Geely and Lynk & Co China suspends co-operation with Eurosport for Chinese WTCR round

“It has been made quite clear that there is no point in us being involved in promoting the FIA WTCR races in China commercially as a result of the current sporting conditions of the series,” said Victor Yang, Vice President of the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.

“We have no confidence left in the TCR/WTCR organisations and we are suspending the co-operation and support to Eurosport Events and the local Ningbo race host Mitime Group regarding the Chinese WTCR round at the Ningbo circuit.

“This race is a key event for us to connect the racing programmes of the Lynk & Co 03 and the performance road car versions of it. But when the racing cars are not on a level playing field, there is no point in us investing commercially in the WTCR race weekend only to subject our customers, fans and brand to agony on our largest home market.”

The current Balance of Performance (BoP) levels in the WTCR have the Lynk & Co 03 TCR as the heaviest car, with the highest ride height and the lowest power level.

The competitor cars from Hyundai and Honda have meanwhile received far more advantageous BoP levels:

• The all new for 2021 Hyundai Elantra TCR has received 100% power and 0kg ballast weight
• The Honda, which has been re-homologated for 2021 with a wide array of new parts, remains on 100% power and has also received a weight ballast reduction of 20kg
• For comparison, when the Lynk & Co 03 TCR was introduced in 2019, it received the lowest 97.5% power and the most weight, which still remains in effect for 2021

As a result, the Lynk & Co Cyan Racing cars struggled during the opening weekend at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, qualifying 2.5 seconds slower than the Honda on pole position with Nestor Girolami and crossed the line 14 seconds later than the leading Hyundai duo of Jean-Karl Vernay and Luca Engstler in race two.