2022 TCR thread (WTCR, ETCR, TCR Europe, et al.)

OK, so the very entertaining TCR Australia season begins this weekend at Symmons Plains (alongside S5000! feel free to discuss it here too if you wish ). Motorsport TV has the races for free (I'm most likely watching not live due to antipodean timing issues). Wikipedia seems to have an updated entry list featuring 20 drivers confirmed (it seems Chaz Mostert is not defending his title this time out). Enjoy!

Edited by ezequiel, 10 February 2022 - 18:32.

But Will Brown, the season 1 champion, is back after missing last season.

OT, but only 9 cars entered for S5000. TCR and TA2 have a good amount of entrants but S5000 has never taken off (and seems to be shrinking little by little). I guess they haven't been able to produce a sustainable platform cost-wise.

On topic now, Brazil will have their own TCR series from 2023. Don't know where will that leave TCR South America, though they could still benefit from the years of self-inflicted damage in (S)TC2000 to attract Argentine entries (and TGR Argentina has developed the Corolla TCR for the world market)

OT, but only 9 cars entered for S5000. TCR and TA2 have a good amount of entrants but S5000 has never taken off (and seems to be shrinking little by little). I guess they haven't been able to produce a sustainable platform cost-wise.

In fairness, I don't think the timing of the pandemic has been much help - their big-break debut on the 2020 Australian GP support billing was cancelled after all. Though looks like the current calendar will see them go there this year which may be a much needed boost. 

Nine cars for the opener isn't great though. I have always been far from convinced that S5000 would be a success and on the face of it it does look tricky for them right now. 

The TCR New Zealand championship has been put on pause for 2022 after a single round in the year before and the Toyota Racing Series season was eventually cancelled as well, so I think that region has been hit hard by the pandemic.

It's not JUST the pandemic though. The Trans Am series has 26 entries and has got several regional series up and running in the same time frame.

TCR Australia's race 1 at Tasmania can be watched here https://motorsport.t...a-race-1/137520

Thank you for starting the thread EZ - the forum's Touring Car ace!

Here's Race 1 of TCR Australia, the official start of the full Touring Car global season:



I have a soft spot for Symmons Plains so I am glad it's the venue for the kick-off.

Edited by OvDrone, 13 February 2022 - 13:35.

Race 2 hasn't been uploaded (neither in Motorsport.tv nor in YouTube) but race 3 has

(There are some highlights from race 2 here)

The Australian series has better manufacturer representation than the world cup.

Speaking of the WTCR, there are significant movements already:

- The Engstler team will no longer field Hyundai cars, and Luca Engstler has been signed by Audi Sport and will switch to GT racing in 2022

- Team Engstler will switch to Honda and will race with factory drivers Attila Tassi and Tiago Monteiro

- Hyundai signed the most promising Cupra driver, Mikel Azkona and will pair him with Norbert Michelisz

- Jean-Karl Vernay extended his contract with the Korean manufacturer, but the exact series and team is yet to be announced

- Zengő is negotiating with two manufacturers currently not represented in the world cup, which also means that their future with Cupra is not certain at the moment

Edited by balage06, 14 February 2022 - 06:55.

Ma Qing-hua returns as a Cyan Lynk & Co driver. No idea who he will replace.

There are rumours he will be a fifth entry for Cyan, but I'm not sure, there has been a 4-car limit per team.

I'm guessing WTCR is going to follow suit and cancel the Sochi round

I'm guessing WTCR is going to follow suit and cancel the Sochi round

Indeed

TCR Australia is racing this weekend at Philip Island. Race one was fun! It can be watched here

The new Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR developed by TGR Argentina and the Fiat Tipo TCR developed by Tecnodom in Italy are in the final stages of tests for homologation, according to Touring Car Times

Less than a month until the WTCR season start and we only have 11 entries so far. The championship has been in a steady decline since the 2019 "super-season". And as things stand, there are only 2 additional Audi entries on the horizon and that's it. Zengő's relationship with Cupra went south and even though he could field Huffy and Kristoffersson, he is struggling to find a deal with any manufacturer. There is a rumour that the Asian rounds might be cancelled this year as well, which would upen up the possibility of filling up the grid with entries from European regional series.

And Hyundai has finally reduced its participation. After 2020 I thought they were done but still fielded 4 cars (plus the extra 2 cars by Target funded by the Bäckman siblings in the first part of the season). And I don't think ETCR is looking that good either (are any drivers yet confirmed?)

And I don't think ETCR is looking that good either (are any drivers yet confirmed?)

What has been announced is that Mattias Ekström's EKS Racing will run the Cupra effort 

https://electric-tcr...in-the-fia-etcr

But seemingly very little behind that?

Ceccon and Catsburg sharing duties so four cars per round

26 cars for TCR UK opening round. It seems the series is finally taking off!

