The TCR Europe Series resumes at Spa-Francorchamps for its third event of the season that also counts as the second event of TCR Benelux.
The event sees the reappearance of two leading actors who were forced to miss the previous race meeting at Zandvoort: Jean-Karl Vernay in the Leopard Lukoil Team Audi RS3 LMS and Stefano Comini who has switched to a new Honda Civic FK7 that will be run by Autodis Racing with THX.
Vernay, who was replaced by Jaap van Lagen in the Netherlands, aims for his first victory in the series on a track that is home for his team and one that he loves; in fact he has already won there twice; in the 2016 and 2017 TCR International Series.
Comini, after appearing at Le Castellet in the Top Run-built Subaru WRX STI, has taken his time to put together a more competitive programme with the new Honda. He too has won at Spa, in last year's TCR International Series.
Thai driver Munkong Sathienthirakul will make his first appearance in TCR Europe at Spa; he will be driving a Cupra TCR run by the experienced Spanish outfit Monlau Competición.
Spa will also offer the opportunity to local teams and drivers to shine. Both WRT and THX that run Vernay's Audi and Comini's Honda are eager to win, not to mention the all-Belgian pairing of Maxime Potty and Cometoyou Racing. 18-year-old Potty is from Hamoir, only 40 kilometres away of Francorchamps and knows the track like the back of his hand; and on top of this he comes to Spa from scoring his first points in the series at Zandvoort.
They all have to face competition from the two best drivers so far: Dušan Borković and Mikel Azcona. The Serbian dominated the opening event at Le Castellet, winning both races in the Target Competition Hyundai i30 N, while the young Spaniard claimed his first victory in Zandvoort's Race 1 with the PCR Sport Cupra; they are jointly on top of the standings with 66 points.