Hyundai Motor to co-host 2026 World Touring Car Festival in Inje-gun

Hyundai Motor announced Monday that it will co-host the 2026 Inje World Touring Car Festival with Inje-gun in Gangwon Province over two days starting Saturday at Inje Speedium.

The festival brings together three motorsport competitions: the Hyundai N Festival, organized by Hyundai Motor, and the FIA-sanctioned TCR World Tour and TCR Asia. All three events will be held simultaneously for the second consecutive year.

The Hyundai N Festival is South Korea's largest single-make race series, in which identical car models compete against one another. This year's event features dedicated race cars developed from the Ioniq 5 N and Avante N, competing across three classes: the Gran Turismo eN1 class, the Kumho N1 class and the Nexen N2 class.

This year's Hyundai N Festival spans six rounds in total, running from May through November. The round held at the Inje World Touring Car Festival is Round 4.

The festival will also host TCR World Tour and TCR Asia races for the second straight year. The TCR World Tour is the top-tier touring car series among more than 20 regional championships — including TCR Europe and TCR Asia — as well as national series such as TCR Italy and TCR China.

Hyundai Motor has supplied and supported race cars based on the i30 N and Avante N in the TCR World Tour since 2018, earning two teams' championship titles and five drivers' championship titles.

This season, the BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse team, competing with the Avante N TCR race car, sits second in the teams' championship, while its driver Mikel Azcona also holds second place in the drivers' standings. Azcona has closed the gap to the leader to 10 points, making the races at this year's festival a pivotal stage in determining the season championship outcome.

Hyundai Motor will also run a range of on-site programs for festival visitors. Through "Grid Walk" and "Pit Walk" experiences, attendees can get up close with the competing race cars and drivers. Visitors can also join the "Circuit Safari," a track tour by bus, and "N Taxi" rides.

Additional attractions include an N Kids Zone, N mini-car rides and a Kids Driving Experience for families. Hyundai Motor will also display N production vehicles and N Performance tuning parts, and set up a dedicated space where visitors can purchase official N merchandise.

"Having the FIA TCR World Tour held in Korea for two consecutive years is deeply meaningful for domestic motorsport fans," said Park Jun-woo, senior vice president of Hyundai Motor's N Management Division. "We hope this event becomes a special festival where many customers and fans can directly experience the appeal of motorsport and enjoy it together."

Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor has been expanding its efforts to grow motorsport culture in South Korea through various marketing activities, including recently co-hosting the offline final of the "Hyundai N x Racing Master Cup" at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, in collaboration with the globally popular mobile racing game Racing Master.