Giovanni Altoè will take part in the 2018 TCR Europe series in an Audi RS3 LMS for Pit Lane Competizioni, with the Italian team revealing plans to enter several cars into the DSG Trophy category.
Altoè will dovetail his commitments in the seven-even TCR Europe series with a full season campaign in TCR Italy at the same time.
The 20-year-old already took part in TCR Italy and the then single-event TCR Europe Trophy in 2017, before following up with an entry into the three-event TCR Middle East series in early 2018, where he claimed a best result of fourth in Dubai.
“I’m so excited,” said Altoè. “It will be a very tough season for me: 14 racing weekends and 28 races mean that I will be on track every week.
“I will drive my Pit Lane Competizioni’s Audi RS3 LMS in both series, but I will have to adapt my driving style to two completely different tyres.
“I started working with Pit Lane Competizioni this winter racing in TCR Middle East. Keeping racing with them will help me to grow up more quickly. It’s a professional and winning team and they can support me under every point of view.
“It will be a long season, I have to discover all the European tracks, but I feel ready. I want to fight for winning both the TCR Italy and TCR Europe DSG class.”
Pit Lane Competizioni Team Owner Roberto Remelli
“We are very happy to have Giovanni with us,” added Remelli. “Despite that he is a very young talent, he already gained a great experience. Giovanni is the 2017 TCR Europe DSG class champion, this year it will be trickier with two championships and so many contenders, but we want to battle for both Italian and European DSG trophies.
“We really believe in the TCR concept and in its basics, we are sure it’s the right way for the future of the touring car races but we know also that, in this particular period, there are many drivers struggling with finding the budgets needed for racing. The TCR DSG cars are the right answer to all the drivers want to compete the TCR Series with lower costs.
“We are thinking of all those drivers coming from national SEAT Leon Cup series or from other mono-brand trophies, but also to those interested in making the first step in the touring car races and are looking for a full, competitive package with a reasonable cost.
“We are giving to all these guys a new and interesting chance: racing an entire season with a top car instead of being forced to choose a partial program of events.”
Pit Lane Competizioni also plan to enter CUPRA TCR and Volkswagen Golf GTi DSG cars in TCR Europe in 2018, with further drivers to be announced.