As Viktor Andersson claims maiden win
Mikel Azcona strengthened his grip on the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour championship at Inje Speedium, backing up his Race 1 win on Saturday with a lights-to-flag victory in Race 3 to take his third win of the season. The BRC Hyundai driver held off a late charge from Thed Björk, while teammate Norbert Michelisz completed the podium. Santiago Urrutia's challenge faded after a power steering failure in Race 2 dropped him out of the points, and he could only recover to seventh in the final race and so drops to third in the standings. Azcona leaves South Korea with a commanding 41-point lead over Michelisz, with Urrutia 49 points back as the series heads to Chengdu in China on October 16/18.
The weekend's standout story, however, belonged to Viktor Andersson, who claimed his maiden Kumho FIA TCR World Tour victory in Race 2, becoming the first wild card driver to win a race this season. The Swede held off intense pressure from Ma Qing Hua's Geely Preface to take the win from pole, also securing the ETS Guest Star Trophy as the first driver to win the category outright.
Race 2
Viktor Andersson scored his first victory in the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour in the second race at Inje, leading from the reversed grid and fighting to hold back the Geely Preface of Ma Qing Hua to become the first wild card driver to win a race this season.
Andersson launched into the lead from pole position, under early pressure from Ma and his own SP Compétition teammate Jean-Karl Vernay. Vernay briefly got ahead of Ma into Turn 5 before Ma retook the position into Turn 7, and then made contact with Ma at Turn 12, sending the Chinese driver into a half-slide. Ma recovered to hold the position, but Vernay lost momentum and was passed by Junesung Park and Aurélien Comte.
There was also first-lap drama for reigning champion Yann Ehrlacher, whose Geely was squeezed at the start and made contact with Park's Hyundai. Park continued with slightly bent steering, while Ehrlacher's car was terminally damaged, forcing him out at Turn 6 for his third DNF of the season. Comte's race ended on lap seven with an electrical issue.
At half-distance, former points leader Santiago Urrutia lost ground to a power steering failure, passed by the BRC Hyundais of Mikel Azcona and Norbert Michelisz before eventually dropping a lap down to 16th and out of the points, before retiring to the pits.
The battle for the lead stayed intense throughout, with Andersson under pressure from Ma until the final lap. The Swede held on for his first career win, following his July podium at Vila Real, and also claimed the ETS Guest Star Trophy and was the first driver from the category to win a race outright. In TCR Asia, Diego Moran took a career-best ninth.
The BRC Hyundais swapped positions on the final lap, helping Michelisz move to joint-second in the standings, 33 points behind Azcona, who extended his lead after Urrutia's retirement.
Race 2 (full results)
1. Viktor Andersson (SP Compétition, CUPRA Leon VZ), 19 laps
2. Ma Qing Hua (Geely Cyan Racing, Geely Preface), 1.170
3. Junesung Park (Solite Indigo Racing, Hyundai Elantra N), 6.428
Quotes from the podium - Race 2
Viktor Andersson, 1st: “It’s the best feeling of my life! Winning in the World Tour is an incredible achievement and to do it together with SP and CUPRA, it’s amazing. I had a lot of pressure from behind, all the way from lap two. When you’re under that much pressure by such an experienced driver for half an hour, it’s not easy, one little mistake and it’s all over. It was not easy, but the car was perfect and we took it home today.”
Ma Qing Hua, 2nd: “Another podium, and we have some good points in the championship. It was a tough race, but obviously we don’t have enough power to compete with the CUPRA. At the exits of the corner the power difference was so huge, and so to make the overtake you have to be so close. I hope there’s something we can get fixed for the next race weekend in my home town.”
Junesung Park, 3rd: “I’m really happy to get on the podium in the TCR World Tour. At the start of the race I had huge contact with Yann which caused some damage to my car. We now have Race 3 to focus on, and I’ll try again to be on the podium.”
Race 3
Mikel Azcona followed up his Race 1 victory with another lights-to-flag win in Race 3, holding off Thed Björk to claim a key win and extend his championship lead to 41 points over teammate Norbert Michelisz.
Starting on pole after scoring the most points over the first two races, Azcona made a strong start to lead into Turn 1 ahead of Björk, with Michelisz holding third. Race 2 winner Viktor Andersson was passed into the first corner by Junesung Park, who soon slowed with a broken driveshaft to become the race's first retirement. Ma Qing Hua stalled at the start and fell to the back, but recovered to be back inside the top ten by the end of the opening lap.
The race was briefly neutralised behind the safety car after Li Jia Jun's Audi stopped at Turn 4, before resuming after one lap. Yann Ehrlacher was running sixth, soon joined by team-mate Santiago Urrutia, who was being chased by Aurélien Comte's SP Compétition CUPRA. Their battle allowed Comte through to split the two Geely Prefaces, before he closed on Ehrlacher, who passed Andersson at Turn 3 on lap 12 after the Swede ran wide. Comte followed through into fifth.
