Two weeks after its first ever race meeting at the Sepang International Circuit during the F1 Malaysia Grand Prix, the TCR International Series returns to action this coming weekend in the frame of the F1 Chinese Grand Prix.
On the 5.45-km Shanghai International Circuit, the TCR competitors will run according to a schedule that is pretty much the same as the Malaysian timetable.
They will take part in two twenty-minute Free Practice sessions on Friday and return to action on Saturday for a thirty-minute Qualifying that will be split into Q1 (for all drivers) and Q2 (for the fastest twelve in Q1).
Race 1 will then take place on Saturday afternoon, just before the F1 Qualifying, while Race 2 will be held on Sunday morning.
TCR in Shanghai – the event at a glance
Lap distance: 5.45 km
Race distance: 10 laps or 25 minutes
Start: standing
Grids: determined by Qualifying results (Q1+Q2) with top-10 reversed for Race 2
Timetable: Friday, 12:00/12:20 Free Practice 1
Friday, 17:10/17:30 Free Practice 2
Saturday, 09:45/10:15 Qualifying (Q1 + Q2)
Saturday, 13:25 Race 1
Sunday, 10:30 Race 2
all times: GMT +8
Success Ballast for Comini, Pepe Oriola and Gené
The Success Ballast system will come into force at the second event of the TCR International Series that takes place this weekend in China, at Shanghai International Circuit. Extra kilos will be allocated to the top-three drivers, according to the points they have scored in the previous race meeting.
As a consequence, Stefano Comini (Target Competition), Pepe Oriola and Jordi Gené (both Team Craft-Bamboo Lukoil) who are placed in the first three spots of the Drivers’ Classification after Sepang, will carry 30, 20 and 10 kilos of extra weight respectively.
The success ballast will be recalculated after Shanghai, in readiness for the following event at Valencia.
Target Competition enters fourth car for Chinese driver
Sixteen cars of four different brands have been entered in the series’ second race meeting at Shanghai.
Italy-based Target Competition – that leads the Drivers’ Championship with Stefano Comini – will add a fourth SEAT León for young Chinese racer Alex Yang, who is also facing his first season in the tough Japanese Formula 3 Championship.
Compared to the previous event in Malaysia, the TCR field has lost the Proteam Racing Ford Focus of Diego Romanini and one of the Campos Racing Opel Astra cars. They were withdrawn because of persisting technical problems (gearbox for the Ford and cooling system for the Opel) that couldn’t be fixed in Asia. However, in Shanghai Campos Racing will run a SEAT León for Igor Skuz alongside the Opel Astra of Jordi Oriola.
A change of driver has occurred at Zengő Motorsport, with 16-year old Norbert Tóth replacing his fellow Hungarian Ferenc Ficza in the team’s SEAT León.
ENTRY LIST
TCR races to be streamed live from Shanghai
Following the successful live streaming of both the inaugural races of the TCR International Series from Sepang, motorsport fans worldwide will be given the opportunity of watching rounds 3 and 4 on the internet once again.
Live streaming from Shanghai will be available on the series’ official website www.tcr-series.com.
Race 1 coverage will begin on Saturday, April 11th, at 13:20 local time (07:20 CET), while race two will be streamed on Sunday, April 12th at 10.25 local time (04:25am CET).