The world's greatest touring car racers in both gasoline and electric-powered vehicles compete in the first joint event between Goodyear's two top-level touring car championships. It'll be a jam-packed weekend at Motorland Aragón in northern Spain, with both the WTCR - FIA World Touring Car Cup and the PURE ETCR racing.
WTCR, the highest level of worldwide petrol-powered touring car racing, and PURE ETCR, the world's first entirely electric multi-brand touring car championship, have Goodyear as the exclusive tyre supplier. Both series have already begun their 2021 seasons, with WTCR races held at the Nürburgring in Germany and Estoril in Portugal, and PURE ETCR events held at Vallelunga in Italy last month.
The two series, which are both promoted by Eurosport Events, will race on the same weekend for the first of three occasions this year. Switching from 360 horsepower front-wheel-drive petrol racers to 670 horsepower rear-wheel-drive electric racers is a challenge for drivers participating in both. In both championships, Goodyear's role as the exclusive tyre supplier includes assisting teams and drivers in achieving maximum performance.
“We’ll talk to each team in WTCR and PURE ETCR throughout the weekend to assist with their car setup and driving style,” explains Sebastian Trinks, Goodyear’s Event Leader for WTCR and PURE ETCR. “We always recommend certain parameters that will maximise the performance of the tyre, and this could be particularly important this weekend, given the track conditions at Aragon. The weather forecast suggests track temperatures of up to 50°C and ambient temperatures of around 36°C. The track itself is quite rough and has a lot of high kerbs that we’ll recommend drivers avoid driving over. It’s a challenging, technical circuit, but there are lots of overtaking opportunities.”
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Rather than regular races, PURE ETCR focuses on brief, all-out clashes. Short circuits are used, and the Aragon layout is 2.6 km long, with a number of left-hand bends, which Trinks believes will put a burden on the rear-right tyre. Meanwhile, in WTCR, drivers will use the entire 5.3-kilometre course, which includes numerous challenging and technical bends, including the infamous "Spanish corkscrew." In WTCR, the front-right tyre will bear the brunt of the load due to the car's weight distribution over the front end due to the front-wheel-drive layout.
“Drivers can push the tyres to the limit in both championships, as long as they look out for the high kerbs,” adds Trinks. “Our slick tyre in WTCR and bespoke treaded tyre for PURE ETCR is designed specifically for the cars in question, to allow drivers and teams to push to their limits and improve lap times.
“Some drivers are racing in both championships and I’m interested to see how they get on. Despite looking similar, these cars require completely different driving styles. For Goodyear, we’ll have a team of three-track support engineers for the whole event, so we’ll all be working with teams in both series. This allows us to get a feel for the challenges faced by the teams, and continue working with them as the weekend progresses.”
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On-track activity at Aragon gets underway on Friday, with the first PURE ETCR bouts taking place that afternoon. On Saturday, there will be battles as well, leading up to the Super Finals on Sunday. The WTCR calendar is a little tighter, with Free Practice and Qualifying on Saturday and two races on Sunday. The track will be open to a total of 6400 fans, allowing fans to see both championships outside of Eurosport's enormous global television coverage.
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