TCR Scandinavia outfit PWR joins WTCR for 2019 with Cupras
TCR Scandinavia outfit PWR Racing will step up to the World Touring Car Cup this season after securing the support of Cupra to run a two-car team
PWR was set up in 2012 and originally ran Saabs in the TTA Racing Elite League, then the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship, before becoming the SEAT dealer team in 2016 - running Leon silhouette cars to STCC rules in place at the time.
It continued to field SEATs the following year when the STCC adopted TCR regulations and ran Robert Dahlgren to the title, before helping the ex-Volvo World Touring Car Championship and Supercars driver to runner-up spot behind double World Rallycross champion Johan Kristoffersson last year.
PWR has committed to running the same cars in the series next year - marking its fourth season in a row with the same brand, which adopted the name of SEAT's performance division Cupra for 2018.
But PWR will undertake a domestic campaign alongside its first season in the WTCR world cup, in which it will be the second team representing Cupra.
PWR has not announced which drivers it will field in WTCR, but Dahlgren is one of two - alongside Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky, the sister of rally driver Fredrik Ahlin - to have committed to TCR Scandinavia with the squad for 2019.
"The progress for PWR Racing has been extremely fast since we were founded in 2012 and we're now heading in to our first international season," said PWR co-founder and CEO Daniel Haglof, who has also raced for the team since it started competing.
"It's a great opportunity to measure ourselves against the very best.
"I'm looking forward to it and I'm grateful for the trust that Cupra Racing has put in us to represent their brand in WTCR."
PWR joins Comtoyou in the Cupra stable, although Comtoyou will also field a pair of Audis in the series.
The Belgian squad's Cupra programme was revealed last month, when it announced it would retain Aurelien Panis for 2019.
It has since added WTCC veteran Tom Coronel to its line-up, the Dutchman having competed for the Boutsen Ginion Honda outfit in the first World Touring Car season run to TCR regulations.
Neither of last year's Cupra squads, WTCC stalwarts Campos Racing and Zengo Motorsport, or Pepe Oriola - the lead Cupra driver in the series last year - have announced TCR programmes for 2019.
Picture courtesy of Micke Fransson/teambild.se
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