User:NotJohnHindhaugh/TCR International Series

The TCR International Series was an international touring car championship. From 2015 until 2017, the series was the flagship championship for TCR cars. The championship was promoted by World Sporting Consulting (WSC), founded by former World Touring Car Championship manager Marcello Lotti. It was marketed as a cost-effective spin-off of the WTCC, targeted at C-segment hatchbacks production-based touring cars. The FIA’s World Motorsport Council announced in December 2017 that the series would merge with World Touring Car Championship and European Touring Car Cup from 2018 onwards to form the FIA World Touring Car Cup.

Announcements in 2014
On 15 July Lotti revealed further details on the TCR series. On the same day it was announced that the TCR series will award a Drivers' Championship title and a Teams' Championship title. The number of teams will be limited to eight and the number of competitors to twenty-four. It was also announced that the series will run alongside Formula One at selected events.

On 21 July more details about the series became available: the race weekend format will be structured like the WTCC, with two free practice sessions and a two part qualifying session, followed by two races on Sunday. The first event would take place in Italy in March, but when a provisional calendar for the 2015 season was released on 31 October, it became clear that the first event will take place at the Sepang International Circuit on 29 March. Lotti confirmed the technical principles of the SEAT León Cup Racer, which is also set to be adopted in the Single-Make Trophy category of the European Touring Car Cup in 2015, will be used by the TCR Series.

On 29 July former WTCC driver Pepe Oriola said in an interview with TouringCarTimes that he hopes to compete in the new series, because he was set to drive for the Onyx Race Engineering team in the 2014 WTCC season with their new Ford Fiesta TC1 car for the last part of the season, before the project was abandoned with no support for homologation from Ford. On 15 September the TCR organisation announced the first cars, teams, regulations and events of its inaugural season in 2015. Target Competition became the first team to confirm entry in the series and will run SEAT León Eurocup cars in 2015. Onyx Race Engineering has also confirmed they are developing the Ford Focus for the championship.

A week later Paolo Coloni Racing announced plans to enter the championship in 2015. Team principal Paolo Coloni, son of F1-team founder Enzo Coloni, is known for its accomplishments in the GP2 Series in 2005 and in 2009 to 2012. The team will confirm at a later date their planned car and driver line-up.

On 31 October a provisional calendar for its inaugural season was released. It will consist of twelve weekends, four in Asia, five in Europe, two in South America and one to be announced.

On 7 November the fourth team was announced: the Swedish STCC team WestCoast Racing will join the series with three Honda Civics build by JAS Motorsport. On 20 November Liqui Moly Team Engstler announced they will participate with Volkswagen Golfs and Franz Engstler will be driving one of the VWs.

On 5 December the series was approved by the FIA and renamed TCR International Series instead of using the original TC3 International Series name.

Announcements in 2015
On 27 January Marcello Lotti announced three new teams for the inaugural season: Zengő Motorsport, Proteam Racing and Campos Racing. On 13 February Jordi Oriola announced he will be driving a Target Competition SEAT at Valencia and Monza and Mikhail Grachev was confirmed on 17 February at Engstler Motorsport. In the end of February and in March almost half of all the drivers were confirmed, but just one week from the first round in Sepang Onyx Race Engineering, Paolo Coloni Racing and Proteam Racing have not confirmed a single driver. On 20 March the TCR International Series organisation announced the first TV deals for the inaugural season. On 29 May, David Sonenscher announces the TCR Thailand Series, starting from 2016.

2015
The season started at the Sepang International Circuit supporting Formula One at the Malaysian Grand Prix, with 17 cars entered for the round. Kevin Gleason took the first ever pole position in series. In Race 1 Stefano Comini took the lead from Gleason on the first lap and went on to win the race, with Pepe Oriola and Sergey Afanasyev completing the podium. Jordi Gené won the second race, starting from the reverse grid pole, with team mate Pepe Oriola and Gianni Morbidelli completing the podium, with Morbidelli taking the first podium finish for Honda. Stefano Comini left the first round as the championship leader.

For the second round held at the Shanghai International Circuit, 15 cars was entered. The series once again supported Formula One, this time at the Chinese Grand Prix. Gianni Morbidelli took pole position ahead of his WestCoast Racing team mates René Münnich and Kevin Gleason. The trio went on to dominate Race 1, with Morbidelli winning the race ahead of Münnich and Gleason, finishing in the same order as they had qualified in. Andrea Belicchi won the second race starting from the reverse grid pole, with team Stefano Comini taking second with Gianni Morbidelli third. Following a strong weekend from Gianni Morbidelli he left Shanghai in the championship lead, 2-points ahead of Stefano Comini.

