The TCR International Series was an international

touring car Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof). "Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s. Th ...

championship. The championship was promoted by World Sporting Consulting (WSC), founded by former World Touring Car Championship manager

Marcello Lotti Marcello is a common masculine Italian given name. It is a variant of Marcellus. The Spanish and Portuguese version of the name is Marcelo, differing in having only one "l", while the Greek form is Markellos. Etymology The name originally means ...

. It was marketed as a cost-effective spin-off of the WTCC, targeted at

C-segment The C-segment is the 3rd category of the European segments for passenger cars and is described as "medium cars". It is equivalent to the Euro NCAP "small family car" size class, and the compact car category in the United States. In 2011, the C- ...

hatchbacks A hatchback is a car body configuration with a rear door that swings upward to provide access to a cargo area. Hatchbacks may feature fold-down second row seating, where the interior can be reconfigured to prioritize passenger or cargo volume. ...

production-based touring cars. The title TCR follows the naming convention now used by the

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backs ...

to classify the cars that compete in touring car racing, with TC1 referring to the top tier as used by the FIA WTCC and TC2 referring to the legacy cars which principally compete in the FIA ETCC. On 6th December 2017, FIA's World Motorsport Council announced that the series will merge with

World Touring Car Championship The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sin ...

and

European Touring Car Cup The FIA European Touring Car Cup was an annual touring car racing event, which had been held at various locations across Europe from 2005 to 2017. Unlike in previous years where it was a one-off event, in 2010 the series was a three round event. ...

starting in 2018.

History

On 15 July 2014, 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 Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

at selected events. On 21 July 2014, 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 Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

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 The Sepang International Circuit ( ms, Litar Antarabangsa Sepang) is a motorsport race track in Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia. It is located approximately south of Kuala Lumpur, and close to Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It hosted the Fo ...

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 2014, former WTCC driver

Pepe Oriola Josep "Pepe" Oriola Vila (born 9 July 1994) is a Spanish racing driver. He became the youngest driver to race in the World Touring Car Championship when he competed in the 2011 season. Oriola is not only the youngest driver to start a WTCC race ...

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 Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

. On 15 September 2014, the TCR organisation announced the first cars, teams, regulations and events of its inaugural season in 2015.

Target Competition Target Competition is an Italian auto racing team based in Eppan an der Weinstraße, Italy. The team is currently competing in the World Touring Car Cup and others TCR series. The team has previously raced in the TCR Europe Touring Car Series, SEA ...

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 The Ford Focus is a compact car (C-segment in Europe) manufactured by Ford Motor Company since 1998. It was created under Alexander Trotman's Ford 2000 plan, which aimed to globalize model development and sell one compact vehicle worldwide. The ...

for the championship.
A week later

Paolo Coloni Racing Paolo is both a given name and a surname, the Italian form of the name Paul. Notable people with the name include: People with the given name Paolo Art *Paolo Alboni (1671–1734), Italian painter *Paolo Abbate (1884–1973), Italian-American ...

announced plans to enter the championship in 2015. Team principal

Paolo Coloni Paolo Coloni (born 24 May 1969) is an Italian racing driver. He is currently team principal at Coloni Motorsport, a motor racing team founded in 1981 by his father, Enzo Coloni. He has competed in such series as the German Formula Three Champions ...

, son of F1-team founder

Enzo Coloni Coloni Motorsport, also known as Scuderia Coloni, was an auto racing team from Italy. Formed by Enzo Coloni in 1983, the team participated in Formula Three between 1983 and 1986, before racing in Formula One as Enzo Coloni Racing Car Systems b ...

, is known for its accomplishments in the

GP2 Series The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, while Eccles ...

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 2014, a provisional calendar for its inaugural season was released. It will consist of twelve weekends, four in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, five in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, two in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

and one to be announced. On 7 November 2014, the fourth team was announced: the Swedish STCC team

WestCoast Racing WestCoast Racing is a Swedish motor racing team, which was founded in 1994 by Dick Jönsson-Wigroth. The team which is based in Halmstad on the Swedish west coast (hence the name) is one of Sweden's most successful racing team. WestCoast Racing ...

will join the series with three Honda Civics build by

JAS Motorsport JAS Motorsport is an Italian motor racing team and an engineering and manufacturing company. It was founded in 1995 by Paolo Jasson, Maurizio Ambrogetti and Giorgio Schon. The company initially competed with Alfa Romeo in 1996 and 1997. Since 1998, ...

. On 20 November Liqui Moly Team Engstler announced they will participate with Volkswagen Golfs and

Franz Engstler Franz Engstler (born 25 July 1961) is a German auto racing driver. Racing career Born in Kempten im Allgäu, Engstler started racing in the European Hillclimbing Championship and the German Long Distance Cup, which he won. From 1988 he competed ...

will be driving one of the VWs. On 5 December 2014, the series was approved by the

and renamed TCR International Series instead of using the original TC3 International Series name. On 27 January 2015, Marcello Lotti announced three new teams for the inaugural season:

Zengő Motorsport Zengő Motorsport is a Hungarian motor racing team founded by Zoltán Zengő. They currently compete in the World Touring Car Cup and others TCR championships. The team also used to compete in the SEAT León Eurocup, where they won driver's tit ...

Proteam Racing Proteam Motorsport is an Italian auto racing team based in Arezzo that was set up by former driver Valmiro Presenzini in 1997. They are best known for their efforts in the FIA World Touring Car Championship. Their time in the WTCC has seen them be ...

and

Campos Racing Campos Racing is a Spanish motor racing team, founded by former Formula One driver Adrián Campos. The team has been successful in Formula Three and the GP2 Series. History After retiring from racing, Campos formed his own team at the end of 19 ...

. On 13 February

Jordi Oriola Jordi Oriola Vila (born 21 June 1996) is a Spanish racing driver currently competing in the SEAT León Eurocup. He previously competed in the TCR International Series and European Touring Car Cup. Racing career Oriola began his career in 2007 ...

announced he will be driving a

SEAT at

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

and Monza and Mikhail Grachev was confirmed on 17 February at

Engstler Motorsport Engstler Motorsport is a private German auto racing team based in Wiggensbach, run by driver Franz Engstler. It has competed successfully in the Asian Touring Car Championship and the ADAC Procar Series. It is sponsored by lubricants company Liq ...

. 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,

and

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 2015,

David Sonenscher David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

announces the

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

, starting from 2016.

Seasons

* 2015 TCR International Series *

2016 TCR International Series The 2016 TCR International Series was the second season of the TCR International Series. Stefano Comini successfully defended his title, beating his nearest challenger James Nash by 2.5 points. Craft-Bamboo Racing were crowned teams' champions ...

* 2017 TCR International Series

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

Champions

Scoring system

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

Notes

References

External links

*
Touring Car Times
{{DEFAULTSORT:TCR International Series Touring car racing series

International International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

Recurring sporting events established in 2015