At the front, Azcona's lead began to fade in the closing laps as Björk mounted a charge, almost drawing level at one point, but the Spaniard held on to take his third win of the season.
Azcona and Michelisz now sit first and second in the standings, with Urrutia slipping to third, 49 points off the lead, heading to Geely's home circuit at Chengdu.
Andersson claimed the ETS Guest Star Trophy for the second race running.
Race 3 (full results)
1. Mikel Azcona (BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N EV), 18 laps
2. Thed Björk (Geely Cyan Racing, Geely Preface), 0.311
3. Norbert Michelisz (BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N EV), 10.433
ETS Guest Star Trophy
Two more victories for ever-present ETS trophy star Viktor Andersson at Inje
Viktor Andersson added another pair of victories in the ETS Guest Star Trophy to his record in the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour on Sunday, but his sixth and seventh wins of the season were very much in the shadow of his first-ever overall race victory in the championship in the first race of the day.
The Swedish driver started from pole position in his SP Compétition-run CUPRA, and managed to fend off the challenging Geely Preface of Ma Qing Hua for 19 laps to claim his first win, and also the first for the team this year.
“It was a brilliant weekend, of course after winning Race 2 it’s difficult to top that,” said Andersson. “In Race 3 it was slightly more difficult for us but we picked up some good points. I’m mainly really happy with how Race 2 went, and it’s the first one of the year for SP, so a big thank you to everyone who made it possible for me to be here in Korea and experience this amazing weekend.”
Quotes from the podium - Race 3
Mikel Azcona, 1st: "It was a fantastic race, I enjoyed it so much. It was a proper sprint race from the beginning to the end with Thed, and I knew I had to push flat out with no mistakes, as he showed really good potential in Race 1 and Race 2, and so I knew that was my only chance. At the beginning with my new tyres I used the opportunity to make some distance, but the last laps he was catching up quickly, and in the last laps I had to defend a lot. I'm super-happy for the weekend, we're leading the championship and have scored some good points here in Korea at the home of Hyundai."
Thed Björk, 2nd: "P2, but you always want to be standing on top of the podium and cross the finish line first. For me, it wasn't the perfect start, and then my plan was to take care of my tyres and then attack at the end. It worked out well, but I just couldn't get past. I tried, but Mikel was making no mistakes, so second position for us, I'm feeling good with my Geely car and back in the fight, and looking forward to China."
Norbert Michelisz, 3rd: "My start was fantastic. I did my best to keep my position and it was not easy because there was a safety car, before that I had a small gap and then it disappeared. Carrying the extra 30kg wasn't helping my tyres, but I'm incredibly happy to be on the podium twice this weekend, I'm also very happy for the team, and very happy for Mikel, and now we have the right momentum for the races in China."
TCR Asia
Diego Moran was in a league of his own and completed his hat-trick of race wins in TCR Asia
At the start of Race 2, Moran sprinted and began to fight for positions with World Tour regulars. He overtook Lo Sze Ho and was right behind Norbert Michelisz and Mikel Azcona. Eventually he benefitted from some retirements and ended in a respectable eighth place overall.
Behind him Jeongmin An made up from the disappointing last lap withdrawal in Race 1 and cruised to second, while there was a close battle for P3 with Yul Lee overtaking Wu Jiu Cheng in the last part of the race.
In Race 3, Moran pulled away once again fighting for the mid-field places, while both the Russell Motorsport Hyundai cars of An and Lee pitted with technical issues; only Lee rejoined after losing four laps. In lap 3, Li Jia Jun’s Audi stopped on track causing a safety car intervention.
Moran took another comfortable win with Wu second and Tu Ya Te third.
Race 2
1. Diego Moran (ATE Racing by DM23, Honda Civic FL5), 19 laps
2. Jeongmin An (Russell Motorsport, Hyundai Elantra N), 20.455
3. Yul Lee (Russell Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N), 48.641
Race 3
1. Diego Moran (ATE Racing by DM23, Honda Civic FL5), 18 laps
2. Wu Jiu Cheng (SRC, Audi RS 3 LMS SEQ), 38.479
3. Tu Ya Te (Z.Speed, Hyundai Elantra N), 51.515
Championship points
1. D. Moran, 130 pts.; 2. Wu J.C. 97; 3. Y. Lee, 69
2026 Kumho FIA TCR World Tour - calendar
8/10 May – Rounds 1 & 2 @ Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli
12/14 June – Rounds 3, 4 & 5 @ Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia
4/5 July – Rounds 6 & 7 @ Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet
11/12 July – Rounds 8 & 9 @ Circuito Internacional de Vila Real
2/4 October – Rounds 10, 11 & 12 @ Inje Speedium
16/18 October – Rounds 13, 14 & 15 @ Chengdu Tianfu International Circuit
23/25 October – Rounds 16, 17 & 18 @ Hunan International Circuit, Zhuzhou
19/22 November – Rounds 19 & 20 @ Guia Circuit, Macau
Text Credits: Kumho FIA TCR World Tour
Photo Credits: WSC/Paddocker
