User:NotJohnHindhaugh/TCR Touring Car

A TCR Touring Car is a type of touring car built to meet the TCR touring car specification, which was first introduced in 2014 and is now employed by a multitude of series worldwide. All TCR cars are based on 4 or 5 door production vehicles, and are powered by 2.0 litre turbocharged engines. While the bodyshell and suspension layout of the production vehicle is retained in a TCR car, and many models use a production gearbox, certain accomodations are made for the stresses of the racetrack including upgraded brakes and aerodynamics. Competition vehicles are subject to Balance of Performance (or BoP) adjustments to ensure close racing between different vehicles.

History
The project to develop the TCR specification was spearheaded by former World Touring Car Championship manager Marciello Lotti. All TCR cars have a common forefather; the SEAT León Supercopa racer used in several successful single-make series. The 2.0L engine formula was derived from this car, as well as the standardised front splitter and rear wing. Initially, the specification and accompanying international series was known as TC3, to indicate its intended position at the entry-level end of the touring car pyramid. However, upon being approved by the FIA in December 2014, the specification was renamed TCR.

Technical Regulations


On 15 September 2014, technical regulations for the category were announced. On 22 January 2016, minor changes were applied.

Eligible cars: 4/5-door vehicles

Body shell: Reinforced production body shell; wheel arch modifications allowed to accommodate tyres

Minimum weight: 1250 kg for cars with production gearbox, 1285 kg for cars with racing gearbox (both including the driver)

Minimum overall length: 4.20 metres

Maximum overall width: 1.95 metres

Engine: Turbo-charged petrol or diesel up to 2.0-litre

Torque: 420 Nm

Power: 350 PS

Lubrication: Wet sump

Exhaust: Homologated catalytic converter using production parts

Traction: On two wheels

Gearbox: Production or TCR International Series sequential; production paddle shift accepted

Front Suspension: Production lay-out; parts free design

Rear Suspension: Original design of production car with reinforced components

Brakes: Wheels: Maximum dimensions of rim: 10″ x 18″
 * Front: max 6 piston calipers, brake discs max diameter 380mm
 * Rear: max 2 piston callipers; production ABS accepted

Aerodynamics:
 * Front splitter: 2014 SEAT León Eurocup
 * Rear wing: FIA Appendix J Art. 263 2014
 * Ground clearance: Minimum 80 mm
 * Power/Weight Ratio: Subject to the Balance of Performance (changing between +70 and -20 kg from the minimum car weight)

WTCR Regulations
The FIA licensed the TCR regulations under the name of WTCR for usage in the World Touring Car Cup. The specification is identical, however it is frozen until the end of 2019, and cars are required to obtain an FIA passport after going through TCR homolgation.

FIA World Touring Car Cup
On 6 December 2017, FIA’s World Motorsport Council announced the creation of the long waited FIA World Touring Car Cup. The new series has been officially confirmed after a deal was reached to bring the World Touring Car Championship, the TCR International Series and the European Touring Car Cup together.

TCR International Series
The TCR International Series was the flagship TCR series from its inaugauration in 2015 until 2017, after which it was retired to make way for the new World Touring Car Cup.

TCR Asia Series
TCR Asia Series was announced on 14 August 2014 by the organisation behind the TCR series under the name TC3 Asia Series - later changed to TCR Asia Series along with the other announced series. David Sonenscher, boss of the company Motorsport Asia, will be maintaining the series. He has previously run the Asian Touring Car Series and the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia. Initially seven races were planned for 2015, but later were reduced to 5 and the final calendar was with 4. The Singapore and Thailand rounds were run together with the TCR International Series, while the rest supported the GT Asia Series calendar.

TCR Benelux Touring Car Championship
In December 2014 the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium (RACB) and Kronos Events announced the formation of the TCR Benelux Touring Car Championship. The inaugural season is set for 2016 with one-off event planned for 15 October 2015 at the Circuit Jules Tacheny Mettet. The schedule consists of seven rounds in the Benelux region, across Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. Each round includes five races: a 60 minutes endurance race, with mandatory pit stop, and four 20 minutes sprint races. The starting grid for the endurance race is established by a popular vote via Facebook, through the Making the Grid application (later changed to aggregate score from the votes and the fast lap practice session with fan voting having bigger weight); sprint race 1 uses the best lap of after pit during long race to determine the starting grid, race 3 uses the best lap of before pit during long race; races 2 and 4 include a rolling start using the finishing order, respectively, of race 1 and 3.

For the 2017 season the fan voting was droped and the starting grid for the endurance race was determined by a qualifying session instead. All races were held alongside Clio Cup Benelux, but with standalone classifications for both. At the end of the season Kronos Events withdrew their support for the series.

TCR China Series
On 12 January 2015, Marcello Lotti announced also a Chinese series planned for 2016. As for December 2015, a TCR class is confirmed as a category of the Chinese Touring Car Championship in 2016. The series was officially launched in December 2016, ahead of a five-round 2017 championship season, with the slight name change from Chinese to China.

TCR Italian Series
On 31 January 2015, Automobile Club d'Italia announced the TCR category as the third division of the Campionato Italiano Turismo Endurance, also competing for the general classification of the championship. On 12 September 2015, the TCR Italian Series was relaunched as a stand-alone category for 2016.

TCR Portuguese Series
On 6 September 2014 FullEventos announced the TC3 Portuguese Series, later renamed TCR Portuguese Series along with the rest of the series announced at the time The series will be one of the six categories of the touring class in the Campeonato Nacional de Velocidade.

