TCR World and life

4 WTCR THE FOURTH SEASON OF THE FIAWORLD TOURING CAR CUP KICKS OFF WITH NEWDRIVERS, NEWCARS AND NEWVENUES Letthebattle commence T he 2021 WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup season looms with a refreshed calendar, and with a few interesting off-season changes in terms of driver movements, but also new cars for 2021. Lynk & Co and Cyan Racing is one of two manufacturers-supported operations to have made no changes to its squad, with drivers’ champion Yann Ehrlacher back alongside his uncle Yvan Muller. Sweden’s Thed Björk will start his 11th year with the team alongside Uruguayan star Santiago Urrutia – all competing with the same Lynk & Co 03 cars which took them to the teams’ title in 2020. Honda likewise has made no changes to its line-up. Argentine stars Esteban Guerrieri and Néstor Girolami return, as do Tiago Monteiro and Attila Tassi behind the wheel of the quartet of Honda Civic Type R cars run by Münnich Motorsport. While their rivals have made a few significant driver and even machinery changes for 2021. BRC Racing Team and Engstler Motorsport are entrusted to run the four Hyundai Motorsport entries, with returning drivers Gabriele Tarquini, Norbert Michelisz and Luca Engstler joined by Jean-Karl Vernay. The Frenchman finished third in the championship last year when he was driving an Alfa Romeo Giulietta for Team Mulsanne and was therefore the best-placed of the current Hyundai line-up. Not only do they have a new driver, but they have a new car, with the three-year-old i30 N now replaced with the new Elantra N, already a race-winning car in the TCR Europe series. Joining the four Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing-run drivers will be Hyundai Junior Driver graduates Andreas and Jessica Bäckman, also competing in a pair of Elantra cars run by Target Competition. For two rounds, the Swedish siblings will also be joined by 2017 TCR Italy champion Nicola Baldan as a wild card. The Belgian Comtoyou Racing team put on a valiant charge last year with