For more info: www.tcr-series.com

Rounds 15 & 16 – Buriram, Thailand – 27 / 28 August 2016

PREVIEW

TCR’s Asian leg begins this week in Thailand

The TCR International Series will resume this weekend at Buriram’s Chang International Circuit, following an eight-week summer break after the meeting in Sochi. The Thai event also marks the beginning of the Asian leg that will later call at Singapore, Sepang and Macau, where the season will come to an end on November 20.

The series raced at Buriram last year, when all the drivers and teams members were amazed to discover the state-of-the-art Chang International Circuit designed by Hermann Tilke that had been inaugurated in 2014.

The track layout is well-suited to Touring Car competition, providing several overtaking places and corners where three or four cars can run abreast.

In last year’s event Pepe Oriola and Stefano Comini took a win apiece, in a weekend that saw the SEAT cars dominate their rivals. The Craft-Bamboo Lukoil team posted a 1-2-3 in Race 1 (Oriola, Gené and Afanasyev) and Target Competition then returned a 1-2 in Race 2 with Comini and Hezemans. It was a weekend to forget for the Honda and Volkswagen cars, all victims of technical issues or race incidents; notably Gianni Morbidelli who saw his hopes to stay in contention for the title washed away by a drive-through for jump-start in Race 1 and an engine failure in Race 2.

The TCR International Series will hit the track on Saturday, with two 30-minute Practice sessions and Qualifying, split into Q1 (20 minutes) and Q2 (10 minutes, for the twelve fastest in Q1).

The two races will then be run back-to-back on Sunday, in the early afternoon.



TCR in Buriram – the event at a glance



Lap distance: 4.54 km

Race distance: 14 laps

Start: standing

Grids: determined by the Qualifying results (Q1+Q2) with top-10 reversed for Race 2



Timetable:
Saturday, 11:00/11:30 Free Practice 1

Saturday, 13:00/13:30 Free Practice 2

Saturday, 15:30/16:05 Qualifying (Q1 + Q2)

Sunday, 12:35 Race 1

Sunday, 14:05 Race 2



all times: GMT +7