Cupra takes the win for the first season of Pure ETCR
Cupra driver Matthias Ekström has secured the drivers’ title in the first season of the Pure ETCR electric touring car series after five race weekends. Cupra also emerged victorious in the manufacturers’ classification.
Since June, three vehicles competed against each other in the Pure ETCR: The Cupra Leon, the Hyundai Veloster and the Romeo Ferraris Giulia – the latter being a private team that converted the Alfa Romeo Giulia into an electric racing car on its own. In the drivers’ standings, Hyundai driver Jean-Karl Vernay and Cupra driver Mikel Akcona finished behind Ekström. Among the manufacturers, Romeo Ferraris secured second place behind Cupra by a narrow margin. Hyundai finished third, one point behind.
The five race weekends took place in Vallelunga (Italy), Aragón (Spain), Copenhagen (Denmark), the Hungaroring (Hungary) and the Inje Speedium (South Korea). Copenhagen was a street circuit, all other locations were permanent circuits. On each race weekend, the field was divided by lot into two new groups (Pool A and Pool B). In these pools, various “battles”, time trials and at the end the Superfinal took place. As a standard component, all three racing teams had an e-drive with up to 500 kW on board.
As reported, from the second season onwards the Pure ETCR will officially become an FIA World Cup and then be called FIA eTouring Car World Cup. This means a formal upgrade for the racing series. The race series is organised by the promoter Eurosport Events, which belongs to the Discovery Group – until now as a private race series. With the categorisation of the Automobile World Association as a World Cup, the series will be officially recognised from next year.
“Our PURE ETCR victory allows us to show the world that electric technology can also deliver competitive and exciting touring car racing, while allowing us to continue to learn and develop technologies that we will see in road cars in the future,” said Dr. Werner Tietz, Executive Vice-President for Research and Development at Cupra. “The experience gained with the Cupra e-Racer will soon be in CUPRAs our customers will be driving on roads around the world.”
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