Hyundai Motorsport takes sixth consecutive TCR class win at Nürburgring 24 Hours

Hyundai Motorsport added to its winning record at the Nürburgring 24 Hours, taking victory in the TCR class of the race for the sixth consecutive season with an Elantra N TCR driven by Mikel Azcona, Marc Basseng, Nico Bastian and Manuel Lauck.

For Basseng and Lauck the win continued their personal success with Hyundai Motorsport and the car, claiming their fourth class win with the Elantra N TCR, and a third success for Azcona. For Bastian, it was a first TCR class win, in his debut year with the team.

However, the victory was hard-fought, as the team and drivers had to overcome several issues, including racing back from several laps behind multiple times during the race. Despite leading the TCR class from pole position in the category, the trials of the #830 Elantra N TCR began in the opening hours when Lauck was hit by another car on the Grand Prix track. The penalty then was only some lost time and minor damage. More serious was a power steering issue that cost the team more than an hour in the pits, leaving the team in 139th place – from the 159 teams that started the race – and six laps in arrears to the TCR class lead.

Once returned to the track, the drivers were quick to make up the deficit, retaking the lead at 00:30 on Sunday before beginning to rebuild a margin of their own, using the proven performance of the Elantra N TCR to move several laps clear.

The pace of the race was relentless, the running slowed only slightly during the 24 hours by some minor rain showers that pushed the team to make the correct tyre selection for the constantly changing conditions. The strain of the race took its toll on the mechanical components of all three Hyundai Motorsport N-entered cars, causing a pair of long pitstops to affect repairs. The second of which left Mikel Azcona chasing back from two laps behind with two hours remaining.

The determined Spaniard set the car’s fastest lap of the race – 8:50.666 – in his pursuit, finally making the crucial pass on track to retake the class lead with just under an hour remaining. The final stages brought a return of rain to the Nürburgring, with Azcona managing his pace in the tricky conditions to bring the car home, completing 125 laps to finish in 69th position overall, a lap ahead of its nearest competitor in the class.

The two Elantra N1 RP cars, powered by developmental engines, completed 91 and 90 laps respectively in the SP4T class – the #302 of Azcona, Youngchan Kim, Lauck and Mark Wallenwein finishing ahead of the #303 shared by Gyumin Kim, CJ Sepulveda, Woojin Shin and Wallenwein. Both cars endured mechanical issues during the race, but each time the Hyundai Motorsport N team were able to return the cars to the track, gaining crucial data for Hyundai Motor Company’s engineers in ensuring the performance and reliability of the next generation of engines for the manufacturer’s vehicles.

Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing Manager Benoit Nogier said:

Every time we enter the Nürburgring 24 Hours, we understand how tough the race can be, and this year proved it. We know that the Elantra N TCR is a very good car around the Nordschleife, and this was shown again in both qualifying sessions and the race. However, to win this year, we needed to have the team working together to quickly identify and solve the issues we encountered and be resilient enough to keep pushing after each issue to claim the victory. All the drivers did great work, especially during the night to come back from multiple laps down to stay in contention for the class win, and Mikel especially in his final stint to catch the leader with some of the fastest laps of the race to help claim a well-deserved victory.

Mikel Azcona said:

The 2026 Nürburgring 24 Hours was a real rollercoaster. It started pretty well with the Elantra N TCR, but we had some issues in the race, so we lost a lot of time, ending up in P4 once, and P2 other times. My last stint was mega. I did a triple stint – three hours in the car. It was probably the most enjoyable laps of the whole race, not because I was completely tired, but because I was pushing flat out and doing super nice laps trying to catch the leader because he was two laps in front of us. In the end with the pace I had, we managed to overtake him and from that moment we just wanted to bring the car home. When it started to rain I had slick tyres, so I just wanted to bring the car to the victory. Thanks to the whole team, especially the mechanics because they had to work a lot in difficult conditions, fighting quite a lot. Thanks to them we got the victory.

Manuel Lauck said:

On paper it looked quite easy with the Elantra N TCR, but already after three hours we had our first problem where we needed to change some parts which cost us over an hour. Mikel did amazing. I think he was nearly three hours in the car at the end and he was two laps down and finished first in class. It’s an amazing job from everyone. Unbelievable. We did it again, and I hope we do it again. The Elantra N1 RP programme started to test something on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, and then it turned into a real race at the Nürburgring 24 Hours. We had some small issues, which we expected and were necessary to know what needs to be improved. Finally, we finished with both cars. I think we had a field of 160 cars and in the end it was 111 cars, so we came through, and that was all because of the engineers and mechanics, but also the drivers, who drive very well without any major incidents, so we could get the cars to the finish.

Gyumin Kim said:

This was the first time racing the Nürburgring 24 Hours with this new Elantra N1 RP. We had some issues, but there were so many cars and so many crashed or retired, but we made it to the finish. Now we know about the issues we had with the car, so we can fix them for next year and maybe we can take a step further with the project and challenge more for the class win.

Youngchan Kim said:

The 2026 Nürburgring 24 Hours was very tricky compared to last year, even though we had a crash then and couldn’t finish. This year we had many people helping us, so we had a great car in the Elantra N1 RP and good pace. The car had some issues, but the Hyundai Motorsport N team solved them perfectly, and we did it and got to the finish. I’m so happy right now.

2026 Nürburgring 24 Hours – Provisional Results

• #830 Hyundai Elantra N TCR – Azcona/Basseng/Bastian/Lauck – 1st in TCR Class (125 laps, 69th overall) 
• #302 Hyundai Elantra N1 RP – Azcona/Y. Kim/Lauck/Wallenwein – 3rd in SP4T (91 laps, 108th overall)
• #303 Hyundai Elantra N1 RP – G. Kim/Sepulveda/Shin/Wallenwein – 4th in SP4T (90 laps, 109th overall)