Hyundai Motorsport ready for Nürburgring 24 Hours challenge
- Hyundai Motorsport will enter two cars in the Nürburgring 24 Hours, the climax for the team’s endurance racing campaign on the Nordschleife
- Both the team’s Hyundai i30 N TCR and Hyundai Veloster N TCR will be shared between four drivers, making up one of the strongest squads ever entered into the TCR class at the race
- The i30 Fastback N will also compete at the event in the VT2 class to demonstrate its race track capability
- The event will take the Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing-built cars back to the track where the road-going models of Hyundai’s N range were honed with rigorous testing.
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Confirmation of the two-car entry for the Nürburgring 24 Hours comes after a strong result in the six-hour Qualifying Race, where the Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing-built machines finished first and second in the TCR class. Once again the team will enter one i30 N TCR and one Veloster N TCR in the June event. Both will run in the endurance specification, which includes ABS braking system, a quick refueling capability and additional lights to cope with the challenge of night driving.
Following preparations that took the cars to VLN1 and VLN2, as well as the Qualifying Race event the team are well readied for the competitive TCR class in the twice-round-the-clock event on the fearsome 25km combination of Nordschleife and the Grand Prix track.
The Hyundai Motorsport garage will boast one of the strongest driver line-ups ever brought to the TCR class at the Nürburgring.
For the 24 Hours driving duties in the two cars will be split between seven drivers, each of who has been a part of the team at events already this year. This includes all six drivers involved in the strong run at the Qualifying Race earlier this month. The decision confirms Andreas Gülden, Manuel Lauck, Moritz Oestreich and Peter Terting for a second Nürburgring 24 Hours with the Hyundai Motorsport team. The race gives Gülden, Lauck and Terting a chance to better the second place in the category they scored last year alongside Nicola Larini.
Former overall winner Marc Basseng and Nico Verdonck continue with the team following their appearances in the VLN and Qualifying Race events. The drivers for the race are completed by Hari Proczyk. The defending TCR Germany champion currently lies fourth in the points’ standings in his first year of racing the Hyundai in the sprint series, and was part of the Hyundai Motorsport endurance team for March’s VLN1. The exact driver line-up for the Hyundai i30 N TCR and Hyundai Veloster N TCR will be confirmed ahead of the race weekend.
In addition, Hyundai will also enter the i30 Fastback N in the VT2 class to illustrate its durability and race track performance.
The weekend at the Nürburgring, which will also include the WTCR Race of Germany event, will be something of a homecoming for the Hyundai Motorsport-built cars. Rigorous testing at the Nürburgring was a crucial part of the development of the road-going models of the N brand that provide the basis for the racers.
Hyundai’s Nürburgring 24 Hours race heritage
Hyundai has participated in the Nürburgring 24 Hours for the past three years. In 2016, the team completed 91 laps of the grueling race track with the Hyundai i30 2.0 Turbo development car, a total distance of 2,309.39 kilometers. The team also completed the fastest lap time of 9:55.626 minutes, breaking the 10-minute barrier.
In 2017, two close-to-production Hyundai i30 N models completed 244 laps of the Nürburgring, totaling more than 6,000 km on the race track and demonstrating the durability of the series model ahead of its 2017 launch. Last year, two pairs of Hyundai i30 N TCR cars finished an impressive second and fourth in the TCR class, despite enduring treacherously wet conditions.
Since the i30 N TCR’s debut with customer teams in 2018, Hyundai TCR customers have taken more than 50 race wins, alongside championship titles in the USA, Korea and the double of teams’ and drivers’ titles in the first FIA WTCR season. Now the challenge is to add another victory in one of the most challenging events in the motorsport world, proving the power of N, the performance of the Hyundai Motorsport built machines, and the skill of the drivers assembled for the event.
The Nürburgring 24 Hours remains one of the biggest challenges in motorsport. Through our preparations with the Hyundai i30 N TCR and Hyundai Veloster N TCR at VLN1, VLN2 and the great result in the Qualifying Race we are well prepared for the event. Both packages have shown their pace and reliability already this year. We have an excellent driver line-up, with experience both of the cars and the Nordschleife, which can take on anything in what we expect to be a very competitive class at the race. I hope we can score a great result at one of the homes of N.
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
