MOTORSPORT
The grand Budapest show and tell
The Hungaroring recently became the latest venue to host Pure ETCR , a fledgling championship for electric touring cars. Damien Smith was there to watch and listen
Vernay is second in the standings going into the final round
Can Pure ETCR beat down traditionalists’ cynicism about EV racing? “There’s a minority who say it’s boring just because it’s electric,” says series director Xavier Gavory. “Slowly people will be convinced by the fights they see on track, and that will overtake this perception.”
"To be honest, I’m in love,” swoons Jean-Karl Vernay. This experienced racing driver, who has adapted from single-seaters and sports cars to become one of Europe’s best tin-top aces, isn’t talking about the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) in which he’s a title contender for Hyundai. Instead, he’s pledging his amour for the new Pure ETCR series for electric saloons, in which he’s doubling up this year. In fact, the Frenchman is so in love with EV racing that he professes he would be happy to race nothing else “if there were more cars and it were more mature”. Give it time, JK, and there’s every reason to believe it will be.
So, what is Pure ETCR? In short, it’s a quickfire, short-form race series for electric touring cars that produce a potent 670bhp at maximum power, running on all-weather Goodyear tyres that aren’t far off road spec. It was supposed to be launched last year but was forced into delaying by the pandemic, and it has now got going with a five-event prologue series around Europe. It has popped up at Vallelunga in Italy, Motorland Aragón in Spain, at a popular street race festival in the Danish capital of Copenhagen and in mid-August at the Hungaroring, near Budapest, which is where we travelled to find out more.