The TCR Australia Touring Car Series is a

touring car racing Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not mov ...

series based in Australia. The series is run as part of the Shannons Nationals series.

Background

The

TCR Touring Car A TCR Touring Car is a touring car specification, first introduced in 2014 and is now employed by a multitude of series worldwide. All TCR Touring Cars are front-wheel drive cars based on 4 or 5 door production vehicles, and are powered by 1.75 t ...

formula, introduced in 2014, is based on four or five door front-wheel drive production vehicles powered by 2.0 litre turbocharged engines. Since then, several global and regional TCR championships have been established and TCR regulations have been adopted in several series, including the

World Touring Car Cup The FIA World Touring Car Cup (abbreviated to WTCR, referring to the use of TCR regulations) was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It ...

from 2018 onwards. The performance of different models of car is managed and adjusted through a Balance of Performance system to attempt to maintain parity. Plans for an Australian TCR championship were floated as early as 2016, with a proposal for invitational entries in the Bathurst 12 Hour as well as a six-round championship commencing in 2017, to have been shared between Shannons Nationals and Supercars Championship, the premier touring car category in Australia, events. A later proposal in 2017 included TCR cars running in a support class to the

Australian GT Championship The Australian GT Championship is a CAMS-sanctioned national title for drivers of GT cars, held annually from 1960 to 1963, from 1982 to 1985 and from 2005. Each championship up to and including the 1963 title was contested over a single race a ...

's GT Trophy series before launching a standalone series in 2018. While neither plan eventuated, in January 2018 the

Confederation of Australian Motor Sport Motorsport Australia, formerly the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS), is the nationally recognised governing and sanctioning body for four-wheeled motorsport in Australia. It is affiliated with the Federation Internationale de l'A ...

announced they had secured the rights to develop a TCR series in Australia starting from 2019, with the

Australian Racing Group Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

later announced as the promoter of the series.

History

The inaugural season of TCR Australia in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

featured a seven-round calendar run at Shannons Nationals events. The championship begun with 17 entries with eight manufacturers,

Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." "A ...

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

, Holden,

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

, Hyundai,

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...

, Subaru and

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...

represented. Supercars Championship teams

Garry Rogers Motorsport Garry Rogers Motorsport is an Australian motor racing team. It is owned by retired racing driver Garry Rogers who began the team to further his own racing efforts. Based in Melbourne, originally out of a Nissan dealership owned by Rogers, the te ...

Kelly Racing Kelly Grove Racing (formerly known as Kelly Racing and Nissan Motorsport) was an Australian motor racing team which competes in the Supercars Championship. The team made its debut in 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series, 2009, and raced Holden ...

and

Matt Stone Racing Matt Stone Racing is an Australian racing team competing in the Supercars Championship with two Holden ZB Commodores. Jack Le Brocq drives the No. 34 car, while Todd Hazelwood drives the No. 35 car. They are also competing in the second-tier Dun ...

were among the teams to prepare cars while former

Bathurst 1000 The Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most rece ...

winner Jason Bright became the championship's first race winner at

Sydney Motorsport Park Sydney Motorsport Park (known until May 2012 as Eastern Creek International Raceway) is a motorsport circuit located on Brabham Drive, Eastern Creek (40-kilometres west of the Sydney CBD), New South Wales, Australia, adjacent to the Western Sy ...

in a Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR. Will Brown, in a

Hyundai i30 N TCR The Hyundai i30 N TCR is a racing car developed by Hyundai Motorsport, which was built according to the TCR rule system. It is based on the Hyundai i30 5-door hatchback. The project started in September 2016 with the help of Gabriele Tarquini ...

, won the two Sunday races at the first event and soon became a dominant force in the championship, winning four further races to wrap up the championship title at

Sandown Raceway Sandown International Raceway is a motor racing circuit in the suburb of Springvale in Melbourne, Victoria, approximately south east of the city centre. Sandown is considered a power circuit with its " drag strip" front and back straights be ...

with one round to spare. The series featured a wide range of guest drivers who entered selected rounds of the championship, including World Touring Car Cup regulars

Jean-Karl Vernay Jean-Karl "J. K." Vernay (born 31 October 1987) is a French professional racing driver. He was 2010 Indy Lights and 2017 TCR International Series champion. He has won races at the World Touring Car Cup, where he finished fifth in 2018 and won t ...

and

Néstor Girolami Néstor Adrián Girolami (born May 22, 1989 in Cordoba Province), also known by the nickname "Bebu", is an Argentine racing driver. His brother Franco is also racing driver. Career He began competing in karts in 1993. He remained in this dis ...

, who each won races in their only appearance, and former Supercars champions

Garth Tander Garth Tander (born 31 March 1977) is a multiple-championship winning Australian motor racing driver competing in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship's Enduro Cup, co-driving the No. 97 Holden ZB Commodore for Triple Eight Race Engineer ...

and

Russell Ingall Russell Ingall (born 24 February 1964 in London, England) is a former full-time Australian V8 Supercar driver. He won his V8 Supercars title in 2005, and finished second in 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2004. Ingall has also won the Bathurst 1000, in 1 ...

. In 2020, TCR Australia planned to incorporate a round at Mount Panorama Circuit as part of the Bathurst 6 Hour Easter weekend, with the circuit to also host an international TCR endurance race later in the year. An additional non-championship event, known as the

TCR Asia Pacific Cup TCR may stand for: Arts and entertainment * ''TCR'', the musical project of Robin Moulder and TC Smith * "TCR", a single by Prolapse (band), Prolapse * The Comic Reader, a comics news-fanzine 1961–1984 Businesses and organizations * TCR (record ...

, will appear at the Australian Grand Prix, which eventuated after a bid for TCR Australia to be a support event to the

Adelaide 500 The Adelaide 500 (also known as the VALO Adelaide 500 for sponsorship reasons) is an annual motor racing event for Supercars held on the streets of the east end of Adelaide, South Australia between 1999 to 2020 and again from 2022. It is someti ...

was rejected.

Champions

Media coverage

For the inaugural season in 2019, all TCR Australia races were shown live in Australia on free-to-air network SBS, as well as being streamed online. For 2020, the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australia ...

has entered an agreement to broadcast races live in Australia including the S5000 series.

References

External links

Official website
{{TCR Series championships TCR Series Auto racing series in Australia 2019 establishments in Australia Touring car racing