Fresh from a nondescript 2016 with Lada in the WTCC (save a pair of hard-fought race wins), touring car colossus Gabriele Tarquini made the shock move to sign with Hyundai Motorsport in March 2017 ahead of the Korean brand’s global tin top debut in 2018. A one-off WTCC weekend in China aside, the deal effectively meant a year on the sidelines for Tarquini for only the second time since his professional car racing career began in 1983!

Not that this bothered the former British, European AND world touring car champion. Indeed, with 27 years of touring car experience already behind him (28, if you count his six-race WTCC foray in 1987), Tarquini was ready to sink his teeth into the then-relatively new TCR concept.

“In the beginning, I signed a deal with Hyundai to develop and prepare the [TCR] car to race in 2018,” Tarquini explains to CREVENTIC. “And this was Hyundai starting from zero.

“Preparing to develop with Hyundai, I personally tested some cars on-track. At this time, there was the [Volkswagen] Golf TCR and the Honda [Civic Type-R TCR]. Those private tests gave me a reference and were my first ‘feeling’ in a TCR car, because TCR was totally different to the WTCC.

“I was really surprised by the performance, to be honest. It seemed a very simple car, especially at that time. But the performance was not far away from a WTCC car.”

Testing for Hyundai’s new i30 TCR, based on the brand’s third generation hatchback, began in earnest during a three-day test at Motorland Aragon that April. And while finding a base setup for, essentially, a ‘blank sheet of paper’ design was time-consuming, Hyundai reported no major reliability issues and hailed the test “a big step forward.” Similar optimism was reported at the next test two months later in Valencia (brakes and dampers this time) and, back at HQ in Alzenau, talk soon turned to the TCR newboy’s first race. 

Indeed, just two weeks after Valencia, Hyundai confirmed that the newly-christened ‘i30 N TCR’ – a nod to the road division’s forthcoming high-performance ‘N’ range – would have its “first public appearance” that July.

CREVENTIC’s inaugural Hankook 24H MISANO.

For Hyundai, it was an ideal development opportunity. For Tarquini, it seemed premature… 

“In the beginning, I did not totally agree [with the decision],” he continues. “We were focused on sprint racing. Later on, [Hyundai] changed the plan to include a long-distance race, essentially to build a different specification that could compete in endurance races. But in the beginning, that was not the plan. So to me, in the beginning, I didn’t think it was very useful to enter a 24-hour race.”

The announcement understandably gained traction in the media, though Hyundai quickly shot down any talks of a win at the Hankook 24H MISANO. The ‘race,’ entered with development partner BRC Racing Team, would instead act as the first long-run test for the new i30 under real world conditions. Albeit split into pre-determined sections. 

“We were not interested in winning the 24 hours. This was the first race ever with this car, so the plan was just to test the endurance of the engine, the mechanical parts, the brakes and the suspension. We were not there to ‘race,’ just to go as long as possible with a sprint car. 

“It was a fantastic [opportunity] for us to find out which parts of the car were weak and needed to be changed. It was very, very useful for us.”

The “useful” weekend in Misano would also be the first ‘race’ (ahem) for Tarquini since signing off his Lada stint with a race win in Qatar eight months earlier. 

By a strange coincidence, the amiable Italian wasn’t the only high-profile name on the grid that day either, as five-time overall 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Emanuele Pirro and ‘88 Le Mans winner Jan Lammers were also making their 24H SERIES debuts in a Team Africa Le Mans-entered Ginetta G55 GT4. 

“I raced with Emanuele for a long time, in Formula 1 but also before that in karting! So it was a nice surprise to see him at this CREVENTIC event, and also Jan.” – Tarquini and Lammers memorably contested the 1994 British Touring Car Championship, the former as the champion-elect, the latter in a famous campaign for Volvo’s 850 Estate. – “I remember, we met on the grid to talk about a ‘fight’ on the first lap!” [Laughs] “They were more focused on finishing the 24-hour race of course, but for me, the plan was not to run at ‘endurance’ pace.”

Sporting a distinctive cheetah livery as part of its ‘Stop Poaching’ campaign, Team Africa Le Mans’s fraught Misano weekend was hampered massively by two broken ball joints, two failed differentials, AND a loose power steering hose. Happily though, Pirro and Lammers persevered to finish on the podium in SP3-GT4. 

Despite Hyundai’s protestations that the Hankook 24H MISANO was “not oriented on results,” the i30 N TCR was a pacesetter from the early going: the 4th fastest time overall during Free Practice was replicated during Qualifying, and Tarquini’s quickest run during Night Practice was two full seconds faster than anybody else could manage. When the green flag dropped at 9am the following morning, it didn’t take long for the i30 N to get the hammer down either: 

“I started immediately like it was a sprint race! The maximum pace possible in the beginning. And we had a lot of speed, especially in the first few hours.”

