This weekend marks the final round of the TCR International Series, where Volkswagen driver Jean-Karl Vernay and Honda racer Attila Tassi will vie for the much-coveted title. TouringCars.Net has all the facts here.
Whilst the TCR International Series has not yet visited the United Arab Emirates, it is not the first time TCR has raced in the country. The first round of the inaugural TCR Middle East series took place at the Dubai Autodrome earlier in the year, in support of the 24 Hour race.
Only Mat’o Homola has experience of the circuit from that first visit, but the Slovakian racer is not in the title fight. Despite that, the Opel driver could still spring a surprise and end up mixing it with the front runners – the 23-year-old has already secured three outright pole positions during 2017.
With 55 points still on offer (25 points for a win and 5 for pole position) there are technically four drivers still in the title fight. However, both Comtoyou Racing’s Stefano Comini in third (42 points adrift) and M1RA’s Roberto Colciago in fourth (46 points adrift) would effectively need a miracle in order to lift the main prize this weekend.
Realistically, the title fight is between Leopard Racing’s Jean-Karl Vernay and M1RA’s Attila Tassi, who is 21 points behind. You could say the title fight is Vernay’s to lose this weekend, but the title fight has taken a number of twists and turns already this season – just three races ago it was Tassi who had a two-point advantage at the top of the table.
With the stakes being high between Leopard Racing and M1RA at the top of the championship, both teams have drafted in experienced help to support them this weekend.
Leopard are unable to rely on Rob Huff, their regular number two driver, due to his commitments in the World Touring Car Championship, and so he has been replaced by triple British Touring Car Champion Gordon Shedden in the second Volkswagen Golf.
M1RA have called on arguably the best-performing Honda driver in the TCR world to-date in Josh Files, who will get behind the wheel of a third Civic for the Hungarian team. The two-time TCR Germany champion, and reigning TCR Middle East champion, will be tasked with supporting Tassi and Colciago’s championship challenge, as well as trying to help the outfit pick up the Team’s award.
Head-to-head
Vernay and Tassi have already clashed on-track during the 2017 season, when the duo came together at the seventh race meeting of the year in Germany.
At the time Tassi was the championship leader whilst Vernay was in third overall in the standings. The pair made contact on the first lap of the race, before making contact again later on, ultimately costing both drivers points. Both drivers disagreed on who was to blame for the incidents, and ultimately both lost out at the time.
With Vernay and Tassi being the realistic title contenders heading into the final weekend of the season, tempers could well flare again in the desert heat.
In terms of outright success, Tassi leads the way with two wins to his name, whilst Vernay has only claimed one win. There have also been fewer podiums for the Frenchman, who has claimed six to Tassi’s seven.
But it is consistency which has seen Vernay remain in the hunt – with 14 top ten finishes to his name and just one retirement (along with a non-start in Austria). Tassi too has had just one retirement, when contact with Vernay took him out in race one at Oschersleben, but the young Hungarian has also been outside the points on three other occasions.
In terms of success ballast, it is only Vernay who has to carry extra weight in Dubai. The Frenchman will carry an extra 10 kg of weight thanks to being the third-best points scorer in the last round in China.
In line with the weekend schedule in the United Arab Emirates, track action on the shorter ‘National’ circuit will take place on Friday and Saturday, with the title being decided on the latter when both races take place.