Jessica Hawkins just won in TCR UK at Oulton Park

She is clearly more at home in tin-tops. She had 5 wins before in the Mini Challenge.  Perhaps ditch the single-seater and W Series route and concentrate on where she is competitive?

Romeo Ferraris confirmed their participation in ETCR with the Giulia ETCR:

https://electric-tcr...with-the-giulia

And Tom Blomqvist, Adrien Tambay join Ekström and Gené at Cupra:

https://electric-tcr...em-at-cupra-eks

Tom Blomqvist brings some FE experience with him, though he was never really in a competitive car there for any length of time. 

Is the ETCR event format still the exact same as last season or have they made any changes? 

If they want anyone to take it seriously, it needs to be proper racing.

I absolutely was not a fan of the format. The 'battles' aren't really impressive or satisfying, whilst 'most powerful touring cars' added precisely nothing other than giving us those short races. 

I don't see any real reason these cars wouldn't be capable of at least up to 15 minute sprint races at a 'normal' TCR sort of power level. Perhaps there just aren't enough physical cars to do a normal race given that drivers are/were sharing chassis across two different 'pools' before finalists were decided? 

Less is very much more in this case. They should take a leaf out of the Smart ForTwo eCup I think. That's a no-nonsense, accessible platform with reliably strong grids and decent length sprint races. Starts up again for 2022 at Vallelunga weekend after next. 

Edited by Ben1445, 20 April 2022 - 11:04.

TCR Europe begins its 2022 championship this weekend at Portimao (alongside DTM; Mat'o Homola went quickest in practice 1 with a Janik Hyundai) with 21 cars on track including 2021 runner-up Franco Girolami now on an Audi, inaugural TCR South America champion Pepe Oriola (Brutal Fish Honda), former champion Josh Files (Target Hyundai), young gun Jack Young (Halder Honda), ancient legend Tom Coronel (Comtoyou Audi), race winner and only female racer Michelle Halder (Halder Honda). Races should be on TCR TV (YouTube)

TCR South America will contest its second round of its second season this weekend at Interlagos with a one hour race with driver change included. It is the biggest grid for the championship so far (19 cars), including Indy Lights race winner and some time IndyCar racer Ana Beatriz 'Bia' Figueiredo (Cobra Audi), International F3000 race winner Rodrigo Sperafico serving as youngster Pedro Aizza's guest driver (Chiarelli Hyundai), and former Spanish F3 champion Ricardo Risatti (as a guest to Juan Ángel Rosso on a Martino Honda). I don't think we can watch it on TCR TV, I'm afraid.

On other news, WTCR confirmed 17 full time entries for this year following Zengo Motorsport finally confirming they are staying with Cupra with two cars for Rob Huff and Daniel Nagy. For the first round at the mythic Pau street circuit (not this weekend but the following one) there will be a wildcar entry for veteran Éric Cayrolle on a Comtoyou Audi.

ETCR also has a full grid of 12 cars :/ confirmed as follows:

Cupra EKS: Mattias Ekstrom, Jordi Gené, Tom Blomqvist, Adrian Tambay

Hyundai: Norbert Michelisz, Mikel Azcona, Jean-Karl Vernay, Kevin Ceccon/Nicky Catsburg (shared drive)

Romeo Ferraris Alfa Romeo: Bruno Spengler, Luca Filippi, Maxime Martin, Giovanni Venturini

Championship begins at Pau alongside WTCR

Here are said TCR races that Ez beautifully previewed.





I wasn't able to watch Live as I have work to do but thank the Gods for Youtube!

Race 2 was quite enjoyable!

Today's WTCR races at the Nordschleife have been cancelled, apparently, the tyres can't take the circuit...

Today's WTCR races at the Nordschleife have been cancelled, apparently, the tyres can't take the circuit...

what??

Farce.

Edited by thegamer23, 28 May 2022 - 09:03.

Statement from the series can be read here

A real shame as this venue is so great but the Goodyears have been a disaster all weekend delaminating and braking sometimes even during their first lap of use.

That's what you get for having spec tires in nearly every series, when there's a problem for one make it all goes to shite and there is nothing to be done. There's also no reason to make them better since there is no competition and you are just obligated to bring whatever to the track in X quantity.

Edited by LolaB0860, 28 May 2022 - 13:03.

In other news, TCR Australia is racing under the floodlights at Sidney. Race 1 is done and can be watched here.

Edited by ezequiel, 28 May 2022 - 13:18.

I was curious and I spent a half day last weekend at the Hungaroring and sampled the WTCR - ETCR - ETRC combo.

Regarding ETCR, my impressions were quite negative. There is nothing wrong with the cars themselves: they are visibly faster than traditional TCRs and the drivers all say they are fun to drive and race. But as a product, it just feels mismanaged in every possible way. There are 3-6 cars on the track at a time and it's barely noticable that a session is on currently. At full speed, the cars barely make any sound btw, I could only hear the wind "wooshing". The waiting before the sessions is also uncomfortably long. And my biggest issue was that I had no idea what's happening at the moment and why. "Super-duper semi final stage 1 part 2" tells nothing to me. So as a spectator, I found the series quite underwhelming despite the promising platform.

