WTCR 2022

[Csaba]

Originally Posted by Evantra

Ah interesting, thank you.

I think last year was Zengo's best year of (W)TCR by a long way so sad to hear they may be on the sidelines.

I suppose if WTCR are lacking entries they might be more lenient on race-by-race / local entries (like the wildcards a few years back) so maybe we'll get some more cars here and there. Zengo at Hungaroring?

Good to hear the Renault program is still going, they are good looking cars.

I was thinking the same. They could lower the entry fees for privateer teams (at least as a temporary solution), to have a healthy grid. With 13-15 manufacturer supported entries, a few privateer teams could solve the problem.
Okay, the results won't really come for them, but if we think back to the early years of the WTCC, with 30+ cars on the grid, a good result for a privateer team like Proteam, Engstler, GR Asia was something we still remember. Like the 2nd place finish of D'aste from Spa in 2005, or Coronel's win from Japan '08.

But times have changed. And if we take a look to the struggles of Target from last year, who are a quite big team, no wonder no privateers are interested in the WTCR

[Csaba]

Since then, a shortened version appeared on TC Times too: https://www.touringcartimes.com/2022...manufacturers/

Well, the two non-WTCR manufacturers part is from an older podcast with Zoli, from Christmas. I don't know if it is still an actual possibility, or who could have been those 2 brands. Interesting anyway.

[Matt K]

Thank you for all the insight Csaba. I'm not following (W)TCR 'world' very closely so I might be wrong in many areas but judging by all this, it looks like TCR is becoming more of a thing for smaller national championships whereas WTCR is really struggling. To be honest, I'm not that surprised, remember I was very excited when the concept was announced but in truth WTCR has been a shadow of its (WTCC's) former self.

It may just be a case of me not following it closely but in the beginning I tried and somehow was put off. Don't think that going to places like Morocco, China, Japan, Malaysia in the past was really helpful for the series as manufacturers, to whom going to places like China, Russia (formerly) or Japan was important in old WTCC days, were no longer heavily involved. Circuits were often boring, which meant boring racing. Eurosport, once a golden kid of promoting motorsport, has become a bit of a nuisance and so on. Maybe there's no place for WTCR on the motorsport planet anymore or maybe these are just interim problems.
But, regardless of this, WTCR has been a disappointment for me personally, as a motorsport and touring car fan.

[Csaba]

Originally Posted by Matt K

Thank you for all the insight Csaba. I'm not following (W)TCR 'world' very closely so I might be wrong in many areas but judging by all this, it looks like TCR is becoming more of a thing for smaller national championships whereas WTCR is really struggling. To be honest, I'm not that surprised, remember I was very excited when the concept was announced but in truth WTCR has been a shadow of its (WTCC's) former self.

It may just be a case of me not following it closely but in the beginning I tried and somehow was put off. Don't think that going to places like Morocco, China, Japan, Malaysia in the past was really helpful for the series as manufacturers, to whom going to places like China, Russia (formerly) or Japan was important in old WTCC days, were no longer heavily involved. Circuits were often boring, which meant boring racing. Eurosport, once a golden kid of promoting motorsport, has become a bit of a nuisance and so on. Maybe there's no place for WTCR on the motorsport planet anymore or maybe these are just interim problems.
But, regardless of this, WTCR has been a disappointment for me personally, as a motorsport and touring car fan.

Partially I have to agree. 2019 was the peak of it, with so many amazing drivers on the grid, and 26 cars, almost all having technical support. The title of Norbi was just the cherry on the cake for me, but the whole season reminded me of the early years of WTCC. And fortunately I was able to be present at a few races.
Since then, all went wrong, also due to the pandemic, but with the rising costs due to Lynk and Hyundai spending loads of money on development, it became unaffordable for the smaller teams. Or at least you can enter the championship, but you cannot compete against the best teams.

A bit off topic: Coronel was confirmed this morning as one of Comtoyou's drivers in TCR Europe, so we can ask if it will remain a dual program for him?

https://www.touringcartimes.com/2022...ki-tcr-europe/

[Mrpop123]

Please do check TCR UK thread,entry list must have at least eight different manufacturers/models

Originally Posted by Evantra

Yes seems a lot more positive for national championships than international.

UK is a good grid, but nearly all old i30s and Cupras bought by the promoter.

[S griffin]

I'm surprised at how many TCR UK have been able to get, there's always been a struggle for numbers there

[Alessio]

TCR UK has done pretty well for itself in the end, I've not been following much of TCR for a while but I'm guessing they bumped entry costs down a fair bit?

To be fair, once you start getting into world championships with even reasonable manufacturer involvement, the rulesets have a pretty short shelf-life especially when you have situations where there is a bit of an unfair advantage like with Lynk&Co or, even worse, Citroen in the TC1 era. The S2000 golden era only lasted about 5 seasons too and it isn't helped by the fact that Eurosport has clearly lost interest in promoting the WTCR...

It's good that we still have TCR Europe under WSC's control though, exactly what it set out to do and has pretty much stuck to the core tradition of 'customer'(-ish) racing.

[Sodemo]

The Seat TDI debacle killed S2000, which was a decent ruleset.

Not sure why TCR is fading for WTCR, or why the UK grid is filling up nicely, seems to be a contradiction.

[Evantra]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

The Seat TDI debacle killed S2000, which was a decent ruleset.

Not sure why TCR is fading for WTCR, or why the UK grid is filling up nicely, seems to be a contradiction.

The old WTCR / TCR cars have been bought up cheap for the UK by Maximum Motorsport, etc. Not necessarily a bad thing mind.

[Csaba]

Originally Posted by Evantra

The old WTCR / TCR cars have been bought up cheap for the UK by Maximum Motorsport, etc. Not necessarily a bad thing mind.

