The 2020 TCR DSG Europe kicks off at Misano

The inaugural TCR DSG Europe series season kicks off this weekend at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in Italy.
The new-for-2020 championship has attracted a strong opening entry – 18 drivers and ten cars – which is in line with the target set by the series promoter Paolo Ferreira, considering the current global pandemic.
Nine of the ten teams are from Italy and will also compete in the concurrent TCR DSG Italy Endurance Touring Car Championship, while touring car stalwarts Zengő Motorsport will also join the grid, fielding a CUPRA for Hungarians Szalbocs Ga’l and Csaba Tóth.
Current TCR Italy championship title contenders BF Motorsport will field a single Audi RS 3 LMS for Paolo Palanti and Ronnie Valori, while NOS Racing will run a Volkswagen Golf GTI for Gabriele Giorgi and Cosimo Barberini.
Élite Motorsport, the first team to commit to the new series way back in December of last year, will provide five cars; four Volkswagen Golf GTIs, and one CUPRA, the latter will be driven by current TCR Italy championship DSG points leader Michele Imberti.
Alessandro Altoè, last year’s TCR DSG Italy co-champion, will drive one of Élite Motorsport’s Volkswagen Golf cars along with Alfredo De Matteo and the pair will certainly be ones to watch in the championship fight.
Also racing for Élite Motorsport will be Gian Maria Gabbiani, who will be joined Rodrigo Almeida, a 16-year-old karting and Formula 4 graduate from Mozambique.
The new Team Italy squad will field an Audi RS 3 for team owner/driver Ermanno Dionisio, with Giacomo Barri as his co-driver. The pair finished as runners-up in last year’s TCR DSG Italy Endurance championship to Altoè.
The final team, the Alessandria-based Tecniengines, will field the third Audi on the grid, for 68-year-old Piero Necchi, the 2011 Italian Touring Car Endurance champion, and his son Eduardo. 
More entries are expected to join the series from central and eastern Europe from the next rounds.

Picture: ACI Sport