Hyundai Motorsport begins preparations for 2022 Nürburgring 24 Hours
- Hyundai Motorsport will enter an Elantra N TCR in this weekend’s NLS event as they begin preparations to defend their TCR class title in May’s Nürburgring 24 Hours
- Winners last year, Manuel Lauck and Marc Basseng will share the car in the four-hour race on the shorter version of the Nürburgring GP circuit, combined with the Nordschleife
- The team’s build up to the 24 Hours will continue with a two-car entry for the six-hour N24 Qualifiers in early May, with the full driver lune-up to be announced closer to the event
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Hyundai Motorsport will return to the Nürburgring 24 Hours this season to defend the TCR class victory they earned in 2021 with a two-car entry in the May 26-29 event.
The team’s preparation for the 50th edition of the Nordschleife endurance challenge will begin this weekend at round 2 of the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS) championship, when they field an Elantra N TCR for drivers Manuel Lauck and Marc Basseng.
Both drivers return to the track after being part of the victorious line-up in the 2021 24 Hours. Sharing the Elantra N TCR with Moritz Oestreich, they led a Hyundai 1-2 in the TCR class, with the team’s i30 N TCR just behind in an impressive 32nd and 33rd overall. The pair finished a full 25km lap ahead of their nearest competitor in class in a race that was halted overnight due to thick fog over the Eifel venue. The win was Hyundai Motorsport’s first since first entering the TCR class of the race in 2018, though at least one of the squad’s entries had stood on the class podium at every attempt.
Despite this prior success, the Hyundai Motorsport team know well the demands of the track and the race. The start at the NLS event will give the engineers and drivers their first laps on the circuit this season, presenting a first opportunity to begin working on the set-up and strategy necessary for a strong result in the 24 Hours.
Endurance success at the uniquely challenging circuit has long been an important target for the Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing department. Victory at the Nürburgring is a hugely powerful way to not only to further their work in showing the capabilities of Hyundai cars to fans, but to prove the perfect combination of performance and reliability in the manufacturer’s TCR models to potential customers for both sprint and long-distance disciplines.
The growing history of the TCR cars, built at the team’s headquarters in Alzenau, Germany, adds another facet to the strong connections between the Nürburgring and Hyundai, especially the manufacturer’s high-performance N brand.
Extensive testing on the famous ‘Green Hell’ has become a rite of passage for new models joining the road-car line-up. Additionally, the information gathered from each season of racing in TCR category – both at the Nürburgring, and around the world – has been crucial in the development of the high-performance brand.
The NLS weekend is only the first step in the work of the team towards this year’s 24 Hours. The Elantra N TCR will be joined by an i30 N TCR for the six-hour N24 Qualifiers in early May. The full driver Page 2 roster for both cars will be announced closer to the event.
It’s obviously great to be going into the Nürburgring 24 Hours as the defending winners in the TCR class after the excellent performance last year. However, that also brings added expectation that we have to live up to. Any race on the Nürburgring Nordschleife is unpredictable – there are some things we simply cannot control. That fact makes it even more important that we start the race as well prepared as possible. Our start in this weekend’s NLS event with the Hyundai Elantra N TCR, Manuel Lauck and Marc Basseng, and then the N24 Qualifiers next month will allow our full team the best opportunity to ready themselves and the cars for the 24 Hours. The demands of the event make it the perfect place to showcase the race-winning performance of our TCR designs in some of the toughest conditions in modern motorsport.
Contacts
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Florian Büngener
Head of Department PR & Communications
fbuengener@hyundai-europe.com LinkedIn ProfileAdriana Cerami
Head of Section Corporate & Brand PR
acerami@hyundai-europe.comKatharina Kupper
Hyundai Newsroom Lead
kkupper@hyundai-europe.comAnja Wente
Product PR & Communications Expert
awente@hyundai-europe.comElvira Herrera
Corporate Communications Expert
eherrera@hyundai-europe.comÁngel Pino Pérez
Product Communications Professional
apinoperez@hyundai-europe.comMaria Bricio
Corporate & Brand Communications Expert
