Mikel Azcona
Azcona at the 2022 WTCR Race of Italy
Nationality	Spanish
Full name	Mikel Azcona Troyas
Born	(1996-06-25)25 June 1996 (age 29) Arrigorriaga, Spain
World Touring Car Cup career
Debut season	2019
Current team	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse
Racing licence	FIA Gold
Car number	96
Former teams	PWR Racing,Zengő Motorsport
Starts	78
Wins	7
Poles	3
Fastest laps	9
Best finish	1st in2022

Mikel Azcona Troyas^[a] (born 25 June 1996) is a Spanish autoracing driver who competes in theTCR World Tour forBRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse and thePorsche Supercup andPorsche Carrera Cup Germany for Hadeca Racing.^[1] He won theTCR Europe Touring Car Series championship in 2018 and 2021 and the WTCR championship in 2022.

Azcona began his karting career at the age of 6 with a kart bought by his father.^[2] participated in Spanish karting championships where in 2009, he finished second in the Cadet class in the national championship and in the XXI Series, and in 2010, finishing in fourth place in the KF3 class.

In 2012, he made the transition from karting to touring car competitions, since it was where Azcona saw a professional future if he stood out in those races, instead of single-seater competitions.^[2] He started at the age of 15 with the car that would compete continuously for the following years, theRenault Clio with which he would participate in Class 2 of theCER together with Diego Rodríguez. He finished that year in third position in the CER Ferodo Sport Challenge. In 2013 he made his debut in the SpanishRenault Clio Cup Spain, where he took his first victory as a professional racer and finished in ninth place in the standings. Also that year, he managed to prevail in the Clio class of the Open Cup ofCircuito de Navarra.^[3]

The following year, Azcona joined PCR Sport and finished fifth in Renault Clio Cup Spain. Within Joaquín Rodrigo's team, he competed in the last of the four seasons of the Renault Clio Eurocup, where finished runner-up in 2012 and 2014, behind compatriotOscar Nogués.^[4] Also in 2014, he would have his first endurance test, participating in the Maxi Endurance 32H with two different teams.^[5] In 2015, he continued in Renault Clio Cup Spain where he finished second and made his debut in the Seat Léon Eurocup, winning atCircuit Paul Ricard and took three additional podiums, finishing third in the season. He continued in the Seat Léon Eurocup in the 2016 season. He won four races and eight podiums, but they were not enough to become champion and he was runner-up behindNiels Langeveld.^[6][7] He also made four appearances in Renault Clio Cup Spain, winning two of them and finished fifth in the drivers standings. In these two years he was signed to PCR Sport.

In 2017, Azcona participated in theAudi Sport TT Cup, winning six races during the season: two at theNorisring, one atZandvoort, two atNürburgring and one atHockenheimring and finished in second place three times. He finished runner-up in the standings behindPhilip Ellis, who had achieved two more podiums than Azcona.^[8]

The following year, Azcona went on to compete in the TCR Europe, returning to the PCR Sport team and drove aCupra León, he took a win at Zandvoort, five podium finishes and 10 top-five finishes. His regularity allowed him to beatJean-Karl Vernay to finally get his first title. 10 For the 2019 season, he moved to theWorld Touring Car Cup with a Cupra León fromPWR Racing, becoming the brand's official driver.^[9][10] He obtained his first victory atVila Real.^[11] and finished sixth in the drivers' standings.

Azcona was the subject of controversy at the final race of the2019 WTCR season inMalaysia after influencing the outcome of the championship.^[12] While trying to overtake title contenderEsteban Guerrieri for the race lead, he hit Guerrieri's car, pushing him off the track from a title-clinching position and forcing him to pit, which cost him the chance to win the title.^[13] Azcona was given a 30-second time penalty for the incident.^[14]

In 2021, Azcona also completed a WTCR-European double program, also contesting the first season of theETCR^[15] and completing other national championship races in Spain, Italy and Germany. In the WTCR, he finished in seventh in the final classification, after a somewhat weak start to the season and only achieving a victory in the penultimate race. In the European championship, however, he managed to dominate the season despite missing the third round held at the Zandvoort circuit. By proclaiming himself the winner of the championship in the race on Saturday in Barcelona, Azcona flew to the Czech Republic that same day to be able to compete the two WTCR races in Most the following day.^[16]

In 2022, Azcona changed scenery by signing as an official driver forHyundai Motorsport,^[17] his main focus was winning the WTCR championship, a milestone that would be somewhat marred by the withdrawal of theLynk & Co team in halfway in the season, the controversies with the failures of theGoodyear tires and the cancellation of several of the final rounds for various reasons.^[18] At the same time, he returned to participate in the ETCR where this time he finished in fifth place, achieving only one victory in Vallelunga and managed to win in the TCR category of the24 Hours of Nürburgring.^[19] Azcona clinched the WTCR Drivers' championship during the qualifying session of theFIA WTCR Race of Saudi Arabia making him the last driver to do so.^[20]

^† As Azcona was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

^‡ Driver was a World Tour full-time entry and was ineligible for points.

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2019	TOPCAR Sport withBas Koeten Racing	Julien Apotheloz Fabian Danz Antti Buri Kari-Pekka Laaksonen	CUPRA León TCR	P	444	3rd	3rd

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.

• Official website
• Mikel Azcona career summary at DriverDB.com

• 1996 births
• Living people
• People from Arrigorriaga
• Spanish racing drivers
• SEAT León Eurocup drivers
• European Touring Car Cup drivers
• World Touring Car Cup drivers
• Sportspeople from Biscay
• Audi Sport TT Cup drivers
• Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers
• World Touring Car Champions
• Hyundai Motorsport drivers
• Cupra Racing drivers
• Zengő Motorsport drivers
• TCR Europe Touring Car Series drivers
• TCR South America Touring Car Championship drivers
• TCR Italian Touring Car Championship drivers
• TCR Australia Touring Car Series drivers
• Porsche Carrera Cup Germany drivers
• TCR World Tour drivers
• Porsche Supercup drivers

• CS1 Spanish-language sources (es)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from May 2021