Behold the new Hyundai i30N touring cars

Here at TG we love the Hyundai i30N. We also love touring cars, so see if you can guess our thoughts on this race-bred TCR version of the Korean hot hatchback.

Hyundai only joined the World Touring Car Cup (confusingly abbreviated to WTCR) as new regulations were brought in for the 2018 season, but the i30N stormed the championship, taking both the teams’ and drivers’ titles with 13 victories and over 30 podiums for its customer outfits.

This year, the new-look Hyundais will be operated by BRC Racing, who are set to run two teams of two cars each in the field of 26 drivers. The Lukoil racing cars will be piloted by WTCR debutants Augusto Farfus and Nicky Catsburg, whilst the more stealthy-looking, and infinitely better named BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse team will feature Norbert Michelisz and reigning champion Gabriele Tarquini.

Yep, that’s 57-year-old ex-Formula 1 driver Tarquini. He won the title last year at the very last race of the season. Just one of the reasons why we love touring cars.

Of course, no specific technical details have been released by Hyundai or BRC, but the WTCR technical regs limit cars to being front-wheel drive only, with turbocharged production engines and a maximum output of 350bhp. The result of such stringent rules? Well, expect to see many layers of paint swapped once again this year.

The two new i30N TCRs will be out on track for the first time at the pre-season test in Barcelona next week, before the ten-round championship kicks off in Morocco in early April.