The WTCR season starts on the tricky streets of Pau

The fifth WTCR − FIA World Touring Car Cup season kicks off at Circuit de Pau-Ville this weekend. The FIA World Touring Car racing returns to this iconic and tricky street track after more than ten years with a driver line-up packed with race and title winners. All but one of the drivers entered for the full campaign is a race winner in the series, sharing 62 WTCR race wins and nine FIA World Touring Car titles between them.

Five brands - Audi, CUPRA, Honda, Hyundai and Lynk & Co - are represented through their customer racing departments and the WTCR remains the pinnacle of customer touring car racing at the top of the TCR pyramid.

Cyan Racing's Yann Ehrlacher aims for clinching a third consecutive Drivers' title for Lynk & Co, and to continue the winning streak, the team has expanded the line-up to five cars, adding the 2020 TCR China champion Ma Qing Hua to the confirmed quartet of Ehrlacher, Yvan Muller, Thed Björk and Santiago Urrutia.

Two Hyundai Elantra N cars are run by BRC Squadra Corse for the 2019 WTCR champion Norbert Michelisz and the double TCR Europe champion Mikel Azcona.

The successful partnership between Audi Sport and Comtoyou Racing has been renewed and the Belgian outfit runs four second-generation Audi RS 3 LMS cars for Tom Coronel, Gilles Magnus, Nathanaël Berthon and Mehdi Bennani who rejoins the World Cup after winning the TCR Europe title in 2020.

Four Honda Civic Type R cars are equally split between two German teams: Münnich Motorsport has confirmed the Argentine pair of Nélson Girolami and Esteban Guerrieri, while Attila Tassi and Tiago Monteiro race for Team Engstler.

The latest addition to the entry list are the two CUPRA Leon Competición cars run by Zengő Motorsport for Rob Huff and Dániel Nagy.

At Pau, local star Eric Cayrolle will join the field as a wild card driver at the wheel of an Audi entered by Élite Motorsport in cooperation with Comtoyou; Cayrolle is not eligible to score.

FIA WTCR – entry list
5 Norbert Michelisz (BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N TCR)
9 Attila Tassi (Liqui Moly Team Engstler, Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR)
11 Thed Björk (Cyan Performance Lynk & Co, Lynk & Co 03 TCR)
12 Santiago Urrutia (Cyan Performance Lynk & Co, Lynk & Co 03 TCR)
16 Gilles Magnus (Comtoyou Team Audi Sport, Audi RS 3 LMS II TCR)
17 Nathanaël Berthon (Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport, Audi RS 3 LMS II TCR)
18 Tiago Monteiro (Liqui Moly Team Engstler, Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR)
25 Mehdi Bennani (Comtoyou Team Audi Sport, Audi RS 3 LMS II TCR)
29 Néstor Girolami (All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR)
33 Tom Coronel (Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport, Audi RS 3 LMS II TCR)
55 Ma Qing Hua (Cyan Performance Lynk & Co, Lynk & Co 03 TCR)
64 Eric Cayrolle (Comtoyou Team Audi Sport, Audi RS 3 LMS II TCR)
68 Yann Erlacher (Cyan Racing Lynk & Co, Lynk & Co 03 TCR)
79 Rob Huff (Zengő Motorsport Services KFT, CUPRA Leon Competición TCR)
86 Esteban Guerrieri (All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR)
96 Mikel Azcona (BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N TCR)
99 Dániel Nagy (Zengő Motorsport Services KFT, CUPRA Leon Competición TCR)
100 Yvan Muller (Cyan Racing Lynk & Co, Lynk & Co 03 TCR)

Picture: WTCR/DPPI