- Photo Credit - WSC / TCR Europe

What is TCR Europe?

TCR Guru Phil Kinch explains the concept behind the TCR Europe Touring Car Series ahead of its return this weekend in France...

1y ago
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What's it all about?

For those not familiar with the TCR Europe Touring Car Series, the series began life back in 2018, however, its roots can be traced back to 2015 when the TCR concept began.

The concept was created by former FIA World Touring Car Championship supremo Marcello Lotti after realising that relying on Manufacturers and works teams within the sport were causing rising costs and seeing brands leaving the sport after a dominant period.

The TCR International Series was created and got underway in 2015, where Brands could supply Customer teams only with cars and limited support.

A Balance of Performance measure was also introduced to keep the cars competing on a level playing field, again all designed to keep costs low and the racing close and competitive.

TCE Europe began in 2016 as a series made up of points-scoring rounds in various national TCR Series, with the Champion crowned at the last round of the series.

In 2017, TCR Europe became a one-off weekend event held at the end of the racing season in Italy, where teams and drivers were invited to enter and compete for the TCR Europe Trophy.

In the winter of 2017, the FIA World Touring Car Championship was in decline, thanks to the escalating costs of its TC1 and the growing popularity of the TCR concept with nearly 20 series worldwide,

So a deal was struck between Lotti and the FIA to create a new World Touring Car series using TCR regulations: The FIA World Touring Car Cup or WTCR

TCR Europe picks up where TCR International left off...

Photo Credit - WSC / TCE Europe

Photo Credit - WSC / TCE Europe

So in 2018, the TCR Europe Touring Car Series is born.

The series employed a format similar to TCR International where it held two races, one on a Saturday and a second partially reversed grid race on Sunday. With fourteen races held over seven race weekends, the series attracted a full season entry of around 25 cars/drivers.

With further wildcard entries involved, the grid number often increased to 30+ cars on track and this often made for exciting close racing along with the odd Safety Car period involved.

The series follows the tried and tested method for broadcasting TCR Series by using the TCR TV YouTube Channel, the TCR Series and TCR Europe Facebook pages to give the races live coverage and a wide audience. Where possible, national TV channels also show the races live.

Promoted by a Portuguese company, this gave the series more precedence in countries where there were already established national TCR Series and the chance to race as either a wildcard or a full-time entry.

The series will often run as part of the support package for the International GT Open Series or in the past has run on the same weekend as The FIA World Touring Car Cup - WTCR.

Qualifying and Race Format

Photo Credit - WSC / TCR Europe

Photo Credit - WSC / TCR Europe

For those not familiar with TCR Europe, the series runs two races per weekend of a duration lasting a maximum of 55 kilometres. Should there be a Safety Car involved, the first two laps will then be added to the race distance.

This year, there will be a maximum of 30 full season entries permitted, which is a slight reduction on previous seasons entries being just over that figure.

During the races, the top 15 drivers will score points in each race, as well as scoring points in Qualifying.

Qualifying is a simple format to follow. All cars take part in Q1 which lasts for 20 minutes. The top 12 cars progress through to Q2 where they have 10 minutes to settle the top 10 places on the grid for race one.

The top 10 drivers in Q2 score points, starting with 10 points for pole and going down to 10th place with 1 point awarded.

The 10th place driver for race 1 secures pole position for race 2 whilst the 2 drivers who qualify in 11th and 12th places will start in those positions for both races.

All drivers who Qualify in 13th place and downwards are locked in the same positions for both races.

The 2020 TCR Europe Touring Car Series gets underway this weekend in France at the Paul Ricard circuit.

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Comments (1)

  • TCR Europe was shining like a old Fia Etcc (before Wtcc era) . The field was a good stepping stone to the Wtcr .

      1 year ago
1