World Touring Car Cup
CategoryTouring cars
CountryInternational
Inaugural season2018
Folded2022
Tyre suppliersGoodyear
Last Drivers' championSpain Mikel Azcona
Last Teams' championItaly BRC Racing Team

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 has had different incarnation of a World Touring Car Cup held between 1993 and 1995. Following the 2017 season, an agreement was reached for the World Touring Car Championship to become WTCR and use the TCR technical regulations. With titles for drivers and teams only, the WTCR series changed to 'World Cup' rather than 'World Championship' status in 2018.[1]

History

Touring Car World Cup (1993–1995)

In 1993, with the high popularity of the Super Touring category, the FIA hosted the FIA Touring Car World Cup — an annual event for touring car drivers hailing from national championships all over the world. The 1993 race at Monza was won by New Zealand's Paul Radisich, at the wheel of a Ford Mondeo ahead of Nicola Larini's Alfa Romeo 155, with no manufacturer title awarded. The race was run for two more years, (won by Paul Radisich again in 1994 at Donington Park in a Ford Mondeo, manufacturer title went to BMW, and Frank Biela in 1995 at Paul Ricard in an Audi A4 Quattro, and manufacturer title went to Audi). A similar event was planned for 1996 at the A1 Ring, Austria, but was cancelled due to a low number of provisional entries (10 cars). It was never brought back thereafter.

World Touring Car Championship (2005–2017)

World Touring Car Cup (2018–2022)

On 6 December 2017, during the FIA's World Motorsport Council in Paris, it was approved the formation of the new World Touring Car Cup starting from 2018. The new series would utilize the TCR rules, which have been in use in numerous national and international touring car racing series, including the TCR International Series. As a result of the formation of the WTCR, both the WTCC in its current format and the TCR International Series would be discontinued immediately.[2]

A new format was introduced, with one qualifying session and one race on the first day and a three-phase qualifying session on the second day and two races, with the first one having the top 10 of the grid reversed.[3][4]

In October 2022 it was reported that the series would be folding in its current format following the 2022 season, with any future change to the series being evaluated and announced at a later date.[5][6]

Issues

The compensation weight system in WTCR – which assigns weight penalties to certain cars for their performance in certain situations – was often criticised, being deemed unnecessary given the series also utilised a Balance of Performance (BoP) system to equalise the performance of the participating cars.[7][8][9] As a result of the system, several teams deliberately ordered their drivers to drive slower than possible in qualifying and/or race sessions in order to minimise the compensation weight penalty; often the teams who were best able to game the system had the best chances of success.[10][11][7] Another byproduct of the system was a lack of overtaking, as often drivers weren't allowed to go faster to get past other cars when the weight penalties were also calculated from race lap times.[7]

The series was also notorious for the politicking and team orders employed by some teams and their car providers, most notably BRC Racing Team/Hyundai and Cyan Racing/Lynk & Co.[12][13][14][15] The politicking was generally focused on the Balance of Performance, which culminated in Hyundai instructing their customer teams to not participate at the 2020 Race of Germany and Cyan Racing leaving the series halfway through the 2022 season after unsatisfactory BoP.[16][17]

TCR World Tour (2023–present)

Following various difficulties concerning the WTCR format, WTCR was revised into the world tour format starting from 2023 season. TCR World Tour calendar will consist of races picked from various regional and national TCR series world wide unlike the WTCR format which was based on a season calendar primarily independent from other TCR series.[18]

Rules

Car homologation

Cars had to be production models, with a minimum production of 5000 samples in a year. The engine was limited to a displacement of up to 2 liters, turbo charged, and with the aid of restrictors, to a maximum yield of 350 Hp. Each car was assigned a minimum racing weight which is used to balance the performances.

Scoring system

For the 2022 season, FIA WTCR races were awarded the following points, similar to MotoGP scoring system:[19]

Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th   11th   12th   13th   14th   15th 
Race 1 30 23 19 16 14 12 10 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Race 2 25 20 16 13 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Qualifying 10 8 6 4 2

Broadcasters

In 2022, broadcasters of the FIA WTCR included:

