STARD today unveiled its much anticipated new TCR car at the TCR BeNeLux meeting in Mettet, with the car known as the K:Force Kia Cee’d TCR.
The Cee’d has been in development by the Austrian firm for a number of months, having first been announced in April this year.
At the season finale of the TCR BeNeLux Series, the company revealed the new car, with CEO Michael Sakowicz making the reveal.
“As in any other of our projects one target is clearly set above all others: to develop a race winning car,” said Sakowicz. “We have proven our know how and the competitiveness of entirely STARD developed race cars in past rally, recent touring car and recent world rallycross supercar projects and plan to confirm and underline this with our Kia TCR project.
“We at STARD are exceptionally passionate about motorsport which is why we work hard to achieve the best possible – always.”
The car features the latest Hyundai / Kia 2.0 litre ‘Theta II’ turbocharged petrol direct-injection engine, as well as a carbon fibre aerodynamic body kit and a number of in-house and third-part developed components.
STARD have taken advantage of the chance to use an engine from elsewhere in the manufacturer group, as the road-going Cee’d only features a maximum engine size of 1.6 litre. The total engine output is predicted to be around 350 bhp.
The car has been developed using Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) and will be available with two different types of sequential gearbox.
STARD are trying to secure customer orders by offering a service with exceptional customer support, training and even a simulator option.
“In a ‘Balance of Performance’ regulated category, very important factors are the possibility for individualisation of the car including a very personal technical service,” continued Sakowicz. “The ‘BoP’, as the name is already implementing, is equalising the objective performance figures of a racecar – i.e. in TCR engine power, vehicle mass and ride height.
“That however means a car, which has its maximum performance reduced in order to equalise it with the competitors, can still be a lot faster around the track due to optimised tailormade adaption of the car to the driver, his own driving, the given track and the actual conditions.
“Basically this is an increase in ‘efficiency’ of the entire driver-car-team system. This includes topics like engine driveability, chassis control, ergonomics, optimised setup for various conditions, race tracks and drivers, powerful data-logging system and well trained / informed technical staff.
“We are trying to offer a revolutionary package within TCR with the combination of our car´s technical features and the offered, very individual customer services around it.”
Sakowicz added that he is looking forward to seeing how the car fares on the race track in the heat of competition in 2017.
“The testing is going very well so far and the results are without exception satisfying. We are getting prepared for the 2017 racing season and very excited about it. We are very optimistic to meet the expectations we and especially customers and teams are putting into the project and car.
“I expect that many people are very excited about this K:FORCE Kia Cee´d touring car entering the scene of TCR in 2017. We definitely are!”
