WTCC and TCR International to Merge in 2018?

[Paul Jeffrey]

Latest speculation suggests WTCC and Eurosport Events will merge with the growing TCR series to form a single international series in 2018...

With the World Touring Car Championship on its knees in recent years, it now looks likely that the series will say goodbye to manufacturer involvement from 2018 and join forces with the ever growing TCR International Series, once again bringing a global standard of touring car rules to the sport and hopefully reviving the highest profile international tin top series in the world.

With the current high downforce, high cost TC1 regulations strangling growth in World Touring Car Championship racing these past few years, so much so that since the withdrawal of works support from Chevrolet, Citroen and LADA only leaving representation from a much reduced Honda and Volvo operations, something very drastic has to change if the World Touring Car Championship is to survive and prosper in the years ahead.

Perhaps it was inevitable in todays day and age that the expensive rules of TC1 would become unsustainable and a more cost effective solution would have to be sought, paving the way for the tremendously successful TCR formula to join forces with the might and experience of the Eurosport and WTCC brands in the near future, something that would no doubt have been on the mind of TCR head man and former WTCC boss Marcello Lotti when he first broke away from the main world series back in 2014 to bring his TCR dreams to reality.

Despite the unprecedented success of TCR, a move to these regulations at World level would mean one very substantial change to the DNA of the World Touring Car Championship; gone will be "works" manufacturer teams as TCR is 100% a customer series, with costs capped at 130,000 eu per car and rules allowing only privateer outfits running off the shelf purchased vehicles in a wide array of body styles and configurations.

At present cars from Hyundai, Ford, Opel, Honda, Audi, Alfa Romeo, Peugeot, Subaru, Renault, SEAT, VW, LADA and Kia are all running across the many different national and international series of TCR, recreating the ladder structure enjoyed by touring car racing back in the SuperTouring heyday of the 1990's and early to mid 2000's S2000 regulations.

At the present time Eurosport, WTCC and the TCR series are unavailable for comment on the potential merger for 2018, however it is thought to be extremely likely to be officially announced within the next few months, potentially in time for a first season of racing under the new regulation set as early as the 2018 racing season.

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Do you think a WTCC and TCR International Series merger will be a good thing for international touring car racing? Is a move away from "works" manufacturer teams in an world championship series the correct move? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[ouvert]

I like the smaller scale, shorter weekends and bit of 'amateur' or entry level feeling of TCR .. racing is good .. not sure if I`f fancy it merging WTCC

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

TCR on the old WTCC tracks in Europe = much win.

WTCC in it's current form is over and gone with. Actually has been for quite a while. Can't remember the last race I've watched on tele. Ten years ago it was my one and only motorsport series I watched.

 

[Matt Y]

What do the us Aussies think of TCR?

 

[Peter Kerényi]

As long as Sector 3 keeps the license and delivers a full package of these cars, I'm okay with it

Seriously though, if Norbi wasn't racing there I would not watch it. Small grid, huge differences in the field in terms of pace, extremely fragile cars and mostly boring races. With the withdrawal of Citroen and Lada, and with no manufacturers looking to enter the series, a change of regulations is needed. TCR might just be the most convenient for the time being.

 

[FeltHat]

need those in raceroom

 

[VirtuaIceMan]

It reminds me of the various reinventions of the BTCC in the past, when costs got too high. If the manufacturers are dropping out of WTCC then maybe the TCR route isn't so bad, at least it looks like spectators would see a lot more brands on track.

 

[pjlee1998]

Not sure how to feel about this. I think while a good idea, TCR and WTCC merged would create much confusion. Would it be TCR International/ TCR World Championship? Would they be the same championship or 2 separate championships? Would they run the same circuits or different?
I think personally there needs to a TCR+ class, with TCR cars but souped up a bit, so they are still available to be bought reasonably readily, but then there is extras added such as aftermarket parts e.g. exhausts, suspension and brakes as well as lighter weight and more power (2.5 litre engines?). I think this would be a reasonable agreement and could become the TCR+ International Series, replacing WTCC.

 

[Aidan Keranen]

Don't get me wrong, love the concept, it works great and to kickstart the WTCC is always going to be a good thing.
But the lack of manufacturers having a team sort of lets it down for me. They can't do much different from a customer team, it's just whatever they do on the weekend surely? Having some manufacturer teams creates a lot more story lines than just having a dozen shapes and teams all over the place.

 

[Kenny Paton]

If they can make it work, then it will be a good thing, it's came to a pretty pass when our club WTCC races are more exciting than the real thing.
Yes to S3 getting on board to create a virtual equivalent.

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

I love the idea of lack of manufacturer teams. Ok as now with Hyundai a manufacturer can design, build and develop the base car, and then sell it to "customers" to run at a cap of 130,000 eu. Alongside that the private teams can get up and running with their own cars based on whatever they want, then it is down to the teams to make the difference. Basically no longer will it be beholden to the whims and budgets of big car brands, but back in the hands of who matters most... racing teams.

Think of it like this. At present it is formula one with Mercedes and Ferrari dominating up front. Kick 'em out and get a grid full of Williams, Red Bull, Force India and that sort of thing and boom! Good times and long term stability, plus capped costs allowing a well sorted and semi decent funded outfit to challenge for wins. Perfect.

I have a bit of an inside source on this one and from what she tells me basically this will mean TCR International as we know it will end, merging into WTCC with TCR cars and regulations. So really Lotti always planned this as a backdoor way to get the WTCC to move on from the stupid cost and manufacturer stranglehold of years past, but doing it from the outside where he can actually create proof of concept with TCR.

Now only think I ask is drop the bloody turbo, TC cars should be high revving normally aspirated ffs!

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

oh and image the S3 licence for these. 10 - 15 different cars, 20 odd national and international series and all the tracks on which they race.

Brb, going to go change my underwear...

 

[UMC 22]

With WTCC being practically dead, why do we care if they merge? Why not let WTCC die and watch TCR instead? It sounds like if they merge the only thing being kept will be the WTCC brand name, which means little in the grand scheme of things. Sod WTCC. Keep TCR and don't risk messing it up by merging.

 

[CC]

I absolutely love this Volvo , every single time I see it makes me want to crack open 3ds max and start working on it straight away , this car is simply beautiful looking always loved these Volvos TC!

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

TCR on the old WTCC tracks in Europe = much win. WTCC in it's current form is over and gone with. Actually has been for quite a while. Can't remember the last race I've watched on tele. Ten years ago it was my one and only motorsport series I watched.

my feelings exactly. wtcc used to be the secret pinnacle of international motorsport, back in the bmw vs. seat vs. alfa days. taped all the races on eurosport. nowadays, i check out the races a couple of days later on youtube, watch the start and very rarely get hooked to watch the whole thing, just forwarding to finish and points tables.

 

[F1Aussie]

What do the us Aussies think of TCR?

never heard of it

 

[pjlee1998]

What do the us Aussies think of TCR?

never heard of it

I can't even imagine the uproar if TCR took over Supercars
I'll probably be looked down upon just for suggesting it

 

[Deleted member 6919]

Thats TCR doomed then..

 

[Patrik Marek]

I would love if WTCC merged into TCR would be something like LMP1 + LMP2 , bascially 2 different classes with considerate speed advantage of the faster cars, making for more overtaking/traffic , etc.

 

[pjlee1998]

I would love if WTCC merged into TCR would be something like LMP1 + LMP2 , bascially 2 different classes with considerate speed advantage of the faster cars, making for more overtaking/traffic , etc.

On that note, they could make TC1 cars eligible for endurance events, allowing them to run in endurance and WTCC, like TCR cars.