TCR USA
On 20 December 2014 it has been announced there will be a US-based series launched in 2015 as part of the California-based United States Touring Car Championship as a promotional category, with a view to moving to a full season in 2016. There were no entries during the 2015 season.

TCR Thailand Series
On 5 July 2015 the Thailand series was presented to the local media. The promoter is Racing Spirit Co. Ltd., organiser of the Thailand Super Series, and the championship is planned to start in 2016.

ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship
On 16 September 2015, the German Series was launched by ADAC and Engstler Motorsport, who already run in the International Series. The new category will run in the same events as ADAC GT Masters and ADAC Formula 4 as well as Deutscher Tourenwagen Cup (formerly ADAC Procar).

TCR Trophy Europe/TCR Europe Series
On 15 October 2015, Marcello Lotti revealed plans for a European Series including one round from each TCR European championship (Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Russia and Benelux), starting from 2016. On 26 February 2016, the European Trophy was launched, with six rounds (Spanish championship was excluded for not having an own series and Benelux series had two rounds). Subsequent change was made during the course of the season to include additional round from German series.

For the 2017 edition was adopted the one-off event format with two races. For 2018 it was upgraded to TCR Europe Series with 6 events, five of which would support International GT Open.

TCR Spanish Series
On 15 February 2016, the Campeonato de España de Resistencia confirmed that they would introduce a TCR class in their championship. The championship calendar included five race weekends held across Spain.

TCR Las Américas Series
On 4 May 2016, Marcello Lotti launched the TCR Las Américas Series. The series would begin in Mexico in October supporting the 2016 Mexican Grand Prix and then go on to visit the United States in November, the Dominican Republic in December, Guatemala in January 2017, Costa Rica in February, with both Colombia and the season finale in Venezuela being visited in March. However, no races were held in neither 2016 or 2017.

On 28 November 2017 the series promoters announced a re-launch, with the series set for a 2018 début. With races scheduled to be held in the Dominican Republic and Mexico.

STCC TCR Scandinavia
On 9 June 2016, the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship confirmed that they would switch to the TCR regulations for 2017 after racing with Silhouette cars since 2013. In 2017 the series will only race in Sweden, but a future expansion into the other Scandinavian countries is possible in the near future.

TCR Baltic Trophy
On 23 July 2016, the organizers of the 1000 kilometrų lenktynės held on the Lithuanian Palanga circuit confirmed that they would add a TCR class to the event. With the ambition of establishing a proper championship beyond 2017, racing in the Baltic countries and Poland. The TCR Baltic Trophy was then introduced as part of the Baltic Touring Car Championship.

TCR Ibérico Series
On 8 November 2016, it was announced that the TCR Portuguese Series and TCR Spanish Series would merge, creating the TCR Ibérico Touring Car Series. The series will visit Portugal four times and Spain three times. Along with an overall title, two national titles will also be awarded.

TCR Middle East Series
On 15 November 2016, WSC announced that the creation of the TCR Middle East Series. The series will be officially launched on 2 December 2016 at the Bahrain International Circuit, where a media and test day will be held. The series will visit the Dubai Autodrome, Yas Marina Circuit and the Bahrain International Circuit.

TCR UK Series
On 6 April 2017, initial discussion about a TCR UK Series started between WSC and MSA. The series was given the go-ahead by the MSA on 7 July 2017, the series promotor will be BRSCC. The promotor is expecting about six or seven events for 2018, also confirming that there will be no grid limit. The 2018 seven round calendar was confirmed on 13 September 2017, with the series starting at the Silverstone Circuit, before going on the visit, Knockhill, Brands Hatch, Castle Combe, Oulton Park, Croft and Donington Park.

TCR Korea Series
On 30 November 2017, WSC Asia and J's Consulting announced the creation of the TCR Korea Series. The series will host a test day in June 2018 before beginning the season in July 2018, the series will conclude in October 2018.

European Touring Car Cup
In 2015 the FIA designated the TCN-2 nomenclature to the TCR regulations. This allowed the TCR-spec cars to compete in the Super 2000 class of the European Touring Car Cup alongside the older TC2 and TC2T cars used by the World Touring Car Championship. From the 2017 season ETCC began using the TCR technical rules instead of the FIA ones.

24 Hours Nürburgring
On 23 September 2015 ADAC Nordrhein and TCR Series announced that the 2016 Nürburgring 24h Race will feature a class for TCR vehicles.

24H Series and Touring Car Endurance Series
TCR cars are allowed to compete in 24H Series alongside the GT cars.

TC Open
17 January 2017 confirmed that the TCR will be the main class in the new racing series TC Open from the organizers of GT Open and Euroformula Open. 1 June 2017 confirmed that GT Sport postpones the TC Open for a certain period due to low number of entries. However, the championship never materialized.

VLN
Since 2017, the organizers of the VLN brought TCR cars separate from the SP3 class.

Super Taikyu Series
TCR cars are eligible to compete in the Super Taikyu Series starting from the 2017 season.

Pirelli World Challenge
The Pirelli World Challenge allowed TCR-based cars in their TC class for the 2017 season, and will introduce a TCR-only class in 2018.

Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge
In June 2017, Officials from IMSA and World Sporting Consulting (WSC) as the rights holder for TCR today confirmed plans for the TCR class to begin competing in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge beginning in 2018. The class will run in addition to the two existing Continental Tire Challenge classes, Grand Sport (GS) and Street Tuner (ST) in the 2018 season.