Aikoa Racing has confirmed that it will field a pair of Audi RS3 LMS TCR II cars for Nicola Baldan and Filippo Barberi in this year’s TCR Europe series.
Baldan returns to the series for a second full season, although the Italian has raced almost full seasons in TCR Europe in 2022 and 2024.
Last year, Baldan missed the event in Brno to concentrate on his campaign with Aikoa in TCR Italy, and as a result he finished eighth overall in the European classification, although the 42-year-old did pick up a maiden TCR Europe win at Zolder in the process.
In Italy, however, Baldan was third overall, narrowly missing out on the title at the final round.
His team-mate will be Barberi, who he worked with as team-mate in TCR Italy last year.
The 19-year-old made his TCR début in 2023, and has already been a race winner in TCR Spain in 2024. Last year, he was 16th overall in the TCR Italy drivers’ standings after tackling a full season.
Elsewhere, the TCR promoter has announced that two rounds of TCR Europe will be eligible for a new TCR German Trophy, designed to reinvigorate TCR competition in the country.
Of the four events in the new TCR German Trophy, the two TCR Europe events at the Hockenheimring in Germany and the Red Bull Ring in Austria will be eligible.
The other two events will be the FIA TCR World Tour event at Monza in Italy and the TCR Eastern Europe event at Most in the Czech Republic.
Eligibility is open to those drivers of a German nationality or who are entered by a team which holds a licence issued by the DMSB, the German Motorsport Authority.
The winner of the TCR German Trophy will bag a €10,000 prize.
“There are several TCR cars in Germany and we felt it was time to spur competitors to use them,” said WSC Group president Marcello Lotti.
“This new Trophy offers German drivers and teams the opportunity to race in proper TCR competitions and we are confident it could lead to the revival of the TCR Germany championship.”