First team and driver announced for 2018 WTCR season
Belgian driver Denis Dupont has become the first driver to announce his participation in the new World Touring Car Cup for 2018.
Dupont finished fifth in the regional TCR Benelux series last season with two victories, and also contested four TCR International Series races for the Comtoyou Racing outfit, with which he will contest the WTCR in a SEAT Leon TCR.
For 2018, he will trade the Leon for a Comtoyou Audi RS3 with full backing from the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium (RACB).
The announcement also means Comtoyou is the first team to officially sign up to WTCR for the 2018 season.
It only made its debut in the TCR International Series last year, but made an impression with the new-for-2017 RS3 as well as the addition of Stefano Comini, who joined on the back of winning the first two TCR International titles.
Comini ended the year with three wins and was third in the drivers' standings, while the team also added a second RS3 for Frederic Vervisch for eight rounds.
Teams signing up to WTCR are obliged to field a minimum two-car team in the series from next year.
Belgian squad DG Sport has formally announced its intention to contest the series with a pair of new Peugeot 308TCRs, although that remains dependent on the team securing necessary budget to compete.
GT outfits Craft-Bamboo Racing and WRT - which also competed in the TCR International Series - have also expressed interests in running cars.
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Hamilton secures BTCC return with Team Hard
Ekstrom joins Cupra for first Pure ETCR season
The driver who gained most from F1's famous farce
Ocon wants set-up changes after China F1 sprint as "performance left on the side"
Honda MotoGP boss "confused" by "good improvements" not working
The short-term pain that hides a very real Williams improvement
F1 Chinese GP qualifying - Start time, how to watch, TV channel
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments