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A few weeks later, during the last event of the TCR
Benelux Series at Mettet, the TCR-spec Kia cee’d built
and developed by STARD was officially presented. Based
on the road going Kia cee´d 5-door model, the racing car
is powered by the 2.0L ‘Theta II’ turbocharged direct
injection engine developed at the Hyundai/Kia R&D
centre in Namyang.
With 3,000 km of testing already completed, the Kia
cee’d will be available to customers from January 2017.
STARD plans to produce twenty cars before the start of
the season.
STARD President Manfred Stohl, the driving force behind
the project, declared: “We have been working on this
project since July 2015. It has been long and hard work,
but today we begin to be paid off. We are already in
touch with a few teams that are interested in running
the car from next year; some of them are professional
and very experienced.”
STARD-built Kia cee’d unveiled
Also in Mettet, the Peugeot 308 made its second TCR
outing of the year, after the Spa round of the TCR
International Series. With Aurélien Comte at the wheel,
the car finished second in Races 3 and 4 of the Benelux
season-closer.
Peugeot Sport used the opportunity to announce that a
performance kit to upgrade the 308 Racing Cup cars to
full TCR specifications will be available as from 2018. In a
press statement, the French manufacturer explained: “In
its basic trim, the lightweight 308 Racing Cup delivers
308hp, comes with a high-performance chassis and
features specific electronics. At the same time, it offers
significant potential for future development and Peugeot
Sport’s engineers are already working on a TCR
Performance Kit. This will be ready in time for the 2018
season, delivering significant improvements to engine,
suspension and aerodynamic performance in order to
enable 308 Racing Cup owners to compete at the sharp
end in the TCR International series.”
Peugeot Sport will offer a 308 Racing Cup car, complete
with the TCR Performance Kit, as the prize for the winner
of the 2017 308 Racing Cup.
TCR
performance
kit for the
Peugeot 308