Cup statistics

Touring Car World Cup
Drivers' Champions Entrants' Champions Nations Champions
Year Driver Team Car Manufacturer Car Nation
1993 New Zealand Paul Radisich United Kingdom Ford Team Mondeo Ford Mondeo Not Held  Italy
1994 New Zealand Paul Radisich United Kingdom Ford Team Mondeo Ford Mondeo Germany BMW BMW 318i  Germany
1995 Germany Frank Biela France Racing Organisation Course Audi A4 Quattro Germany Audi Audi A4 Quattro Not Held
World Touring Car Cup
Year Winning driver / Team (car) 2nd / Team (car) 3rd / Team (car) Winning team / Car
2018 Italy Gabriele Tarquini BRC Racing Team (Hyundai i30 N TCR) France Yvan Muller M Racing-YMR (Hyundai i30 N TCR) Argentina Esteban Guerrieri Münnich Motorsport (Honda Civic Type R TCR) France M Racing-YMR Hyundai i30 N
2019 Hungary Norbert Michelisz BRC Racing Team (Hyundai i30 N TCR) Argentina Esteban Guerrieri Münnich Motorsport (Honda Civic Type R TCR) France Yvan Muller Cyan Racing (Lynk & Co 03 TCR) Sweden Cyan Racing Lynk & Co 03 TCR
2020 France Yann Ehrlacher Cyan Racing (Lynk & Co 03 TCR) France Yvan Muller Cyan Racing (Lynk & Co 03 TCR) France Jean-Karl Vernay Team Mulsanne (Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR) Sweden Cyan Racing Lynk & Co 03 TCR
2021 France Yann Ehrlacher Cyan Racing (Lynk & Co 03 TCR) Belgium Frédéric Vervisch Comtoyou Racing (Audi RS 3 LMS TCR) France Jean-Karl Vernay Engstler Motorsport (Hyundai Elantra N TCR) Sweden Cyan Racing Lynk & Co 03 TCR
2022 Spain Mikel Azcona BRC Racing Team (Hyundai Elantra N TCR) Argentina Néstor Girolami Münnich Motorsport (Honda Civic Type R TCR) France Nathanaël Berthon Comtoyou Racing (Audi RS 3 LMS TCR) Italy BRC Racing Team Hyundai Elantra N TCR

Event winners

World Touring Car Cup (2018–2022)

See also

References

  1. ↑ "WTCR announces 2018 calendar keeping most WTCC venues".
  2. ↑ "World Touring Car Cup made official as WTCC, TCR combine in two-year deal - TouringCarTimes". TouringCarTimes. 2017-12-06. Retrieved 2017-12-06.
  3. ↑ "WTCR race format confirmed by the World Motor Sport Council". TouringCarTimes. 9 March 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
  4. ↑ "WTCR 2018: all you need to know". FIA WTCR. 2 April 2018. Archived from the original on 28 April 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
  5. ↑ "WTCR series set to end after 2022 season". us.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  6. ↑ "FIA to re-evaluate its World Touring Car competition". Eurosport. 2022-10-14. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  7. 1 2 3 "Opinion: TCR's compensation weight has got to go". TouringCarTimes. 2019-05-29. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
  8. ↑ "Tom Coronel opens up on WTCR end and TCR future". TouringCarTimes. 2022-10-14. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
  9. ↑ "Néstor Girolami blasts compensation weight strategy by rival teams". TouringCarTimes. 2022-07-03. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
  10. ↑ "Overview of new WTCR sporting rules". Neil Hudson Media. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
  11. ↑ "Yvan Muller: "Hyundai are only fast when they want"". TouringCarTimes. 2022-06-26. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
  12. ↑ "Preview: WTCR heads to Portugal amidst plenty of paddock politics » TouringCars.Net". TouringCars.Net. 2021-06-25. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
  13. ↑ "Yann Ehrlacher on team orders: "It hurts"". TouringCarTimes. 2022-07-03. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
  14. ↑ "Hyundai boss hits out at ECU exemptions". TouringCarTimes. 2020-09-13. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
  15. ↑ "Hyundai enforce team orders as Jean-Karl Vernay takes victory in WTCR race two » TouringCars.Net". TouringCars.Net. 2021-06-05. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
  16. ↑ Events, UKi Media & (2020-09-25). "Hyundai withdraws WTCR teams in BoP controversy". Professional Motorsport World. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
  17. ↑ "WSC says Lynk & Co Balance of Performance request 'impossible' to implement". TouringCarTimes. 2022-08-06. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
  18. ↑ "WSC Group unveils new TCR World Tour concept » TouringCars.Net". TouringCars.Net. 2022-10-14. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  19. ↑ "Points and compensation weight systems amended for 2022 season". TouringCarTimes. 2021-12-15. Retrieved 2022-05-09.
  20. ↑ "Giro d'Italia, WTCR e Campeonato Brasileiro Série C no DSports da DirecTV GO". 21 May 2022.
  21. ↑ "TouringCars.Net » Database » WTCR » Race wins by driver". TouringCars.Net. Retrieved 2022-12-01.
  22. ↑ "Records | FIA Results and Statistics". fiaresultsandstatistics.motorsportstats.com. Retrieved 2023-02-13.

Sources

  • Autosport, January 14, 1988
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