The third round what held at Spain's Circuit Ricardo Tormo, with Pepe Oriola taking a first pole position for SEAT. Oriola went on to win the first race, ahead of team mates Sergey Afanasyev and Jordi Gené. Gianni Morbidelli started Race 2 from reverse grid pole, but after contact with Oscar Nogués at the start, Stefano Comini took the lead and eventual win ahead of team mates Michel Nykjær and Andrea Belicchi. However, Belicchi was later excluded from the race handing third place to a recovering Gianni Morbidelli, with Comini re-taking the championship lead.

Just a week later the fourth round was held at the Algarve International Circuit in Portugal. Liqui Moly Team Engstler drafted in Audi factory drivers Nicki Thiim and Kelvin van der Linde to drive the teams two Audi's. Thiim dominated every practice session as well as qualifying on pole, he also went on to win Race 1 ahead of Lorenzo Veglia and Jordi Gené. Kevin Gleason started Race 2 from pole, but he lost the lead into Turn 1, being overtaken by Michel Nykjær. Nykjær would go on to win the race, with Gleason holding on to second with Jordi Gené again finishing third and Stefano Comini retaining the lead of the championship.

For the fifth round the championship headed to Autodromo Nazionale Monza, with Gianni Morbidelli taking his second pole position of the season, ahead of championship leader Stefano Comini. Morbidelli won the first race from pole, ahead of Pepe Oriola and Andrea Belicchi with Oriola taking the championship lead after Stefano Comini retired from the race. Morbidelli also won the second race, becoming the first driver in the series to take both pole position and win both races in a weekend, also re-taking the championship lead in the process. Jordi Gené and Fernando Monje completed the Race 2 podium, with Monje taking a first podium for Opel.

The sixth round was held a week later in Austria's Salzburgring, with Kevin Gleason taking his second pole position, the fourth for WestCoast Racing that season. Gleason went on to win Race 1 from pole, ahead of Stefano Comini and Andrea Belicchi. Igor Skuz started Race 2 from pole, but was quickly overtaken by Michel Nykjær. Nykjær retained the lead and won the race, with Pepe Oriola finishing second and championship leader Gianni Morbidelli finishing third, pole sitter Igor Skuz retired from the race after having had contact with Bas Schouten.

The Sochi Autodrom in Russia hosted the seventh round, Team Craft-Bamboo Lukoils Jordi Gené took pole position. Gené won Race 1 ahead of team mate Pepe Oriola and Target Competitions Andrea Belicchi. Kevin Gleason started Race 2 from pole, but was quickly overtaken by Mikhail Grachev and Stefano Comini after the start, Gleason went on to finish sixth in the race. Comini eventually overtook Grachev and went on to take the victory, re-taking the championship lead from Gianni Morbidelli after Morbidelli had been unable to start Race 2.

With round eight having originally been scheduled to be held at the Autódromo Juan y Oscar Gálvez in Argentina, but due to organizational problems, the round was moved to the Red Bull Ring. This round marked the first appearance for Volkswagen in the series. Gianni Morbidelli took his third pole position of the season, ahead of Kevin Gleason and Dániel Nagy. Morbidelli won the first race from pole, with championship leader Stefano Comini second and Andrea Belicchi third. However, after the race Morbidelli was handed a drive-through penalty, which was converted to a 30-second time penalty, dropping him out of the points scoring positions and handing the win to Stefano Comini. Pol Rosell starting the second race from pole in the debuting Volkswagen, going on to take victory, the first for Volkswagen. With Pepe Oriola and Jordi Gené completing an all Spanish podium. After his podium finish in Race 2, Pepe Oriola took the lead of the championship, after Gianni Morbidelli retired after having made contact with Stefano Comini who brought his damaged SEAT home in ninth.

For the third time that season the series supported the Formula One, this time at the Singapore Grand Prix, with series bringing a record 24 cars to the ninth round of the championship. The two races was held in conjunction with the TCR Asia Series. Stefano Comini took the overall pole position, ahead of Gianni Morbidelli and Kevin Gleason, while George Chou took pole position amongst the TCR Asia drivers. Kevin Gleason won Race 1, ahead of pole sitter Stefano Comini and Gianni Morbidelli with Comini re-taking the championship lead. Michael Choi took the victory in TCR Asia. Tomas Engström started on pole, but after contact from Jordi Gené, Gené took the lead and went on to win Race 2. Stefano Comini finished second while Pepe Oriola finished third, with Michael Choi again being victorious amongst the TCR Asia drivers.

