Golf GTI TCR to Make TCR International Series Debut

The TCR International Series season opener is set for this weekend at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir. Four Golf GTI TCRs will be racing with two teams.

The cars will be racing under the Leopard Racing and Engstler Motorsport banners. Stefano Comini and Jean-Karl Vernay will be racing for the former, while Davit Kajaia and Mikhail Grachev will be driving the Team Engstler cars.

The drivers come to the car with lots of experience. Comini is the reigning series champion, having won six TCR Championship victories in his Seat Leon last year. Vernay raced an Audi R8 LMS in the Blancpain Endurance series last year. Kajaia, meanwhile, is a former European Touring Car Championship driver and Grachev returns from a strong season last year with Engstler Motorsport.

The GTI TCR hit the track for the first time earlier this month in Valencia. Tests there, and in France more recently, were promising.

“There were some teething problems, but we were still able to learn more about the car. Everything we tried went in the right direction and we hope that this information will be useful for the first event,” said Comini after cold weather tests in France.

The cars will be competing in a 22 car grid this weekend and the race coincides with the second race on the Formula 1 calendar, also being run at the track this weekend. There will be two 25 minute races. The first on Saturday at 7:30 (local time) and the second on Sunday at 2:30 (local time).

Watch the video below to see the GTI TCR on track learn a little bit more about Leopard Racing.

The post Golf GTI TCR to Make TCR International Series Debut appeared first on VWVortex.

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