2022 FIA ETCR Recap: JK Vernay

Jean-Karl Vernay charged into the FIA ETCR eTouring Car World Cup with his sights set on upgrading silver into gold for 2022 ending the previous year as runner-up in the predecessor PURE ETCR. Ad The Frenchman – a former IndyLights champion and Le Mans 24 Hours GT class winner – has carved himself a reputation as a master of the touring car discipline in more recent years, a transition that earned him the 2017 TCR International Series title and seven victories in the World Touring Car Cup.

FIA ETCR2022 FIA ETCR Recap: Jordi Gené31 MINUTES AGO After stints with Volkswagen, Audi and Alfa Romeo, his defection to Hyundai Motorsport in 2021 brought with it the chance to dovetail successful campaigns in both WTCR and ETCR, with Vernay steering his Elantra N TCR to third overall in the former and finishing a close runner-up to champion Mattias Ekström at the wheel of the Veloster N ETCR in the latter. Indeed, with just four points separating him from the PURE ETCR throne in 2021, Vernay – the only familiar name in Hyundai Motorsport’s revised four-man line-up – began the 2022 ETCR season as a clear favourite to go one better this time around.

Even so, with a fresh weekend format to adjust to and the 2022 ETCR field replenished with a talented cast, Vernay had his work cut out to pick up from where he left off the previous year. Things didn’t get off to a stellar start during the RACE FR opener on the streets of Pau, scene of Vernay’s one and only victory a season earlier.

After being disqualified from his Quarter-Final heat due to an incorrect power setting on his  before a tangle with Luca Filippi during the Super Final cost him time and sent the Romeo Ferraris Giulia clouting the Armco. Despite this, seventh in the final