TCR World and life

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WORLD AND LIFE
TCR 2016 NEWS HOME DRIVERS TEAM
ANDREW ABBOTT OF TAKES
A DIFFERENT LOOK AT THE STATISTICS OF THE TCR SERIES
Crunching
the numbers of
TCR worldwide
Although we are over one third of the
way into the 2016 TCR International
Series calendar, a number of regional
and national championships have
recently kicked off, providing the
perfect opportunity to take a look at
some of the more interesting statistics.
There have only been three different
winning manufacturers, SEAT, Honda
and Volkswagen, but an impressive 22
different drivers have claimed wins out
of the 31 races which have been held in
TCR International, Asia, BeNeLux,
Germany, Italy, Portugal, Russia and
Thailand. Of those, the only double
winners have been Pepe Oriola, Jean-
Karl Vernay and Mikhail Grachev in the
International Series, TCR Germany’s
Josh Files, TCR Thailand’s Carlo Van
Dam, TCR Italy’s Roberto Colciago, TCR
Portugal’s Francisco Carvalho and Nuno
Batista (the duo shared the car in the
four races of the first weekend) and TCR
BeNeLux’s Tiago Monteiro and Renaud
Kuppens (who, like those in TCR
Portugal, also shared their cars over a
five-race weekend).
Amongst them the youngest winner so
far remains Pepe Oriola, at 21 years old,
whilst the ‘elder statesman’ of the
winners is Portuguese racer Carvalho,
whose double victory in TCR Portugal
came at the age of 52. The TCR formula
continues to prove to be popular
amongst up-and-coming racers, with
nine different drivers under the age of
30 already victorious in 2016.
Competition has been close in TCR so
far in 2016; the duel between Oriola
and race winner Aku Pellinen in TCR
International at Spa was the closest-
ever finish in TCR at just 0.376 seconds.
But perhaps the most intriguing
statistic to emerge from TCR so far in
2016 is the starting grid for the TCR
BeNeLux qualifying race. The 60-minute
race, in itself the longest-yet TCR race,
was decided by a fan vote on social
media. Tiago Monteiro and Stéphane
Lemeret emerged as the winners of this
unusual accolade…
The 0.376 seconds between Aku Pellinen
and Pepe Oriola at the end of Race 2 in Spa
represent the closest-ever finish so far