The BRC Racing Team has revealed that it was prepared to race in Saturday’s planned FIA World Touring Car Cup races on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, had they not been cancelled due to tyre safety issues.
The third and fourth rounds of the championship have had to be postponed after a continuation of tyre troubles which affected various teams, drivers and cars on Thursday and Friday’s running of the event.
BRC Racing Team Principal Gabriele Rizzo pointed out that the Hyundai team had not experienced such troubles, and had in fact focussed on its tyre management in testing prior to the event.
“We understand and acknowledge the decision made by the FIA and we are disappointed not to be competing in Germany today,” said Rizzo in a statement issued in response to the cancellation of the races.
“We were prepared to go racing safely at the Nürburgring in front of the fans as we did a race simulation on Thursday and came across no tyre-related issues during free practice nor qualifying.”
Rizzo was disappointed at the lack of racing, after Mikel Azcona and Norbert Michelisz had qualified their Elantra N TCR cars in fifth and ninth place respectively.
“It was not a great weekend as we missed the opportunity to compete on the legendary Nordschleife in front of a big crowd of fans. It is something we will never get back.
“We worked hard over the winter and in our pre-season testing for this event especially and on tyre management.
“We come out of this weekend proud that we have had trouble free sessions and got both drivers in the top ten in qualifying, despite lacking engine power compared to our competitors due to BOP [Balance of Performance].
“We must immediately focus on the next event in Hungary. It is another special event for us where we have some great memories from previous years.”