Geely's TCR wins underpin rapid European market push
Geely Cyan Racing has taken the lead in the TCR World Tour as the Chinese automaker accelerates its commercial push into European markets.
Yann Ehrlacher won the first race at the Vila Real street circuit in Portugal on July 14, securing Geely Cyan Racing's fifth victory of the 2026 Kumho FIA TCR World Tour. The result pushed the team to the top of the Teams' Championship standings with a 56-point lead. Three other Geely drivers finished inside the top four across the European leg of the series.
The team navigated four distinct European circuits—Misano, Ricardo Tormo, Paul Ricard and Vila Real—using the Geely Preface TCR. The car's self-developed chassis, suspension and powertrain proved adaptable to flat-out sections and tight technical corners. In the individual standings, Santiago Urrutia leads the Drivers' Championship, with Ehrlacher in fourth, Thed Björk in sixth and Ma Qinghua in seventh.
For European markets, these track results serve as a marketing anchor for a much larger commercial offensive. In the first half of 2026, Geely recorded global sales of 1,100,373 units. The company used this momentum to enter seven European markets—including Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and France—within just 45 days.
This rapid expansion is supported by a substantial physical footprint. Geely operates five engineering and R&D centres across China, Europe and Malaysia, alongside five global testing regions. The company stated these investments are designed to advance localisation and technology development closer to its target markets.
Geely is working to build brand trust in these new territories through global customer initiatives like GEEL•GO and GEELY Care+. The strategy recently yielded the Automotive News PACE Award and the Red Dot Product Design Award. Outside Europe, the Geely STARRAY EM-i became Australia's best-selling plug-in hybrid SUV in May, demonstrating the brand's ability to compete in established automotive markets.
The TCR World Tour now shifts away from Europe, with rounds in Chengdu and Zhuzhou scheduled for October before the season finale in Macau. Geely Cyan Racing will aim to translate its European engineering data into results on home soil, maintaining a global motorsport presence that parallels the company's retail growth.
