Five local drivers will join the grid for this weekend’s second TCR Europe event of the year, with 60-year-old Frenchman Eric Cayrolle perhaps the best known of the quintet.
After the series was joined by the TCR World Tour for the season-opening event in Portimão, this weekend the races will be standalone TCR Europe races, meaning the nine full-season TCR World Tour drivers are not on the grid.
Also absent are brothers Rubén and Felipe Fernández Gil, and Australian racer Ben Bargwanna, none of whom had committed to the full season in any case, with the Spanish brothers focussing on TCR Italy and the Australian committed to TCR Australia.
Instead, five French drivers will join the field, taking the grid to 14 cars.
Cayrolle joins in a Comtoyou Racing-run second-generation Audi RS3, marking the second successive season he has contested his local event – last year he also joined the FIA World Touring Car Cup field as a wildcard entrant.
Espace Racing will run a first-generation Audi for 61-year-old Christian Philippon, whilst two CUPRA TCRs have been entered for Julien Nougaret and Olivier López, to be run by CDRS.
The list of newcomers is completed by Michel Leal, running the oldest car in the field in a self-run Volkswagen Golf GTi.