Three-time Qatar Touring Car Championship champion Abdullah al-Khelaifi will participate in the Touring Car Racing (TCR) Europe Simracing (simulated racing) Series beginning this Saturday. Twenty-five cars will be in action with al-Khelaifi, who be behind the wheels of Seat Leon Cupra, representing the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF).
TCR Europe Series is conducting the virtual competition after coronavirus pandemic has cancelled on track races. The format of the series will see competitors sitting in the simulator for a twenty-minute qualifying session and two back-to-back races of eight laps each. The grid of the second race will be based on the final results of Race 1 with the top 12 in reversed order.
The opening race will be held at the digital circuit of Spa-Francorchamps, with most of the TCR Europe Series regulars will face guest top-drivers from other TCR series, such as the 2018 European champion Mikel Azcona, Niels Langeveld and Kevin Ceccon.
The scoring system will follow that of the real championship, awarding points to the top ten in the qualifying (from 10 to 1) and the top fifteen in each race (from 40 to 1). After Spa, the series will race at Red Bull Ring (May 13), Hungaroring (May 27), Le Castellet (June 10), Zolder (June 24), Monza (July 8) and Barcelona (July 22).
The series is open only for drivers who have signed up for this season’s track events. Al-Khelaifi had participated in last year’s series and was registered to take part in this year’s championship, which was scheduled to begin at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on May 2.