TCR World Tour

An unchanged driver and team line-up started the 2025 FIA TCR World Tour season with a first-ever visit to the Grand Prix venue in Mexico City.

Another closely fought season of competition lay ahead, including a weekend at the Inje Speedium in South Korea - the first time a Hyundai Motorsport-supported manufacturer team has raced in Hyundai's home country.

The TCR World Tour was granted the prestige of an FIA title for 2024, but the pace of the Elantra N TCR remained unchanged as the momentum from 2023 rolled into the new year.

BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse was expanded to a three-car team for the new season, and new recruit Néstor Girolami claimed victory in just his second race with team, capping off a tremendous opening weekend where Elantra N TCR drivers won both races at BRC Racing Team's home round at Vallelunga.

Norbert Michelisz defended his TCR World Tour crown in spectacular style. After winning the opening race, he led the championship after every round, scoring two wins, three podiums and triumphant title-clinching performance at the iconic Macau Grand Prix. He was supported the whole way by Girolami and Mikel Azcona, now in his third season with the team, who scored a superb win in wet conditions in China and stood on the podium another three times, helping BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse finish the season as vice-champions in the teams' standings.

The new chapter of top-level touring car competition began in a similar style to the last - with a Hyundai Motorsport driver taking victory. This time it was Norbert Michelisz leading home Mikel Azcona in a 1-2 for BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse.

There was plenty more success for the duo during the series, which included the team first-ever visit to Australia and South America. Norbert scored four wins among seven podium finishes on his way to a second title as a Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing driver, becoming the inaugural TCR World Tour for Drivers' winner. Mikel clinched one win and six podium finishes.

The BRC pairing were joined throughout the year by other Hyundai Motorsport customers competing in their national TCR championships, including TCR Australia squad HMO Customer Racing and the Hyundai N team in TCR China, whose drivers clinched national titles while racing alongside the international stars of the TCR World Tour.

The man chosen to replace Tarquini in the driving seat was Spaniard Mikel Azcona, and he immediately repaid the faith put in him with a fantastic season. He secured four wins and eight podiums during a dominant campaign, clinching the title following qualifying for the final round in Saudi Arabia.

Michelisz, meanwhile, enjoyed a strong final part of the season, helping BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse win the teams' title for the first time. They were the fourth and fifth titles won by our customers in WTCR, but were to be the last, with the series replaced by the TCR World Tour for the 2023 season.

Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing's newest challenger made the perfect debut, taking a 1-2 in Germany at the hands of Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team pairing Jean-Karl Vernay and Luca Engstler.

With the COVID-19 pandemic still affecting operations, the season consisted of eight rounds across Europe. Elantra N TCR drivers claimed four wins and a total of nine podiums. Vernay was the best placed Hyundai driver in the final standings in third, though a heroic final race made Luca Engstler Junior Champion by a single point.

The end of the season also closed a chapter for Touring Car racing. Gabriele Tarquini retired from full-time racing, though he was to swap his helmet for a radio headset and a role as Team Manager for BRC Racing Team in 2022.

Gabriele Tarquini and Norbert Michelisz once again joined forces for their third season as team-mates with the BRC Racing Team, while Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team joined the WTCR full-time grid for the first time to field Nicky Catsburg and Luca Engstler.

Although planned to begin in April, the start of the racing season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A revised, Europe-based, calendar of events was devised and began in September. On track, it was not the season Hyundai Motorsport customers had envisioned, despite brief glimpses of the i30 N TCR's pace in Slovakia and Spain.

However, it was to be the final year of the i30 N TCR in WTCR, as the Elantra N TCR was soon to join the grid.

Our customer BRC Racing Team expanded its operations to enter four i30 N TCR cars. Gabriele Tarquini and Norbert Michelisz returned to the team to drive under the BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse banner. Meanwhile, Brazilian Augusto Farfus and Dutchman Nicky Catsburg joined forces in the sister team for the WTCR debuts.

Though there were new tracks and a new points system to make the racing even closer and more exciting the i30 N TCR continued its winning ways, taking seven victories and 11 other podiums across the ten-date weekend.

The title battle again came down to the final weekend, with Norbert capping an incredibly impressive season with a strong showing in Malaysia to lift his first world title, reaffirming the i30 N TCR's position at the top of the global TCR category. BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse also had a strong year, missing out on winning the teams' title by just 34 points.

Four Hyundai i30 N TCR cars competed in the inaugural season of WTCR - FIA World Touring Car Cup, a new series created for 2018 from the amalgamation of the World Touring Car Championship and TCR International Series. BRC Racing Team fielded Italian touring car legend Gabriele Tarquini and Hungarian Norbert Michelisz, while YMRacing's pair of cars were driven by Yvan Muller and Thed Björk.

Tarquini made history by winning the first-ever race of the new series in Morocco, the first of 13 wins and 20 podiums for i30 N TCR customers as the season crossed three continents in ten rounds. The championship battle went down to the final lap of the season in Macau - with Gabriele beating Muller by a single point as YMRacing took the teams' crown.