2017 TCR International Series entry list revealed

TCR International Series reveals the full-season entry list for the 2017 season. The list features 20 entries for all ten rounds and three more entries for the European races only, with seven different brands being represented. The grid will grow even further thanks to the local drivers who will enter on a race-by-race basis.

The double TCR International champion Stefano Comini is returning with third different car in his third season. After driving Seat Leon and Volkswagen Golf, the Swiss driver will drive the #1 Audi RS3 LMS for the new outfit Comtoyou Racing.

Reigning champion Stefano Comini will drive the #1 Audi RS3 LMS

Eight drivers from last year’s Top 10 are back

Together with Comini, seven more drivers from the last year’s Top 10 are returning to the series, most of them with new teams or new cars. Last year’s runner-up James Nash remains in Lukoil Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Seat Leon, same as fourth-placed Pepe Oriola. Their new teammate in the #7 car would be Hugo Valente, entering TCR after four season in the WTCC. Jean-Karl Vernay, who finished third last year, also returns with the same team, continuing to drive Volkswagen Golf for Leopard Racing.

Last year’s front-runners who made changes both with teams and cars are Mato Homola (DG Sport/Opel Astra), Dušan Borković and Davit Kajaia (both in GE-Force’s Alfa Romeo), while Gianni Morbidelli stays with WestCoast Racing but switches from Honda to Volkswagen.

Two Hungarian teams on the grid

Hungarian teenager Attila Tassi would drive for the M1RA,  a new team founded by WTCC driver Norbert Michelisz. Tassi’s teammate will be touring car veteran Roberto Colciago. Another Hungarian team Zengő Motorsport is returning to the series for the first time since the inaugural TCR season in 2015. Zengő  will run two Kia Ceed cars for Ferenc Ficza and a second yet-to-be-announced driver.

Three drivers have already confirmed a participation in the European races, fighting for the TCR European Trophy, including Serbian Milovan Vesnić, Norwegian Stian Paulsen and Danish Jens Reno Møller.

Kia Ceed is the newest car in the TCR

“The TCR International Series is growing further in its third season and we are very pleased with the arrival of new brands, like Audi and KIA, and new teams. We are also delighted to see that the decision to change the format of the European Trophy is resulting in some competitors already entering in the European events of the International Series”, TCR promoter Marcello Lotti said.

The 2017 TCR International Series season will kick of on April 1-2 at Georgia’s Rustavi International Motorpark. Sixteen-car entry list is announced for that race, as some teams didn’t prepare all their cars for the season-opening race.

2017 TCR International Series entry list

Photos: tcr-series.com,

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