Yupp, they were inspired by the Australian model, were the promoter bought a lot of cars for the first season in 2019. That is why the "mehh" Subarus, and the already older Opels turned up alongside the Audi/Honda/Hyundai/VW/Peugeot/Alfa models, and the series looks very healthy since, due to the great diversity of models on the grid, even without any Cupras, but with the Renault's for example racing for GRM.

[Alessio]

TCR Australia really gives off the vibe of an old-school Super Touring grid. The only TCR series I still follow round-by-round nowadays.

I can't help but think, as excited as I was for TCR to become the WTCCs' ruleset, that the WTCR hasn't really been helpful to TCR.

In my opinion, that era of Supertouring and then, to a lesser extent, S2000 being an internationally adopted ruleset where you could hop across the border to compete in an equivalent series or sporadically appear in your national/regional rounds of the World/European championships is exactly what touring cars is meant to be about (relatively accessible essentially).

TCR was really moving in that direction in 2017, and it's not massively different in all honesty to what we have today in all fariness. The International Series had a host of part-time entries from the various national/regional TCR series around the world and the 'one-off battle for European supremacy TCR Europe Cup race at Adria was pretty cool. It feels like, to an extent, it's gone in a slightly different direction since then...or maybe I just miss the feel of the old International Series or I'm just a miserable nostalgic

[NaBUru38]

In other news, Santiago Urrutia will compete at MasterChef Celebrity Uruguay 3.


https://twitter.com/MasterChef_Uy/st...40442072719364

[NaBUru38]

There's too many date clashes:

* WTCR at Pau clashes with TCR Italy at Imola.
* WTCR at Nürburgring clashes with TCR Denmark at Djursland.
* Many national championships on June 18-19. WTCR has races the previous week and the next two weekends.
* WTCR at Aragón clashes with TCR Denmark at Jyllandsringen.
* WTCR at Vila Real clashes with TCR Europe at Norisring.

[S griffin]

As long as they don't clash with TCR races in the same country, it's ok. I still remember when the WTCC race at Brands clashed with the BTCC race at Oulton

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by S griffin

As long as they don't clash with TCR races in the same country, it's ok. I still remember when the WTCC race at Brands clashed with the BTCC race at Oulton

I agree with this.

[Racing Harz]

Amended 2022 WTCR calendar
Rounds 1 and 2: WTCR Race of France, Circuit de Pau-Ville, May 7-8
Rounds 3 and 4: WTCR Race of Germany, Nürburgring Nordschleife, May 26-28
Rounds 5 and 6: WTCR Race of Hungary, Hungaroring, June 11-12
Rounds 7 and 8: WTCR Race of Spain, MotorLand Aragón, June 25-26
Rounds 9 and 10: WTCR Race of Portugal, Circuito do Vila Real, July 2-3
Rounds 11 and 12: WTCR Race of Italy, Autodromo Vallelunga Piero Taruffi, July 23-24
Rounds 13 and 14: WTCR Race of Alsace GrandEst, Anneau du Rhin, August 6-7
Rounds 15 and 16: WTCR Race of Korea, Inje Speedium, October 8-9
Rounds 17 and 18: WTCR Race of China, Ningbo International Speedpark, November 5-6
Rounds 19 and 20: WTCR Race of Macau, Circuito da Guia, November 18-20
https://www.touringcartimes.com/2022...wtcr-calendar/

[S griffin]

Great calendar. The first event in France should be one to watch, especially if we get a great grid of cars. The others should be worth watching, although it might be tough with some teams in the current climate. Will the all still go ahead? I'm sure we will still have Macau go ahead, that always does

[Csaba]

It fascinates me, how the hell do the organisers choose those tracks half of the audience haven't heard about. Or are completely unsuitable for racing with anything bigger than gokarts- like Adria. Pau Arnos last year, Anneau this year- but Coronel has tested a few weeks ago an Anneau- probably the drivers knew it for a while by now.

Lets hope we will get a good enough field, because the calendar looks interesting overall.

[Evantra]

Originally Posted by Csaba

It fascinates me, how the hell do the organisers choose those tracks half of the audience haven't heard about. Or are completely unsuitable for racing with anything bigger than gokarts- like Adria. Pau Arnos last year, Anneau this year- but Coronel has tested a few weeks ago an Anneau- probably the drivers knew it for a while by now.

Lets hope we will get a good enough field, because the calendar looks interesting overall.

Yeah, Anneau looks really 'clubby', a strange choice for a world championship, and a second round in France.

Still, good to get back to 10 races.

[touring fan01]

Originally Posted by S griffin

I'm sure we will still have Macau go ahead, that always does

always?
hasnt gone ahead for two seasons for wtcr

[toto92]

Hello,

I just checked the thread, and doesn't see to much about potential entries. Currently we have 11 cars, 2 (?) Audis are expected, and maybe Zeng? put a program together. That's all, am I right? It will have a field with 15-16 cars (if Zeng? brings 4, the number of the cars could reach the amazing 17).

It's a little bit disappointing, the first race not so far away...

[S griffin]

We can always hope drivers and teams from other series come and join them. We've got a quality lineup with what we have, not sure about the Audis or any other teams. We can hope that plenty more turn up to the first race. They need to encourage more along

Imagine if we had so many drivers from various countries of touring cars turning up, even as one off or two

[NaBUru38]

The Anneau du Rhin is very close to a Peugeot factory.

[NaBUru38]

Comtoyou announced four Audi for Tom Coronel, Gilles Magnus, Nathanaël Berthon and Mehdi Bennani.

That's 15 entries so far (5 Lynk, 4 Audi, 4 Honda and 2 Hyundai).

[S griffin]

Good Audi are back, especially with the experienced lineup they have