Portimão hosts the TCR Europe series’ season opener

The Autódromo do Algarve in Portimão is the scene of TCR Europe's season opener that marks the first of three events with DTM. 

Among the favourites to lift the Drivers’ crown is the 2019 European champion Josh Files, who returns to Target Competition to drive a Hyundai Elantra N alongside teammates Felice Jelmini and the 2017 TCR Italy champion Nicola Baldan.

Also returning to the series are the 2021 TCR South America champion Pepe Oriola (Brutal Fish Racing) and the 2021 TCR Spain champion Mike Halder (Halder Motorsport) – both driving Honda Civic Type R cars. Oriola is partnered by Martin Ryba while Halder’s teammates are his sister Michelle and Jack Young who drove for MM Motorsport in last weekend’s opening round of TCR Italy at Monza where he finished second in both races.

Yet another returnee is John Filippi, who finished second to Mehdi Bennani in the 2020 TCR Europe and contested the Pure ETCR series for Hyundai last year. Filippi drives a CUPRA Leon Competición run by last year’s Teams’ champions, Sébastien Loeb Racing.

Comtoyou Racing fields a strong line-up, with Tom Coronel who won in Zandvoort last year, Franco Girolami, runner-up in the series in 2021 and Viktor Davidovski all in second-generation Audi RS 3 LMS cars. Two new Audi cars are also run by Élite Motorsport in cooperation with Comtoyou for the young Portuguese Luís Cidade and Swiss driver Miklas Born, the TCR class champion in the 2020 24H Series

Isidro Callejas made the move to Volcano Motorsport to replace last year’s champion Mikel Azcona; in the past weekend the Spanish teenager dominated the TCR Spain's opener at Jarama. The team’s other CUPRA Leon Competición cars are driven by Evgenii Leonov and Klim Gavrilov, who compete as Neutral Drivers, while Gustavo Moura jr tackles his home event in the team’s fourth car.

The only unchanged team line-up is Janík Motorsport's, that once again run two Hyundai cars for Mat’o Homola and Jáchym Galáš, although the pair is now driving the latest Elantra N. Like Young and Callejas, they entered the opening round of a national TCR series to help them prepare for the TCR Europe campaign; the pair tackled the TCR Eastern Europe races at the Hungaroring where Homola finished second in Race 1 and Galáš won Race 2.

After a one-off appearance at last year’s finale in Barcelona, Giacomo Ghermandi enters in the full season in a LEMA Racing CUPRA Leon Competición.

TCR Europe - entry list
2 Luís Cidade (Élite Motorsport by Comtoyou, Audi RS 3 LMS II TCR)
3 Giacomo Ghermandi (Lema Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición TCR)
7 Mike Halder (Halder Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR)
8 Nicola Baldan (Target Competition, Hyundai Elantra N TCR)
14 Klim Gavrilov (Volcano Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición TCR)
16 Evgenii Leonov (Volcano Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición TCR)
17 Martin Ryba (Brutal Fish Racing Team, Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR)
18 Miklas Born (Élite Motorsport by Comtoyou, Audi RS 3 LMS II TCR)
24 Jáchym Galáš (Janík Motorsport, Hyundai Elantra N TCR)
26 Isidro Callejas (Volcano Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición TCR)
27 John Filippi (Sébastien Loeb Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición TCR)
33 Tom Coronel (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS II TCR)
44 Felice Jelmini (Target Competition, Hyundai Elantra N TCR)
53 Michelle Halder (Halder Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR)
62 Jack Young (Halder Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR)
70 Mat’o Homola (Janík Motorsport, Hyundai Elantra N TCR)
72 Franco Girolami (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS II TCR)
74 Pepe Oriola (Brutal Fish Racing Team, Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR)
99 Josh Files (Target Motorsport, Hyundai Elantra N TCR)
110 Viktor Davidovski (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS II TCR)
124 Gustavo Moura jr. (Volcano Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición TCR)

Picture: TCR Europe