TCR Set For Sepang Launch

17 cars from five different marques will take to the grid as the TCR International Series gets underway at Sepang this weekend.

After months in the works and a successful BOP homologation test in Barcelona, TCR founder Marcello Lotti’s vision has finally come to pass, and will kick off with SEAT, Honda, Opel, Audi and Ford all represented at the inaugural meeting in support of the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Following two practice sessions on Friday and a qualifying session on Saturday, Rounds One and Two will both be streamed live on TCR’s official YouTube channel at 08:25 CET on Saturday and 05:30 CET on Sunday respectively. Each will run to ten laps or 20 minutes.

TCR is set to go racing in Malaysia (TCR International Series)

Although the concept and machinery is unfamiliar, with the Proteam Ford entry for Diego Romanini announced only on Tuesday, there will be several recognisable names on the driving front, with former WTCC winners Gianni Morbidelli, Michel Nykjaer, Franz Engstler and Pepe Oriola heading the bill.

The popular Spaniard Jordi Gene returns to the cockpit of a SEAT two years on from his last racing foray in the STCC, while former Renault Megane champion Stefano Comini, World Endurance Championship convert Andrea Belicchi and single-seater graduate Sergey Afanasyev could also be ones to watch in this foray into the unknown.

More entries are expected in time for Round Three and start of the European leg of the championship at Valencia in May, by which point hopefully the mist will have cleared and the favourites will have come to the fore.