Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing savours successful home Kumho FIA TCR World Tour weekend with two victories

Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing enjoyed a memorable homecoming with two dominant victories as the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour visited the Inje Speedium in South Korea for the first time.

After Josh Buchan triumphed in Race 1 from pole position for the Australian HMO Customer Racing team, Mikel Azcona claimed the Race 2 honours with a commanding drive, also from pole, to hand BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse a fifth victory of 2025 and take his first win of the year.

Giving the newly homologated Hyundai Elantra N EV TCR its competition debut, Azcona’s long-awaited first-place finish followed on from earlier victories for BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse in Spain and Italy, plus a double triumph in Australia, and came despite the Spaniard carrying 30 kilograms of Compensation Weight.

Azcona, who finished 10th in Race 1 to secure the reverse-grid Race 2 pole, completed a strong weekend in South Korea by taking the Race 3 chequered flag in fourth position from sixth on the grid after he made a rapid start before resisting late pressure from two rivals.

Having arrived in South Korea tenth in the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour standings, Spaniard Azcona will head to the penultimate weekend of the season in China from October 31-November 2 in ninth position.

Norbert Michelisz scored more valuable points, with eighth in Race 2 from 11th on the grid the highlight for the Hungarian, who placed 11th in Race 1 and ninth in Race 3. He remains fifth in the title standings.

Seventeenth in Race 1, Néstor Girolami charged through the pack in Race 2 to complete the top 10 behind Buchan – who started from the pitlane after a clutch issue developed – before going on to finish 15th in the third race of the weekend following late contact. Buchan finished sixth.

While Race 1 took place on a damp but drying 3.908-kilometre Inje Speedium following a wet qualifying session, Race 2 was held in sunny and dry conditions.

Azcona made full use of his reverse-grid pole position to lead into the first corner and then build an advantage of more than five seconds prior to a safety car intervention.

Once racing resumed with 10 minutes left on the clock, Azcona was able to pull clear once again and win by 4.168s, his first since he won Race 1 in China exactly a year earlier.

Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing Manager Benoit Nogier said: 

“To win any Kumho FIA TCR World Tour race is special given the strong competition, but to win at home in South Korea is extra special and congratulations go to Mikel Azcona and BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse for their success. It was the debut for the newly homologated Elantra N EV TCR featuring an updated turbo, so a very satisfactory result. Congratulations also go to Josh Buchan and HMO Customer Racing for their victory in Race 1. As well as being a great advert for the Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing programme, what this private team from Australia achieved was a great example of how experience and knowledge is being passed down to customers around the world to help them become even more competitive. Of course, we would have wanted for all the BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse cars to have been at the front, but we found it difficult to adapt a set-up that worked well at other circuits, including at the last event in Australia, to the Inje Speedium and we struggled for grip at times as a result, but we will come back stronger.”

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

• Secured the reverse-grid pole position for Race 2 by starting and finishing 10th In Race 1
• He converted top spot on the Race 2 grid into his first victory of the season after a dominant drive
• Points scored at Inje Speedium has elevated Azcona to ninth in the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour standings

Azcona said: “I am so happy to take the win in Race 2. Maybe from the outside it looked easy, but that was not an easy race, and I was sweating like crazy. I did a very good start. I knew in the first lap I had to push to make a gap, and I did. I used the opportunity with a new tyre in the front to be fast on the first laps and I was very happy with the balance of the car. Then the safety car came, and I was like, ‘oh no, this is going to be a very difficult race’, because I lost all the distance to the driver in second. But then I was focused on the safety car procedure and then I say, ‘now Mikel, it’s all or nothing, you have to push’. Thanks to the car, because it was working perfectly, I made a gap to second place, I pushed even more and took the victory so I’m very happy for that. Thanks to my team, they really deserve it and thanks to Hyundai Motorsport. It feels very good to win here in South Korea with the Hyundai people, so this win is for Hyundai. I had to fight quite a lot in Race 3 but I’m really happy because I started P6 and finished P4. With the 30 kilograms you really suffer, and the degradation of the front-left tyre was quite a lot. I was able to overtake two cars at the start and make some gap. In the last part of the race, I struggled a lot because my front-left tyre was gone so I had to survive. It was tough, but we take very good points for the championship.”

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

• Started and finished Race 1 in 17th following a wet qualifying session
• Charged through the field in Race 2, making up seven places to complete the top 10
• Ran ninth initially in Race 3 but slipped to 15th at the finish following contact

Girolami said: “Unfortunately Race 1 was not our race, we were not at the pace we have been in the past, which was frustrating for our home race. Race 2 was very good for us, coming from P17 to P10. We improved the pace from Saturday and scored some good points. Race 3 was not the result we wanted. I got a contact in the last lap which made me lose five positions. I was pushing very hard to score maximum points, but the weekend wasn’t great. We need to understand why we were struggling because it was tough after coming from Australia with a good feeling in the car. We struggled to be competitive, but we will work as a team, we win and lose together with BRC and Hyundai so let’s push and come back for the next one. I’m very happy for Mikel and his victory and, also, very happy for all the team.”

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

• Just missed out on top 10 target in Race 1, settling instead for 11th place behind team-mate Azcona
• Battled up to eighth from 11th in Race 2 for more important Kumho FIA TCR World Tour points
• Gave his all to finish eighth in Race 3 but had to settle for ninth after lengthy battle

Michelisz said: “Race 1 was difficult. We started in mixed conditions, and it was a tough choice to pick the right tyre. In the end we picked four slicks, but the beginning of the race wasn’t easy, the car was sliding a lot. I finished P11, slightly missing the target of finishing inside the top 10 to have a good position for the reverse-grid race. But, nevertheless, I was happy with the points. Race 2 was very busy, always in the pack, receiving some contacts. I did my best and finishing P8 was a good result. I’m very happy for Mikel because finally he managed to win a race and it’s a good team result. I had to work hard in Race 3 to finish P9. In the end it was not the weekend I expected but I knew in advance with the 40 kilograms of Compensation Weight it would be difficult, but still I was hoping for a bit more. In the end we did nice fights, made good improvements on the car set-up and scored some good points.”