The tenth round was held at the new build Chang International Circuit in Thailand, with series going from one record to another with 25 cars entered for this round, again running together with TCR Asia Series. Gianni Morbidelli took pole position, ahead of Pepe Oriola and Kevin Gleason, while Munkong Sathienthirakul took pole amongst the TCR Asia drivers. Morbidelli retained the lead from pole position, until he was awarded a drive-through penalty for a false start. Handing the lead to Pepe Oriola who went on to win the race, ahead of team mates Jordi Gené and Sergey Afanasyev, with Munkong Sathienthirakul taking the victory amongst the TCR Asia drivers. Hugo Valente was due to start from pole for Race 2, but before the warm-up lap his car was removed from the grid with a clutch problem, leaving Stefano Comini to take the lead into Turn 1. Comini won Race 2, ahead of team mate Loris Hezemans and Pepe Oriola, while Tin Sritrai was the best amongst the TCR Asia drivers, taking the victory as well as finishing eight overall.

The eleventh and final round of year, was held at the iconic Guia Circuit in Macau. The series once again beat its own entry list record by having 31 cars entered, running together with TCR Asia Series once again. Robert Huff took pole position for both races, as the reverse grid rule was not used for this event, ahead of Kevin Gleason and Stefano Comini, with Rodolfo Ávila taking the TCR Asia pole. Michael Choi was crowned TCR Asia Series champion following qualifying, since his points gap to second place man Ávila was 68 points with only 50 points remaining. Robert Huff won Race 1 starting from pole, with Jordi Gené and championship leader Stefano Comini completing the podium, while Rodolfo Ávila was of the TCR Asia drivers in in twelfth. The race had a three-lap safety car period after a first lap pile-up, involving Francisco Mora, Kenneth Lau and Frank Yu. Race 2 started with Robert Huff again on pole, however, the race didn't last long as Huff and Jordi Gené crashed at Turn 1, with Lorenzo Veglia, Sergey Afanasyev, Kevin Gleason, Josh Files, Sunny Wong, Henry Ho, Guillaume Cunnington, Samson Chan and 2015 TCR Asia Champion Michael Choi unable to avoid the accident and thus far becoming a part of it. The race was immediately red flagged, at the nine-car restart Stefano Comini took the lead, with title rival Pepe Oriola right behind. However, Oriola later retired from the race after having hit the back of Comini's car, thus far breaking his radiator. Comini went on to win the race ahead of team mate Andrea Belicchi and Mikhail Grachev, with Rodolfo Ávila taking the win in TCR Asia as one of only two TCR Asia drivers to finish the race, with Robb Holland being the other one.

The inaugural series was won by Stefano Comini, driving for Target Competition, who also won the Teams' championship.

2016
The championships second season began at the Bahrain International Circuit supporting the Formula One at the Bahrain Grand Prix. This event marked the début for Alfa Romeo in the series. Sergey Afanasyev took pole position, ahead of Dušan Borković and James Nash. Pepe Oriola won Race 1 ahead of Gianni Morbidelli and James Nash, while pole sitter Afanasyev finished fourth. Davit Kajaia started the second race from the reverse grid pole, however, Kevin Gleason and Aku Pellinen made a better start and took the early lead. But Race 1 winner Pepe Oriola eventually made his way past both the Honda's of Gleason and Pellinen to take the Race 2 win as well. Meaning that Oriola left the first round in the lead of the championship.

For the second round the series returned to Europe, racing at Autódromo do Estoril in Portugal. Maťo Homola took pole position ahead of Gianni Morbidelli and Jean-Karl Vernay. At the start of Race 1, pole sitter Maťo Homola was overtaken by the WestCoast Racing Honda's of Gianni Morbidelli and Aku Pellinen. With the later going wide into Turn 1, allowing Homola back through to second. The following lap Homola took back the lead into Turn 1. A great between the two ensued over next couple of laps, before Morbidelli again made his way past Homola into the lead. Gianni Morbidelli eventually went on to taking the victory, with Maťo Homola slipping to fourth at the end of the race. The podium was completed by team mates Jean-Karl Vernay and Stefano Comini. With Race 2 pole sitter Loris Hezemans having an technical problem, this left James Nash as the only car on the front row. Nash went on to win the race ahead of Stefano Comini and Gianni Morbidelli, with the later taking over the championship lead from Pepe Oriola.

