The World Touring Car Cup or WTCR 2019 starts next weekend (5-7 April) with the Marrakech (Morocco) race at the Moulay El Hassan International Circuit. The final grid for this season includes twenty-six cars from seven different manufacturers, despite promoters having initially designed a championship for thirty-eight vehicles and eight manufacturers.

Competitively, the current Driver and Team defending title holders Gabrielle Tarquini and the BRC Racing Team (Hyundai), are the top contenders to beat. To protect their crown, the South Korean makers have focused on their BRC Racing Team project and reinforced their lineup with two major additions.

The Italian driver who won the French Yvan Muller of the M Racing-YMR by just threepoints will now share the garage with Augusto Farfus and Nicky Catsburg, a top-notch couple. One of Hyundai’s main opponents will be Lynk & Co.

The Chinese brand makes its debut by the hand of the Cyan Racing team, which counts with drivers such as Thed Bjök, Andy Priaulx, Yann Ehrlacher and 2018 sub-champion, Yvan Muller, amongst their ranks.

Honda will bring four cars in two different teams. Münich Motorsport will have the Argentine couple Esteban Guerrieri and Néstor Girolami, while the Hungarian Attila Tassi and the ex Formula 1 Portuguese Tiago Monteiro will be part of the KCMG team.

As for the European teams, Audi has limited its participation to four cars. Drivers Jean-Karl Vernay and Gordon Shedden will defend the colours of the WRT team, while Niels Langeveld and Fréderic Vervisch will take the start with the Comtoyou Racing team.

Also as part of the Comtoyou Racing team for the WTCR 2019, there will be two Cupra TCR piloted by Aurélien Panis and Tom Coronel (Dakar racer), while Daniel Haglöf and the Spaniard Mikel Azcona will be at the wheels of the other two Cupra TCR from PWR Racing. Finally, Kevin Ceccon and Ma Qing Hua will fight on board two Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR owned by Team Mulsanne.

All of the above WTCR 2019 participants will embark on this exciting journey which consists of thirty races in a dozen different circuits and across ten locations. The curtain rises on April the 5th in Morocco and the grand finale will take place nine months after that, in mid-December in Malaysia.

            Driver                           Team                                            Car

#1 Gabriele Tarquini  BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse      Hyundai i30 N TCR

#5 Norbert Michelisz  BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse      Hyundai i30 N TCR

#8 Augusto Farfus     BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing     Hyundai i30 N TCR

#88 Nicky Catsburg   BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing     Hyundai i30 N TCR

#12 Rob Huff                SLR VW Motorsport                      VW Golf GTI TCR

#25 Mehdi Bennani      SLR VW Motorsport                      VW Golf GTI TCR

#14 Johan Kristoffersson  SLR Volkswagen                      VW Golf GTI TCR

#33 Benjamin Leutcher    SLR Volkswagen                       VW Golf GTI TCR

#11 Thed Björk                 Cyan Racing Lynk & Co             Lynk & Co 03 TCR

#100 Yvan Muller             Cyan Racing Lynk & Co             Lynk & Co 03 TCR

#68 Yann Ehrlacher         Cyan Performance Lynk & Co    Lynk & Co 03 TCR

#111 Andy Priaulx            Cyan Performance Lynk & Co    Lynk & Co 03 TCR

#9 Attila Tassi                  KCMG                                         Honda Civic Type R

#18 Tiago Monteiro         KCMG                                          Honda Civic Type R

#29 Néstor Girolami        ALL-INKL.COM Münnich             Honda Civic Type R

#86 Esteban Guerrieri     ALL-INKL.COM Münnich             Honda Civic Type  R

#52 Gordon Shedden      Leopard Racing Team Audi        Audi RS 3 LMS

#69 Jean-Karl Vernay      Leopard Racing Team Audi        Audi RS 3 LMS

#10 Niels Langeveld        Comtoyou Team Audi Sport        Audi RS 3 LMS

#22 Frédéric Vervisch      Comtoyou Team Audi Sport        Audi RS 3 LMS

#21 Aurélien Panis          Comtoyou DHL Team CUPRA Racing   Cupra TCR

#50 Tom Coronel             Comtoyou DHL Team CUPRA Racing   Cupra TCR

#37 Daniel Haglöf            PWR Racing                                           Cupra TCR

#96 Mikel Azcona            PWR Racing                                           Cupra TCR

#31 Kevin Ceccon           Team Mulsanne               Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR

#55 Ma Qing Hua            Team Mulsanne               Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR

Imágenes: WTCR 2019.