By the end of the first lap, Tarquini was already in the lead, a position he held comfortably for most of the opening hour. The 22-time WTCC race winner even set a fastest lap on lap three – a 1m 44.077s – that remained unbeaten for the remaining 24 hours. 

With a grin, Gabriele does admit to CREVENTIC that this blistering pace came down to more than just proven, championship-winning talent… 

“To be honest, at this time, the car was not homologated yet. Also, I had a switch [in the cockpit] to choose the power of the engine!” [Laughs] “Not for fun, and not to ‘win.’ We just wanted to test the endurance of the engine. So at the start, I used more or less the maximum power available during the first few hours.”

Lingering hopes from fans that Hyundai would reverse its decision and go for the win in Misano were finally dashed when Tarquini brought the i30 in for its first scheduled stop on lap 22 (by contrast, most of the TCR field waited until lap 52 onwards). Thereafter, BRC Racing mechanics concentrated on tyre wear data and pre-assigned tests for the brake calipers, discs and pads, which were receiving a battering under the hot Adriatic sun. 

Given that even HE couldn’t do a full 24-hour himself, Tarquini was joined by then-TCR Germany racer winner, and future 24H SERIES TCR Drivers’ champion, Antti Buri. At the time, the Finn was one of several drivers being considered for a Hyundai seat in the World Touring Car Cup in 2018, and had even skipped that weekend’s TCR Germany round at Oschersleben to bank as many miles as he could in the i30 N TCR. 

“That was a choice from Hyundai. At this time, they were thinking about the ’18 season, so we invited a lot of drivers to test this car, to promote this new car, and to test the performance. We already knew that Hyundai wanted to enter [WTCR] with two cars, so it was also a good [opportunity] for Antti Buri and other drivers to jump into a very professional team, in a very good car, and show their pace.

“And Antti did a very good job, to be honest. He was already driving a good TCR car that year” – Buri was running an LMS Racing-entered Audi RS 3 LMS in TCR Germany – “he was a winning driver, and it was a very good test for him and also for us to get his feeling for this new car. So ‘sharing’ [the i30] was very, very useful for us.”

Though the timesheets certainly didn’t reflect it – at half-distance, the Hyundai had ‘fallen’ 173 laps behind the leader – Tarquini and Buri’s test sections continued to run smoothly throughout the Saturday, give or take the occasional hiccup with Hyundai’s new endurance-spec lights: “The ‘night life’ was not fantastic!” [Laughs] “This car was made for shorter races, so it was quite hard, especially in the night, to see the track!” 

Shortly after midnight however, temperatures in the 2-litre turbocharged four-cylinder – which, incidentally, had not been replaced since the Motorland test – started to spike. By the time MONLAU COMPETICION crossed the line to take its second win of the TCE season, the i30 N had long since been cautiously retired. 

Still, with the “key targets” for the weekend already met, both Hyundai Motorsport and the BRC Racing Team – one of two customer teams that took delivery of the first completed i30 N TCRs that December – were quietly confident. For Tarquini too, the test he’d at first been sceptical about had more than proved the Hyundai’s potential. 

“After eight or nine hours, we had a few small problems with the engine. We also had some trouble with the rear suspension, so we decided to stop.

“But that was still very, very good for us. I mean, entering a 24-hour race just for testing was the right thing to do. And, as you say, it was a very relaxed atmosphere in Misano. Everybody was happy to see a new competitor like Hyundai join the ‘family.’ It was a very nice event.”

Four months later, the great Italian was entering – and winning! – the first, official race for the Hyundai i30 N TCR at Zhejiang as part of the TCR International Series. By April 2018, Gabriele Tarquini, now a Hyundai Motorsport works driver, was making his high-profile return to the world of tin tops. 10 rounds and 30 races later, he was a world champion once again. 

“After Misano, [Hyundai] proposed that I race the car again in ’17. The first race with the Hyundai was in China, and I won this race. The first-ever sprint race for the Hyundai on-track! Everybody was happy about the performance. After that, Hyundai proposed that I do the WTCR season in 2018 with them too. 

“It was not a surprise to me, because I always had in my mind that I would not just test the car for somebody else, and stop racing!” [Laughs] “I knew this car was very good. So yeah, I accepted the new deal for the WTCR, and as expected, the car was very, very quick. It was a good season.

“Looking back, it [the 2017 Hankook 24H MISANO] was crucial. We discovered a lot of small problems with the car, and, for me, it was a very, very useful way to help with the development.”

Does that mean CREVENTIC can take partial credit for two WTCR Drivers’ championships, one WTCR Teams’ title, 22 national and/or regional championships, and countless wins for Hyundai’s i30 N TCR?! 

“Hmm, maybe not! It was a fun weekend though.”