The third round was held at the famous Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. The event saw Peugeot making there début, however, the cars 1.6l engine struggled with the top speed on the long straights, against the more powerful 2.0l opponents. Dušan Borković took pole position ahead of Pepe Oriola and Aku Pellinen. Aku Pellinen made the best start of the three and went on to win Race 1, with Pepe Oriola second and Dušan Borković third. Antti Buri started Race 2 from pole, but was quickly overtaken by team mate Jean-Karl Vernay and by the end of the lap, team mate Stefano Comini also overtook him. The race ended with a Leopard Racing 1-2-3, with Vernay winning ahead of Comini and Buri. After both races Pepe Oriola re-took the lead in the championship.

Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Italy, hosted the fourth round for the 2016 season. WestCoast Racing's Gianni Morbidelli took pole ahead of championship leader Pepe Oriola and Davit Kajaia. Pole sitter Gianni Morbidelli kept lead of the start, up until the fifth lap of the race, when he had a power steering issue. Which meant Morbidelli had to slow down handing the lead to second place man Stefano Comini and also triggering a multi car accident with Morbidelli's own team mate Alain Menu and Dušan Borković. However, Borković was able to continue until some laps later when contact from Jean-Karl Vernay meant that he spun into gravel trap. Stefano Comini went on to win the race ahead of Pepe Oriola and Davit Kajaia. At the start of Race 2, Mikhail Grachev quickly made his way past front row starters Attila Tassi and Jordi Gené. Grachev went on to win the race ahead of Maťo Homola and Stefano Comini, with Pepe Oriola retaining his championship lead.

For the fifth round the series visited the Salzburgring in Austria. Harald Proczyk took pole position in a very wet qualifying session, ahead of Jean-Karl Vernay and Pepe Oriola. However, Proczyk later received a 2-place grid penalty leaving the pole position grid spot in hands of Jean-Karl Vernay. After a very eventful race, Mikhail Grachev won the race ahead of James Nash and Maťo Homola. Attila Tassi was on pole for the second race, however, since rain had intensified before the warm up lap, Tassi along with Race 1 winner Grachev, Jordi Oriola and Gianni Morbidelli pitted for wet weather tires instead of their original slick tires. Handing the pseudo pole to Jean-Karl Vernay, who went on to win the race ahead of Sergey Afanasyev and Stefano Comini. This meant that Comini took the lead of the championship.

The sixth round was held at Germany's Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, with Dušan Borković taking pole ahead of team mate Maťo Homola and James Nash. Maťo Homola went on to win Race 1 ahead of team mate Dušan Borković and James Nash, in a race with two safety car periods, the first being triggered by Attila Tassi ending his race in the Turn 3 gravel trap. With the second safety car being deployed after Stefano Comini pulled of the track at Turn 1 with a technical problem only to be hit by a spinning Mikhail Grachev. Davit Kajaia started on pole for the second race and kept the lead for the first few laps, until he was overtaken by eventual winner Pepe Oriola. With Dušan Borković finishing second and James Nash finishing third. After taking the win, Oriola taking a joint championship lead, with team mate Nash.

For the seventh round the traveled to the Sochi Autodrom in Russia, Stefano Comini took pole ahead of Pepe Oriola and team mate Jean-Karl Vernay. Stefano Comini went on to take a lights to flag victory ahead of Pepe Oriola and Gianni Morbidelli. At the start of Race 2 Mikhail Grachev made better start than the B3 Racing Team Hungary duo of pole sitter Attila Tassi and second place starter Maťo Homola, with Grachev assuming the lead and going on to take his third win of the season. With Jean-Karl Vernay second and Attila Tassi third. Following the two races James Nash retained the championship lead, only to lose it, after receiving a 10-second time penalty for hitting Jean-Karl Vernay during Race 1. This handed the championship lead back to Stefano Comini.

The eight round was held in Thailand at the Chang International Circuit, with 26 cars entered for the event, with the TCR Thailand drivers joining the International Series. Pepe Oriola took the overall pole position ahead of Gianni Morbidelli and Jean-Karl Vernay, with Kantadhee Kusiri being quickest of the TCR Thailand drivers in eighth. Pepe Oriola won Race 1 starting from pole, ahead of team mate James Nash and Gianni Morbidelli. With Kantadhee Kusiri winning in TCR Thailand as well as being sixth overall. Race 2 pole sitter Mikhail Grachev took the early lead of the race, the safety car was soon sent on track after Gianni Morbidelli crashed hard at Turn 8. When the race restarted Grachev pulled away from second place man Kantadhee Kusiri, with Kusiri soon after being passed by James Nash. Three laps later Nash overtook Grachev for the lead and went on to win the race ahead of Grachev and Dušan Borković, with Kantadhee Kusiri again best TCR Thailand driver, this time in ninth. This meant that James Nash re-took the championship lead from Stefano Comini.

