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. It was marketed as a cost-effective spin-off of the WTCC, targeted at C-segment hatchbacks production-based touring cars. The title TCR follows the naming convention now used by the FIA 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 and European Touring Car Cup starting in

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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 ...

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

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, will be used by the TCR Series. On 29 July 2014, 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 The Ford Fiesta is a supermini car marketed by Ford since 1976 over seven generations. Over the years, the Fiesta has mainly been developed and manufactured by Ford's European operations, and has been positioned below the Escort (later the ...

TC1 car for the last part of the season, before the project was abandoned with no support for homologation from Ford. On 15 September 2014, the TCR organisation announced the first cars, teams, regulations and events of its inaugural season in

. Target Competition became the first team to confirm entry in the series and will run

SEAT León Eurocup The SEAT León Eurocup was a one-make touring car racing series which uses SEAT Leóns, run by SEAT Sport. Background The championship began in 2008, making its debut at Circuit de Valencia, as a support series for the World Touring Car Champi ...

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

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and in

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. 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 are ...

, 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

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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 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 Li ...

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 FIA 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 titl ...

, Proteam Racing and Campos Racing. 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 Target Competition

SEAT A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair, a chair ...

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and

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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 ...

. 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 Pekan Sepang is a small border town and also a mukim in Sepang District, Selangor, Malaysia. The Sepang International Circuit in the western part of the town, where the Malaysian F1 Grand Prix was and Malaysian MotoGP Grand Prix is held. Ma ...

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 2015, David Sonenscher announces the TCR Thailand Series, 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 Recurring sporting events established in 2015