July 15, 2023
Written by Chris Hosie
Image Credit: europe.tcr-series.com
The 2023 TCR Europe Series has seen many incredible battles and a few wild moments over the previous four rounds of the season. Now the stars of Europe’s top touring car series head to France and to a very special track.
The Circuit of Paul Richard in the Le Castellet region of France is one of the most iconic and notable racetracks in all of Europe. Formula 1 has held many a French Grand Prix in the past and is the current stop on the F1 calendar for the French GP of the present day. It is also the track that plays host to the GT World Challenge six-hour race that heads into the night. A perfect precursor for the 24 hrs of Spa. This weekend sees the TCR Europe Series star alongside the GT Open package. Including GT Cup Open, EuroFormula Open, International GT Open, Formula Regional by Alpine and the hotly competitive Italian F4 Championship.
The TCR competition is set to be fierce with the prospect of a few local teams joining the ranks of the battle-hardened Europeans. Drivers to watch include Rookie Class leader and overall title contender Kobe Pauwels, his teammate Tom Coronel and his fellow Comtoyou teammates John Filippi and Viktor Davidovski. Viktor Andersson is the top runner for Sweden in his privately entered Lynk&Co with the Audis of the Fernandez brothers being a double threat from the Spanish RC2 Racing Team.
British hopes are with the Audis of Isaac Smith and Lewis Brown. Both of whom also competing for championship honours In the TCR UK Championship. Hyundai have the biggest contingent with Target Competition and Aggressive Team Italia all entering top class drivers in impressively competitive Elantras. Kevin Ceccon, Nicola Baldan and Dusan Borkovic are all gunning for a good result on the French tarmac.
In the standings it’s Coronal who leads the way ahead of his fellow Audi stablemates. Filippi and Pauwels line up second and third. Borkovic is fourth in the points and the first of the Elantra contingent. Davidovski and Brown rounding out the top six. Coronel has a commanding lead In the points. With his French and Belgian teammates separated by just six points heading into the weekend. Pauwels, as previously mentioned. Leads the way in the Rookie Class. To catch this exciting action and that of the various support classes. You can watch it all live on YouTube and for hardcore TCR viewers, you can watch exclusive coverage of TCR Europe on the TCR TV app. Action will take place on the 21-23 of July.
Comments(0)