Like in 2015, the series supported the Formula One at the Singapore Grand Prix, for the ninth round of championship. Jean-Karl Vernay took pole position ahead of Gianni Morbidelli and Maťo Homola. However, Morbidelli was later given a six-place grid penalty, meaning that he dropped from second to ninth. Jean-Karl Vernay won Race 1, starting from pole, ahead of team mate Stefano Comini and Pepe Oriola. Following the post-qualifying penalties, Mikhail Grachev inherited the reverse grid pole and went on to win the second race, ahead of Dušan Borković and championship leader James Nash. The second race had two safety car periods, with the first being triggered by a lap 3 collision between Sergey Afanasyev and Attila Tassi. The second safety car period came on lap 7, when Rafaël Galiana spun after trying to overtake Martin Cao. With Galiana being hit by Neric Wei shortly afterwards, with the race eventually ending behind the safety car.

For the tenth round the series headed to Malaysia, joining the TCR Asia Series at the Sepang International Circuit, again supporting the Formula One. Roberto Colciago took pole position, ahead of Pepe Oriola and Mikhail Grachev, with Tin Sritrai being fastest TCR Asia driver in tenth. At the start of the first Colciago was overtaken by Grachev, only to take the lead back at Turn 2. Shortly after the safety car was deployed after Andy Yan and team mate Davit Kajaia made contact, with Loris Hezemans, Tin Sritrai and Mario Ferraris also somewhat involved. Roberto Colciago went on to win the race ahead of Stefano Comini and James Nash, with Kevin Tse being the best of the TCR Asia drivers. TCR Asia driver Tin Sritrai started Race 2 from pole, retaining the lead for the first lap. The following lap he was overtaken by eventual winner Kevin Gleason, later Stefano Comini made contact with Sritrai, resulting in the later spinning out of second place, with Comini later receiving a 30-second time penalty after the race. There was single safety car period after contact between Roberto Colciago and Mikhail Grachev, resulting in Colciago ending his race in the gravel trap and Grachev retiring in the pits. Kevin Gleason won the race ahead of James Nash and Gianni Morbidelli, with Andy Yan winning amongst the TCR Asia drivers in ninth overall and also securing the TCR Asia drivers title in the process. Stefano Comini's Race 2 penalty meant that James Nash retained the championship lead going into last round of the year.

The eleventh and final round of 2016 was once again held at the Guia Circuit in Macau, with a record breaking, 36 cars entered for the event. Jean-Karl Vernay took pole ahead of team mate Stefano Comini and Tiago Monteiro, with 2016 TCR Asia champion Andy Yan, best of the TCR Asia drivers in thirteenth. At the start of Race 1 Stefano Comini overtook team mate Jean-Karl Vernay for the lead. The race was soon red flagged after multiple first lap accidents, involving Sunny Wong, Zhang Ya Qi, Jiang Teng Yi, Gianni Morbidelli and Tang Chi Lun. The race was soon restarted, only for the safety car to come out soon thereafter, when championship leader James Nash and Maťo Homola made contact. With Homola retiring on the spot and Nash retiring his car in the pits. Stefano Comini went on to win the race ahead of team mate Jean-Karl Vernay and Tiago Monteiro, with Tin Sritrai best TCR Asia driver in seventh. This meant that Comini took the championship lead with just half a point, ahead of Nash. For Race 2, Stefano Comini started from pole position. Tiago Monteiro made a great start from third and took the lead into Turn 1. The race was red flagged on lap 3, when Sunny Wong crashed and blocked the track. After a lengthy stoppage the race resumed, with Tiago Monteiro taking the win ahead of Jean-Karl Vernay and Pepe Oriola. Andy Yan was best TCR Asia driver in tenth.

The 2016 series saw Stefano Comini successfully defend his title, now driving for Leopard Racing. While Team Craft-Bamboo Lukoil won the Teams' championship.

2017
The final series saw Frenchman Jean-Karl Vernay claim the title in a Leopard Racing Team WRT run Volkswagen, while M1RA won the Teams' championship.

Scoring system
These points have been based on the FIA's points system used in the FIA Formula One Championship.