit faster how to adapt my style to the ETCR car. But as this is a brand new category and a completely different kind of car, I have to say that I’m really learning a lot, as there are many new things that you have to take into account. I’ve got the impression that many people are convinced that electric cars are boring and not fit for racing, but this is truly a wrong perception. Electric cars can be very, very fast. Acceleration is the first feature you are impressed with when you drive one of them. The fact that there is a heavy battery, makes the car heavier than a combustion- engined vehicle and so it requires a lot of work to optimize balance and set up. Despite this, the weight distribution is really good, because you can place the weight behind the driver and the centre of gravity is very low. The final result is very surprising, especially the handling and the cornering speed.” Is driving an ETCR car more or less fun than a TCR car? “The ETCR car is lot of fun, especially since it’s rear-wheel drive, so it’s funny going sideways or feeling the car moving. This will result in a great show for the spectators during the races. The driving style needs to be adapted a bit. There is no engine-braking, so braking references are very different. It means you have to keep the car straight when you brake and negotiate the corner as sharply as possible to get the car straight again before applying the power. But the thrill of touring car races will remain and there will be even more action, because the cars have been designed following the same philosophy. They are very similar, there is a lot of equality, and when that is the case, you have to take risks and be aggressive to overtake. It will be the same with electric cars, and also with rear wheel drive we will have extra work while we compete. It is sure to be as exciting if not more so than the ‘normal’ touring car racing we've seen so far.” Three questions to… Jordi Gené After a couple of seasons in which he only competed in the occasional race, CUPRA Racing’s Jordi Gené will take part in the full season of the new PURE ETCR series with the CUPRA e-Racer.