Kumho FIA TCR World Tour’s new season opens in Mexico

The 2025 Kumho FIA TCR World Tour season kicks off in Mexico City, at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, sharing the grid with the TCR México series.

The event features the three-race format that was last used in 2023 when the World Tour visited Australia; during the current season this format will be used again in three other events, in Spain, South Korea and Australia.

The formation of the grids is based on the Qualifying results for Race 1, with the top ten of Race 1 reversed for Race 2, while the grid for Race 3 is determined by the sum of points scored in Qualifying, Race 1 and Race 2.

Norbert Michelisz, the winner of two consecutive World Tour titles, defends his crown still at the wheel of his Hyundai Elantra N run by BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse that also fields two other cars for Mikel Azcona and Néstor Girolami.

Last year's vice-champion Thed Björk leads the Lynk & Co Cyan Racing team that is formed by the confirmed quartet of drivers that includes Yann Ehrlacher, Ma Qing Hua and Santiago Urrutia. Their mission is to retain the Teams' title, adding the Drivers' title as well.

GOAT Racing rides on the crest of a wave following the 1-2-3 finish in the 2024 season finale at Macau. The Spanish outfit has picked two Argentines to drive the Honda Civic Type R FL5 cars: the confirmed Esteban Guerrieri and Ignacio Montenegro, the winner of last year's FIA Motorsport Games.

France-based SP Compétition has stepped up from TCR Europe to join the World Tour with two CUPRA Leon VZ cars driven by a pair of Frenchmen: John Filippi and Aurélien Comte.

The TCR México pack is led by brothers Julio and Rodrigo Rejón who together became last year the series' first ever champions; they race in CUPRA Leon VZ cars run by the ProRally Mothers team.

Gerardo Nieto is due to be their strongest competitor; Nieto has won two races out of three in the first event of the season and will be sharing the RE Motorsport Audi RS 3 LMS with Pablo Pérez de Lara and Horia Traian Chirigut. Another team with great ambitions is Orea Ross Racing that runs a Hyundai Elantra N for Andrés Orea, Jerónimo Guzmán and Todd Sloan which a front-running car in TCR México endurance races.

Schedule (Live streaming)

Tursday - Shakedown, 10:00 (18:00 CEST)

Thursday - Practice 1, 14:00 (22:00 CEST)

Thursday - Practice 2, 16:50 (00:50 CEST)

Friday - Qualifying, 09:30 (17:30 CEST)

Friday - Race 1, 15:00 (23:00 CEST)

Saturday - Race 2, 11:30 (19:30 CEST)

Saturday - Race 3, 17:20 (01:20 CEST)

Picture: WSC archive