World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) regular Hugo Valente will make his début in the TCR International Series in Thailand later in October, racing an Opel Astra for Campos Racing.
Valente, who competes in the WTCC for Campos at the wheel of a Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1, will swap his regular car for the smaller TCR-spec Astra for the one-off appearance.
The TCR series will make its appearance at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram exactly one week before the WTCC visits the same circuit, giving Valente an extra opportunity to gain experience of the new circuit.
“I’m excited to go to Thailand!” said Valente.“It’s always thrilling to discover new places, a new championship and a new circuit. I’m pleased that Campos Racing offered me the opportunity to participate in the TCR event and learn the track in view of the WTCC races.
“Campos Racing has been running the Opel and shown some good progress over the past few races. I want to help them to improve as much as I can.”
Valente is aware of the tough task facing him, as the Astra has only broken into the top ten on four occasions in 2015, suffering a number of reliability issues in the process.
“Realistically it will be difficult to achieve good results,” added the Frenchman, “but our aim is to develop the car and learn the track. The races should be fun as I’ve always seen good battles in TCR! I’m looking forward to it!”