French team JSB Compétition will return to the TCR Europe series in 2025 after four years away, fielding a trio of Hyundai Elantra N cars for Julien Briché, Jean-Laurent Navarro and Pierre-Arnaud Navarro.
The team, run by Briché, was a regular in the first three years of the series, running Peugeot 308 TCR cars for a number of drivers.
Briché took part in 36 races during this time and quickly emerged as a front-runner, winning on his second appearance at Spa-Francorchamps in 2018.
The following year, Briché just missed out on the drivers’ title to Josh Files, winning four times and visiting the podium on seven occasions to end the year as the runner-up.
His last season was in the COVID-hit 2020 season, when Briché again won at Monza, although ended the year in tenth.
Jean-Laurent Navarro,47, made his début in 2018 before joining the team in 2020, scoring a best finish of 13th at Zolder. He will be joined by brother Pierre-Arnaud Navarro in 2025, who will make his début.
Since 2020, Amiens-based JSB Compétition has focussed on racing at home in France, in both TC France and GT4.
“It’s exciting to come back to the TCR Europe series for this year after a few years away,” said Briché.
“I have great memories of the series, particularly from 2019 which was an incredible season for us.
“With the Elantra we know we have a car capable of victories, and the strength of the field this season looks to be back to being as strong as when we left – so we can’t wait to get started at Portimão.”
Jean-Laurent Navarro is looking forward to returning to the series with the additional experience gained since his last appearance.
“I’m really looking forward to racing in TCR again, and seeing what we can do with the Hyundai Elantra,” said Jean-Laurent.
“The team was strong despite being fairly young back in 2020, now with five more years of experience, we should be able to be really competitive – though of course, the grid is also really competitive in TCR Europe this year, so most of all I’m looking forward to some incredibly strong competition and great racing.”
Pierre-Arnaud Navarro has cited the appeal of racing on higher-standard circuits in TCR Europe this year as a big motivation.
“It’ll be my first time racing in TCR and I’m really looking forward to it,” said Pierre-Arnaud. “I’ve been racing in the Racing Cup class in TC France, which is a very competitive series, with big grids – which hopefully will really help me with the transition to TCR Europe.
“It’s going to be fantastic racing at Formula 1-level circuits with JSB, and I can’t wait for the season to get started.”