Is it normal for the Ioniq 5 N to race against regular touring cars in the N Festival?

The balancing act in these mixed classes isn't usally just about slapping extra dead weight onto the electric cars. It’s primarily about power mapping and how that horsepower is delivered and regulated across the whole class. The series dictates specific limits on torque output and total horsepower for the electric contenders to ensure they aren't overwhelming the combustion engines on the straights, which is what you're seeing when they pull away at high speed. But even with those limits, the instant torque of the EV drivetrain still gives them a significant advantage coming out of slow corners compared to most internal combustion engines. That's why they gain ground immediately and then get caught later. What you're observing in the corners is a classic performance trade-off between raw instant torque and mechanical grip combined with braking performance. While the EV cars can slingshot out of a 180-degree bend due to their massive low-end pull, they often lack the same sheer braking capacity or the ability to put down traction perfectly under extreme cornering stress as a highly tuned ICE car. They are heavy, yeah, but that weight translates differently when you are trying to maintain a high-G corner. As for the racing being genuinely close, you are right. It is incredibly tight. The power differences aren't as gargantuan as they seem, and once you account for the massive difference in drivetrain efficiency versus the drag and rolling resistance of a heavyweight EV, the pace levels out considerably. If you watch a full session, you'll see them battling fender to fender for almost every single lap. The high-voltage systems allow for a level of immediate power application that makes even a moderate power difference feel absolutely murderous during a launch. It's a really interesting experiment to see them run side-by-side because it forces everyone to drive differently. ICE drivers have to be extra careful of that sudden EV torque spike, and EV drivers have to manage their thermal envelope and weight distribution perfectly to make those turns. The competition is definitely fierce.

I'd push back on the braking claim. Saying the EVs lack braking capacity doesn't match what I've seen. My buddy races a heavy electric hillclimb car and the regen plus big rotors stops it better than anything he's driven, it's the tires that give up, not the brakes. All that mass cooks the front rubber over a stint, so by lap 8 they're understeering everywhere while the lighter cars are still on the pace. That's the real reason they fade mid race, not a braking shortfall. The corner exit punch is real though, no argument there.

One thing I've noticed watching the full race replays rather than just the highlights is that the gap pattern shifts over a stint. Early on the electric cars look untouchable out of the slow hairpin, but by mid-race their advantage shrinks, which suggests the series is either capping deployment as the battery drains or the drivers are managing something under the hood we can't see. I'd love to know if the regs require a fixed energy budget per lap, because that would explain why the mid-field battles you caught seem to even out right when tire wear starts mattering. Also worth checking a full onboard lap instead of the edited stuff, since camera cars tend to follow the fight at the front and make everything look tighter than it is.

Update: finally sat down with the regs again using the translated glossary and it clicked. You were right that it's mostly power and torque mapping rather than just adding ballast, with deployment managed so the advantage fades over a run. That matches what one reply said about the gap shrinking mid-stint. Watched a full race after and yeah, the midfield racing really is that tight.