Yahoo Autos The 350-HP Hyundai Veloster N TCR Race Car Will Compete in IMSA
UPDATE 1/14/19: The Veloster N TCR has made its official debut at the Detroit auto show, giving us our first look at the race car. We have updated the story with photos of the Veloster N TCR and some additional information.
The 2019 Hyundai Veloster N has yet to go on sale, but Hyundai has just announced the first racing version of the radical three-door hot hatch. Called the Veloster N TCR, it is closely related to the i30 N TCR that was released earlier this year. That i30 took the factory-backed Bryan Herta Autosport team to victory in the 2018 Pirelli World Challenge series, and the team is hoping to clinch another win, this time in the 2019 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series with this new Veloster racer. The team will be fielding two new Veloster N TCRs in the series, with one being driven by Hyundai TCR veteran drivers Michael Lewis and Mark Wilkins and the other by new drivers Harry Gottsacker and Mason Filippi. The Veloster N TCR will also be eligible for racing in the Blancpain World GT Challenge series.
The 10-race series starts on January 25 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, with the season concluding eight months later at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. According to Hyundai, the Veloster N TCR was created because customer racing teams in the United States and other markets wanted a race car with a roadgoing production counterpart-the i30 N TCR is available in the U.S., but the production model is not. (On the flip side, the Veloster N TCR will be available in countries where the production car isn't.) The Veloster N TCR will be going up against race cars like the Audi RS3 LMS TCR, the Honda Civic Type R TCR, and the Volkswagen GTI TCR.
Designed by the same Hyundai Motorsport team that created the i30 N TCR-and sharing 85 percent of its parts-the Veloster N TCR is powered by a turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four that makes 350 horsepower and 332 lb-ft of torque. That's a big jump up from the production Veloster N's 250 or 275 horses and 260 lb-ft. Unlike the road car, which uses a six-speed manual transmission, the TCR has a six-speed sequential gearbox with paddle shifters; like the regular Veloster N, the TCR is front-wheel drive. The TCR also gets requisite race-car bits including a stripped-out interior with a roll cage and racing bucket seats, larger brakes, an aggressive aerodynamic package, and adjustable dampers. Minimum weight (including the driver) is 2833 pounds, which is 244 pounds lighter than a production Veloster N we recently tested(not including the driver).
The Veloster N TCR is priced at the equivalent of about $155,000, with Bryan Herta Autosport providing sales as well as technical assistance and support for U.S. customers. Hyundai has said that it will support customer teams that race in the two series, with teams being eligible for "contingency payouts" based on the race results. In the TCR class, first place awards $7500, and coming first in the drivers' championship nets the team 10 grand. Both the Veloster N TCR and the i30 N TCR can be backed by Hyundai with this plan.
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