The sight of the small WTCR field was also sad to see, but at least there was some action, although the field used poor Dani Nagy as a punching bag in his home race, I like both Coronel and Bennani, but they were driving horribly that day imho.

And it was my first time seeing racing trucks in action as well, they are surprisingly quiet and tame, although the driving standards make up for it:

(fortunately (or unfortunately?  ) this wasn't the actual race I saw)

Edited by balage06, 17 June 2022 - 09:20.

Regarding ETCR, my impressions were quite negative. There is nothing wrong with the cars themselves: they are visibly faster than traditional TCRs and the drivers all say they are fun to drive and race. But as a product, it just feels mismanaged in every possible way. There are 3-6 cars on the track at a time and it's barely noticable that a session is on currently. At full speed, the cars barely make any sound btw, I could only hear the wind "wooshing". The waiting before the sessions is also uncomfortably long. And my biggest issue was that I had no idea what's happening at the moment and why. "Super-duper semi final stage 1 part 2" tells nothing to me. So as a spectator, I found the series quite underwhelming despite the promising platform.

I'm pretty disappointed with it overall, and I really do pin that mostly on the format. I've dipped into bit of it in Jarama this weekend and it's just not at all engaging for the same kind of reasons you say here. Good to hear the trackside perspective as well. 

Really feels like it needs more cars and longer races. And what's perhaps frustrating is that should be fairly easy to deliver... (on paper). 

Edited by Ben1445, 18 June 2022 - 14:29.

We have the WTCR at Aragon tomorrow alongside the forum favorite touring series at Croft as well.

Race #1 starts at 11:15 CET and it'll be led with an all Audi front row of Gilles Magnus and Nathanael Berthon, with champ Ehrlacher and Huff in the Cupra quickly nipping at their heels.

Seems like Audi are maybe putting something together as the Hondas are nowhere this weekend. My hopes are with 2012 Champion, Rob Huff in that sleek #79 Seat.

Looking forward to tomorrow Touring Car action!

Qualy Recap - https://www.touringc...-pole-position/

Worth mentioning that Robert Wickens just got his first win post IndyCar accident in the TCR class of the Michelin Pilot Challenge at Watkins Glen.

Felt like Sainz vs Verstappen there with Huff and Magnus on the last laps lol

Interesting to see the Hyundais get up the grid, and the Lynks go backwards. As of now the battle at the front of the standings is between Azcona and Magnus but I hope the rest get closer to them as well.

Onwards to Race 2 and Croft as well ^^

And yes! Thank you for sharing that great news from Watkins Glen, Ezequiel. A great story to inspire us all!

Edited by OvDrone, 26 June 2022 - 09:54.

Aaaaand that's Race #2 at Aragon done with. 

Great 2nd race for Huff as well with another 2nd, making him the unofficial weekend overall winner. Wonderful to see my main dude Urrutia there as well.

But terrible race for Magnus with a anonymous 11th, gifting Azcona not only the win, but a considerable championship berth. 

This is WTCR however and it can change a LOT! Love me some Touring Car action!

Next up, we have Vila Real NEXT WEEK alongside TCR Europe at Norisring; hell yeah 

Vila Real is spectacular, a pity passing is IMPOSSIBLE. Norisring should be a blast.

WTCR won't be visiting the far east Asian venues this year due to COVID But, they will have two non-European rounds to replace them (taking the number of rounds from 10 to 9). My guess is it's going to be the middle-east (UAE, Bahrein, Qatar).

And series director says WTCR (set to run hybrid cars next year) and ETCR may not have completely joint calendars next year (as suggested by Marcello Lotti)

Rumoured August 28th debut for the new Toyota GR Corolla TCR at the TCR South America round in Termas de Rio Hondo. It's a one hour race with two drivers per car. José María López and youngster Jorge Barrio could be the drivers for a sole entry to be run by TGR Argentina.

We not only have two cool races coming up at Vila Real for WTCR at 1:10 pm and 5:15 pm UK time but also TCR Europe at Norisring!

Here's yesterday's first race from Norisring - quite fun!

Some Touring Car action from today for you all:





And the big one at the Norisring while most of us were Silverstoning:

Vila Real was good, better than I expected. Didn't catch the end of race 2 as I switched to IndyCar, but there was good racing. I don't mind the joker lap TBH, but many people think it's too gimmicky.

I still have to watch TCR Europe race 2 at the Norisring, but race 1 was also very good, with less silliness than the DTM Trophy safety car fests and good battles.

According to an interview Nestor Girolami gave to Argentine media, Marrakech and Jeddah are the biggest candidates to replace the eastern Asian rounds that have been cancelled for this WTCR season. And the 2023 season could begin with back to back races at Argentina (Termas) and Uruguay (Punta del Este).