Hyundai Motorsport readies two-car effort to defend Nürburgring 24 Hours TCR class victory

Hyundai Motorsport will enter a pair of Hyundai Elantra N TCR in this weekend’s Nürburgring 24 Hours, aiming for a fifth consecutive victory in the TCR class of the famous endurance race.

The driver line-ups for the two cars mix experience and success at the Nürburgring Nordschleife with some of Hyundai Motorsport’s most successful customers – reflecting the strength of the Elantra N TCR not only at the Nürburgring, but in TCR racing around the world.

After their class victory last year, a team from Bryan Herta Autosport will return to the N24 for a third year, though with a different quartet of drivers, despite the success of Mason Filippi, Harry Gottsacker, Bryson Morris and Mark Wilkins in 2024. Morris, who shone with some of the fastest laps in the category last year, and Filippi will return to defend their crown, with Michael Lewis and Robert Wickens completing the team for the year.

For Wickens, entry in the Nürburgring 24 Hours will be the result of over a year’s work. Wickens, who suffered a serious IndyCar accident in 2018 began the process to gain the license needed to race in the N24 in 2024. He completed the requirements earlier this year at April’s four-hour NLS2 event, sharing the car with Lewis. To allow Wickens to compete, the Team Americas Elantra N TCR is fitted with a hand control system manufactured by Bosch, giving Wickens greater control over the braking and acceleration than the previous system, while his co-drivers can revert to normal foot controls at the flick of a switch during driver change pitstops.

Nordschleife veterans Marc Basseng and Manuel Lauck – three-time TCR class winners with Hyundai Motorsport – return as part of the Team Europe driver line-up. However, the pair will have a new team-mate for the 2025 events, Christer Jöns – who made his first start with the car at the N24 Qualifiers.

Though a newcomer to the TCR class, Jöns has 15 Nürburgring 24 Hours starts, many in the premier category of the race. He has a best result of fifth overall and has finished in the top ten three times. For this year’s 24 Hours he will join Basseng and Lauck. Mikel Azcona, who won the class alongside Basseng and Lauck in 2022 and 2023, joined the team again for the N24 Qualifiers but is contesting the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour races at Monza the same weekend as the Nürburgring 24 Hours.

Success at this year’s race would continue a remarkable record on the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Despite the long list of variables at the race – the fearsome challenge of the 25km circuit, more than 100 rival teams on track and the infamously ill-tempered Eifel Mountain weather – Hyundai Motorsport have won the TCR class for the last four years, including sweeping the podium in 2024.

The team completed their preparation for the race at last month’s N24 Qualifiers. The pair of Elantra N TCR finished 1-2 in both the four-hour races over the weekend. The Team Europe car, driven by Azcona, Basseng and Joens, scored an incredible result in Saturday’s contest, showing the TCR car’s strength in difficult conditions to finish ninth overall in a race run largely in wet conditions. Lauck replaced Azcona for Sunday’s event, but the result was unchanged as they scored class victory once again, this time in 17th overall. Team Americas chased them home in both races, finishing 18th and 23rd overall on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Victories on track add to the close link between Hyundai N, the Nürburgring and the race. Every road-going N car is extensively tested on the Nordschleife as a key part of its development, with the running conducted by engineers from Hyundai Motor Europe based within site of the circuit. N – the name of Hyundai’s high-performance division is itself inspired in part by the legendary track, as well as Namyang, site of Hyundai’s global R&D centre in South Korea.

Alongside with Elantra N TCR cars, a new chapter in the connection between manufacturer and track will be written by the Hyundai Elantra N1 Cup car. Though 2025 will be the car’s debut at the Nürburgring 24 Hours to showcase the performance and reliability already shown in South Korea, China and the USA, where the model is the start of a single-make series. The driving crew for the N24 represented these nations and series where the car is already racing. Gyumin Kim and Youngchan Kim join from the Korea-based Hyundai N Festival and Jeff Ricca from the TC America series. The team is completed by China Hyundai N Cup coach and 2024 TCR Asia champion Zhang Zhen Dong, who currently leads the 2025 TCR China standings.

Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing Manager Benoit Nogier said:

“We have an incredibly strong record at the Nürburgring 24 Hours and, though we have made some changes to our driving line-ups for this year, we have the team to add to the Hyundai Elantra N TCR’s list of successes in the race. Last year we saw the strength of the drivers from Bryan Herta Autosport when they won the TCR class. The four drivers for Team Americas this year, including 2024 winners Bryson Morris and Mason Filippi, are very capable of defending the victory. Of course, they will have to contend with their team-mates in the Team Europe entry. Though we were forced into a change of driver by Mikel Azcona’s clashing Kumho FIA TCR World Tour commitments, Christer Joens has proved an ideal replacement who immediately fitted into the team, making sure the team can again challenge for class victory and a good overall result. We have seen many times that the Nürburgring Nordschleife, and the 24 Hours especially, can create unpredictable events, but we are prepared for anything the circuit and the races can give us.”