The TCR International Series returns to Austria six weeks after racing at Salzburgring; the eight race meeting of the season will take place this upcoming weekend at Spielberg’s Red Bull Ring.
This is the first time the championship shares the event with the European Le Mans Series and the Formula Renault 3.5; together the three categories will provide over 13 hours of track action, treating Austrian fans to a motorsport festival with the best of European endurance, single-seaters and touring car racing.
The circuit was completely re-built twice since it was inaugurated in 1969 with the name Österreichring. It hosted the Austrian Formula 1 Grand Prix from 1970 to 1987 and then again from 1997 to 2003 after it was re-designed and renamed A1-Ring.
Its latest rebuilding dates back to 2011, after it was acquired by Red Bull following a few years of inactivity, which made possible to revive the Austrian F1 GP from 2014.
The TCR programme will follow the usual pattern: Saturday will feature two thirty-minute Free Practice sessions and one thirty-minute Qualifying, split into Q1 (20 minutes for all drivers) and Q2 (10 minutes for the fastest twelve in Q1).
The two races will then take place on Sunday morning over a distance of 60 kilometres.
TCR in Red Bull Ring – the event at a glance
Lap distance: 4.33 km
Race distance: 14 laps (60.56 km)
Start: standing
Grids: determined by Qualifying results (Q1+Q2) with top-10 reversed for Race 2
Timetable:
Saturday, 08:30/09:00 – Free Practice 1
Saturday, 13:00/13:30 – Free Practice 2
Saturday, 16:30/17:05 – Qualifying (Q1 + Q2)
Sunday, 08:25 – Race 1
Sunday, 11:40 – Race 2
all times: CET (GMT +2)
Target enters fourth car for Michela Cerruti
The Target Competition team entered a fourth SEAT León car in the TCR International Series event at Red Bull Ring.
Cerru ti joins regulars TCR competitors Andrea Belicchi and Stefano Comini (who’s leading the Drivers’ Championship) and newcomer Gabriele Marotta.
Born in Rome, Michela Cerruti is the second lady driver to compete in the TCR International Series, after Lucille Cypriano from France who took part in the third race meeting of the season at Valencia.
Cerruti’s racing career began only in 2008, but she has gained experience in a lot of different racing series since, proving she can be competitive with her male competitors on equal grounds.
Among her most outstanding results are race victories in the Auto GP, the Superstars International Series, the German VLN Endurance Series and the Italian GT championship. During the current season she took part in four events of the FIA Formula E Championship and in the Nürburgring 24 Hours in which she finished 6 th in the SP9 GT3 class at the wheel of a BMW Z4.
Dániel Nagy to race for Zengö Motorsport
The Zengö Motorsport team keeps on raising Hungary’s young motorsport talents. After giving spells of international racing to Ferenc Ficza (19 years old), Norberth Tóth (17) and Dávid Zsolt Szabó (19) in the previous TCR events, the Hungarian team will bring another 17-year old to the Red Bull Ring: Dániel Nagy.
N agy belongs to a very sporting family: his elder brother Viktor is the goalkeeper of Hungary’s national water-polo team, while his father Tibor and his mother Brigitta are both racing drivers and often share the car in endurance competitions.
It’s not a surprise that Dániel moved his first steps in motor sports at the age of 14, taking part in the Hungarian RCM Suzuki Swift Cup. A category that sacred him champion in 2013 on his second racing season when Nagy also won one race at the Red Bull Ring.
Dániel Nagy is currently lying second in this year’s RCM Cup.
One single point equates to 10 kilograms of ballast
Craft-Bamboo Lukoil’s teammates Jordi Gené and Pepe Oriola were the best scorers two weeks ago, during the latest event of the TCR International Series at Sochi Autodrom.
Gené pocketed a total of 40 points, claiming pole position (5 pts), one victory (25) and a fifth place (10), while Oriola – who qualified third (3 pts) and finished second in both races (18 + 18) – scored only one point less: 39.
That single point will result in a difference of ten kilos of Success Ballast for the next race meeting at the Red Bull Ring. Gené’s SEAT León will be laden with the maximum ballast of 30 kgs, while Oriola will receive 20 extra kilos.
T he 10 kilos of Success Ballast for the third best scorer will be allocated to the current championship leader, Stefano Comini, who collected 37 points at Sochi.
Live streaming and timing available from Red Bull Ring
The TCR International Series event at the Red Bull Ring will receive extensive coverage on the Internet.
Live streaming will be available on the series’ official website www.tcr-series.com .
The two 14-lap races will be streamed live on Sunday: Race 1 at 08.25 and Race 2 at 11.35 local times.
Live timing will also be also available on the official website, covering all Saturday’s sessions and Sunday’s races.