The TCR UK Touring Car Championship, known as the Touring Car Trophy from 2019 to 2021, 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 move ...

series based in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. It features production-based

touring cars 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 mo ...

built to TCR specifications, and formerly also

NGTC Next Generation Touring Car, also known as NGTC and by its Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) designation TCN-1, is an FIA and TOCA specification and classification for production based race cars. The specification covers nationa ...

and

Super 2000 Super 2000 is an FIA powertrain specification used in the World Rally Championship, the British Touring Car Championship, the World Touring Car Championship, and other touring car championships. The engines were originally 2 L naturally aspirate ...

specifications from 2019 to 2021. The championship is aimed as a feeder category to the

BTCC The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as ...

and operated by

Stewart Lines Stewart Alan Lines is a British racing driver currently competing in the 2019 Britcar Endurance Championship. He has also raced in the British Touring Car Championship, made his debut in 2015 Racing career Lines began his touring car career i ...

' Maximum Group.

History

The TCR UK Touring Car Championship was first established in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

and was organised by the

BRSCC The British Racing and Sports Car Club (BRSCC) is one of the major organisers of motorsport events in the United Kingdom. The club currently runs around forty track racing championships for cars as diverse as Caterham, BMWs and Mazda. Formed in B ...

. TCR UK was introduced as a feeder series for the more popular and expesive

British Touring Car Championship The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA TOCA, formally trading as BARC (TOCA) Ltd, is an organiser of motorsport events in ...

although there was no direct link between the two series'. Interest in the new championship initially appeared high, with organisers discussing the possibility of qualifying races in order to accommodate the projected large grids. However, in reality grid numbers were low throughout the year with only 5 drivers competing at every event and the grid peaking at 13 cars in the season opener at

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...

. Dan Lloyd took the inaugural championship in dominant fashion, winning 7 of the first 8 races and taking 4 pole positions. The championship continued to struggle 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 ...

and a few weeks before the first scheduled round at

Snetterton Snetterton is a village and civil parish in Norfolk, England. The village is about east-northeast of Thetford and southwest of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of . The United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census recorded a parish population o ...

, and with only 3 entries announced, the decision was made to combine the championship with

Touring Car Trophy. Lines would also takeover the running and organisation of the championship. The Touring Car Trophy was established in 2019 for older

and

machinery which was no longer eligible for the

. TCR UK would now be a class within the Touring Car Trophy with drivers in TCR cars able to fight for two championships. Henry Neal, son of 3 time BTCC champion

Matt Neal Matthew Neal (born 20 December 1966) is a British motor racing driver. Neal is a triple BTCC Champion having won the British Touring Car Championship in 2005, 2006 and 2011. Neal is also a record 6 time BTCC Independents Champion having won the ...

, won the inaugural Touring Car Trophy driving a NGTC specification

Honda Civic Type R The is a series of high-performance hatchback/ sedan models based on the Civic, developed and produced by Honda since September 1997. The first Civic Type R was the third model to receive Honda's Type R badge (after the NSX and Integra). Ty ...

while James Turkington, younger brother of another BTCC champion,

Colin Turkington Colin Henry Turkington (born 21 March 1982) is a British racing driver from Northern Ireland who competes in the British Touring Car Championship for Team BMW. He is a 4 time BTCC champion, winning the title in 2009, 2014, 2018 and 2019, havi ...

, fought off Lewis Kent to win the TCR UK class. For

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

the Volkswagen Racing Cup also joined the grid. Henry Neal and Lewis Kent dominated the season with Neal defending his title and Kent clinching his first TCR UK class title. In

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

the championship began to recover with entries reaching double figures for the first time since 2018. By seasons end the grid was entirely made up of TCR cars with Lewis Kent taking his second title ahead of 2020 Civic Cup champion Bruce Winfield. The Touring Car Trophy was dissolved for

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

with TCR UK once again becoming a standalone championship. The series experienced its biggest season yet with 20 cars appearing at every round and the grid peaking at 25 cars for 3 events. The championship was won by

Chris Smiley Chris Smiley (born 6 April 1992) is a British racing driver. He is a British Touring Car Championship race winner and the current TCR UK Touring Car Championship champion. Racing career Early career Smiley began his career in karting in 2000 ...

ahead of Isaac Smith.

Champions

References

External links

* TCR Series Touring car racing series Auto racing series in the United Kingdom 2019 establishments in England {{Touringcar-stub