The Bend Motorsport Park hosts its first Kumho FIA TCR World Tour fixture with BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse third in the standings

Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing’s long-term partner team, BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse, is back in Australia this week as the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour resumes following the summer break.

With 10 races run across four action-packed weekends during the first half of the season, the Shell V-Power Motorsport Park in Tailem Bend, 100 kilometres southeast of Adelaide, hosts the start of the four-round title run-in from September 12-14.

Ahead of the event, Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing drivers Norbert Michelisz, Néstor Girolami and Mikel Azcona are sixth, eighth and tenth in the title chase with BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse within touching distance of second place in the Teams’ standings following wins in Spain and Italy earlier in the year.

While Australia is a happy hunting ground for the team following Mikel Azcona’s third place at Eastern Creek and Norbert Michelisz’s Bathurst victory in 2023, The Bend, as it’s commonly known, is a new addition to the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour schedule and therefore a mission of discovery.

Opened in 2018, The Bend measures 4.950 kilometres in length, with its 18-turn layout set to provide an exciting challenge for the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour contenders.

The event is the third of four Kumho FIA TCR World Tour weekends in 2025 to feature three races. The grid for Race 1 is based on the final results of Qualifying. The top 10 finishers from Race 1 then line up for Race 2 in reverse order with the Race 3 grid based on the total points scored in Qualifying, Race 1 and Race 2.

Following Free Practice and the two-phase Qualifying on Friday, two races are scheduled on Saturday with a single race held on Sunday.

Having been hampered by running with Compensation Weight earlier this season, BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse’s Elantra N TCR cars will be free from any extra weight at The Bend. The Kumho FIA TCR World Tour teams will share the track with the competitors in TCR Australia, including three cars from Hyundai Motorsport customers HMO Customer Racing. Josh Buchan, the series champion in 2023 and 2024, and debutant Ryan MacMillan will each drive an Elantra N TCR, with Hong Kong driver Lo Sze Ho – a regular in TCR China – running in an i30 N TCR.

Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing Manager Benoît Nogier said:

“It’s great to be back in action in Kumho FIA TCR World Tour after two months of not racing. But it’s been no extended summer holiday for BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse and the Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing team. Instead, everybody has been going the extra kilometre in close partnership to optimise car performance as we push for more on-track success. We’re happy with the work we’ve put in over last few months but now it’s time to put our learning into practice. We’ll be doing all we can to hit the ground running in Australia by going for more podiums and victories during the second half of the season, starting with the team’s return to the country after a one-year gap. It’s very much a level playing field for all the teams so we’re expecting plenty of close competition and an exciting start to part two for the 2025 season.”

Driver Notes: #196 Mikel Azcona (ESP), Hyundai Elantra N TCR

• A podium finisher when the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour first stopped off in Australia in 2023
• Following a challenging start to the year, Azcona is determined to join the podium party for the first time this season
• The Spaniard completed the European campaign 10^th in the standings

Azcona said: “I’m really excited to come back to Australia in my Hyundai Elantra N TCR after a long summer break. I enjoyed a lot driving in Sydney and Bathurst in 2023. It’s very cool to be racing in Australia and very nice racing with the Australian drivers. You have hard fights but very fair fights and it’s always good to fight with them. It will be my first time racing at The Bend, but it’s been a very good experience on the sim, the layout is looking like a nice track to drive, medium and high-speed sections, not so low speed with flowing corners. For the tyre degradation it could be really hard with many high lateral loads onto the front tyres for a long time. Saving the front tyres is going to be a really key part, especially the front left. From the sim experience it’s a track I like but let’s see how the car fits. My goal will be to fight for the podium positions and get my first podium after a challenging start to the year. I really want to come back stronger and have more luck than at the beginning.”

Driver Notes: #129 Néstor Girolami (ARG), Hyundai Elantra N TCR

• Girolami has claimed a victory in Spain and a podium in Italy so far in 2025
• The Argentine has vowed to work closely with team-mates Azcona and Michelisz to achieve the best results possible at The Bend
• He’s eighth in the title chase ahead of the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour’s return to Australia

Girolami said: “After racing at Bathurst I think it’s one of the most exciting tracks in Australia. To race in Australia is always special and to race at the same event as the V8 Supercars, the most spectacular series in Australia, will make it a mega event. Hopefully the grandstands will be full, and we’ll have a lot of fans coming to the race. Coming back to a three-race event is something very intense but something I really like. This year has been up and down so far, but we got a victory in Spain and a podium in Italy. The first race of the year in Mexico is hurting us a bit on the standings because we lost many points during that event. But from then on, we have recovered some points and are doing a very consistent season. Vila Real was not what I expected because we had the pace to fight but, unfortunately, the issue we had in qualifying put us back in both races. Nevertheless, the team is working very hard to bring back a very good car and to be very competitive. Our goal is to fight for victories and pole position in Australia. This is what it’s all about. We need to recover points, and we need to put the Hyundai Elantra N TCR at the top again. So together with Norbi and Mikel we will work as a team to bring the best result possible and hopefully take home many trophies after the weekend. It’s a new track and very, very challenging. It’s fast so you need confidence, you need to be very precise in the second sector and probably it’s a track where we will see a lot of overtaking as well. I hope we can get good points and be back the fight in the championship.”

Driver Notes: #105 Norbert Michelisz (HUN), Hyundai Elantra N TCR

• The best-placed Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing driver in the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour standings after four rounds in sixth position
• Michelisz has form in Australia after winning the second of two races at Bathurst in 2023
• Hungarian hero is keen to return racing after long summer break

Michelisz said: “The summer break has been long so I can’t wait to get back to racing. To be honest I was missing the events throughout the summer and missing driving. I’m not sure what to expect in terms of the result since this will be a new circuit for us. For me the layout looks nice, I always like these traditional circuits with all the different corners. We should be competitive with the Hyundai Elantra N TCR, but I also know there are some areas to be improved to be really competitive. The first half of the season was not always what we expected but I feel we identified some key areas, and this new information will help us to get back consistently on the podium. Travelling to Australia is exciting. I really enjoyed the racing and the atmosphere when we were there in 2023. Since coming back from Australia then I always wanted to go back, so the combination of a long summer break and the possibility to get back to Australia is very exciting. I feel ready, I feel prepared, and I feel highly motivated to get some good results.”

Weekend at a Glance

• Australia’s Kumho FIA TCR World Tour event begins with Free Practice from 08:55 local time on Friday September 12 with a second 30-minute Free Practice session next up from 12:00.
• Qualifying Q1 runs for 20 minutes from 14:30 and is followed by the 10-minute Qualifying Q2 for the fastest 10 drivers after Qualifying Q1 from 14:55.
• Race 1 is scheduled to start at 08:55 on Saturday September 13. Race 2 is due to get under way at 14:05 with Race 3 set to begin at 11:50 on Sunday September 14. All three races are scheduled to be contested on 30 minutes, plus 1 lap.