Aggressive Team Italia has confirmed that it will field two Hyundai Elantra N cars in this year’s TCR Europe season, alongside running two Hyundai’s in TCR Italy.
In TCR Europe the cars will be driven by 50-year-old Swede Mikael Karlsson and 20-year-old Hungarian Levente Losonczy.
Losonczy will also compete with the team in TCR Italy, where he will be partnered by 28-year-old Belgian Giovanni Scamardi.
Aggressive Team Italia, headed up by Mauro Guastamacchia, first competed in TCR in 2021, when it entered TCR Italy with Kevin Ceccon.
The team continued in its national series in 2022 with Ceccon joined by Edoardo Cappello, Jonathan Giacon and Luca Lorenzini.
It wasn’t until part-way through the 2022 season that the Italian team entered TCR Europe, when it fielded a Hyundai Elantra for Pepe Oriola, who had been forced to find a drive with a new team after Brutal Fish Racing withdrew from the series.
The team also ran a car for Losonczy at one event in the TCR Eastern Europe and TCR Europe series respectively last year.
“We are proud to be able to present ourselves as protagonists at the start of the 2023 season, confirming that our growth path is continuing at full speed,” said Team Principal Guastamacchia.
“Being present in two competitions such as the TCR Europe and the TCR Italy represents a great challenge from every point of view, but we believe we are ready and have acquired the right experience to be able to deal with the demanding calendar in the best way.
“We will be present on all the main Italian and European tracks, giving great visibility to our team and our partners.
“We will be able to count on the competitiveness of the Hyundai Elantra TCR N, which already last year allowed us to obtain great satisfaction, also relying on a trio of pilots that guarantees the right mix of speed and experience.
“We are happy to have renewed the agreement with Levente, a young man who is growing a lot with us, while at the same time we welcome Giovanni and Mikael to the team, convinced that they will be able to make a good contribution in terms of results.”
Karlsson has spent two seasons racing in TCR in the STCC, where he won one race in 2020 and 2021 respectively, on both occasions at the wheel of a Volkswagen Golf GTi. Last year, he competed in the Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia.
“It will be difficult to predict where we will be able to position ourselves, but already after the two days of testing held at Misano I feel much more comfortable with the car and that makes me confident,” said Karlsson
“The car is performing well and the team is extremely professional. I’m happy with this opportunity with Aggressive Team Italia and I hope it can bring great satisfaction to both of us.”
Losonczy, who first raced in TCR last year, has yet to win a race, with his best results in any series being a trio of sixths in TCR Eastern Europe.