The 2021 TCR Europe season will reach the halfway mark this weekend when the series takes to the iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium for Rounds 7 and 8. The high level of competition witnessed this year has seen six different winners from the six races held so far, which makes the Spa race weekend – and the eventual outcome of the series – extremely difficult to predict.

The winner of the year’s opening race at the Slovakiaring, 2018 Champion Mikel Azcona, returns to the series after missing the Zandvoort weekend due to a clashing commitment with the brand new Pure ETCR series. The Spaniard won both TCR Europe races at Spa last year (pictured) and so must start this weekend as one of the favourites in his Volcano Motorsport CUPRA Leon Competición.

With Race 1 victories in both 2018 and 2019, Spa has been a fairly happy hunting ground for Audi in TCR Europe, so Tom Coronel will be hungry to repeat his Race 1 win at Zandvoort six weeks ago while Nicolas Baert will carry Belgian hopes for both himself and the Comtoyou team at their home event. Peugeot 308 cars have enjoyed mixed fortunes at the Ardennes circuit, but race winners at Paul Ricard Teddy and Jimmy Clairet will be looking to emulate Julien Briché’s Race 2 victories in both 2018 and 2019. The two other drivers to have won races so far this year – Mehdi Bennani and Franco Girolami, the current points leader – will also be keen to add to their points totals in their Hyundai Elantra N and Honda Civic Type-R respectively.

But as well as those six race winners, a whole host of drivers are looking to improve their title hopes in Belgium. Dušan Borkovič in the third Comtoyou Audi, Bennani’s Sébastien Loeb Racing teammates Niels Langeveld, Sami Taoufik and Felice Jelmini in Hyundai Elantra N cars and the two young Brutal Fish Racing Honda Civic drivers Jack Young and Isidro Callejas will all be fighting for podium places and potential race wins based on their recent performances.

Competition in the various classes is just as fierce as for the overall Drivers’ title, with Baert currently leading the Juniors by just six points from Jack Young and Callejas enjoying a commanding lead in the Rookies class. The Diamond category, meanwhile, is currently led by Viktor Davidovski who is 16 points clear of Martin Ryba.

Spa-Francorchamps Draft Timetable (subject to change)

Thursday July 29^th

12.30 Free Practice 1

16.55 Free Practice 2

Friday July 30^th

12.30 Qualifying

18.30 Race 1

Saturday July 31^st

11.20 Race 2

All times are CEST. Both races will be streamed live on the TCR Portal tcr-series.tv and via TCR Europe’s social media channels