Lewis Kent has confirmed that he will make his TCR Europe series debut when the series heads to Spa for the third round of the season next month.

Kent will be at the wheel of the Essex & Kent Motorsport Hyundai i30 N TCR he has raced in the TCR UK championship since the start of last season, and is the first driver from the UK series to confirm an entry into the Spa event.

The Belgian race meeting was originally part of the TCR UK schedule before the merger with the Touring Car Trophy made the Spa race an invitational event, with no championship points on offer.

“I have been looking forward to the Spa event since it was announced that TCR UK was going to join TCR Europe there,” Kent said. “Since then, TCR UK has been undergoing changes but we as a team were set on joining the grid for that weekend, and hopefully others later in the year depending on how this one goes.

“I have raced at Spa on two previous occasions once in Sports 2000 where I came second out of 42 entries in 2017 and last year in the 24-hour race, so I know the circuit quite well and if I can stay out of trouble hope to do quite well. My long-term goals are to race in WTCR, and being only 19 have time on my side. The Spa weekend will show if I have the makings of that class of drivers, and you never know may attract a big sponsor who can assist me in making my ambitions come true.”

Team manager David Cleal said he was eager to see what the small family run team could achieve on its European debut.

“We set up Essex & Kent Motorsport last year with the sole intention of racing in TCR UK, we have been on a steep learning curve and this weekend at Spa will show how far we have come as a team and driver going up against some of the best drivers and teams Europe has to offer,” he said. “We are just a small family-run team who go to Spa with the aim of winning, but in all honesty if we come away with a top twenty finish I believe we have had a great result and will show other teams sitting on the side lines in the UK that TCR is a way forward.”