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 (WTCC) to become WTCR and use the TCR technical regulations. As factory teams were not allowed to compete in WTCR, the series lost the 'World Championship' status of the WTCC, instead becoming a 'Cup'.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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. 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.

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. 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.

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.

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:

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 1Qualifying 10 8 6 4 2

Broadcasters In 2022, broadcasters of the FIA WTCR included:

Europe: Eurosport (pan-Europe), Sport1 (Eastern Europe) China: Bilibili Japan: J Sports South Africa: SuperSport United States and Canada: Eurosport (Motor Trend), Bein Sports Latin America: Directv Sports Brazil: DSports The Netherlands RTL 7

Cup statistics +Touring Car World CupDrivers' ChampionsEntrants' ChampionsNations ChampionsYearDriverTeamCarManufacturerCarNation1993 Paul Radisich Ford Team MondeoFord MondeoNot Held1994 Paul Radisich Ford Team MondeoFord Mondeo BMWBMW 318i1995 Frank Biela Racing Organisation CourseAudi A4 Quattro AudiAudi A4 QuattroNot Held

+World Touring Car CupYear Winning driver / Team (car) 2nd / Team (car) 3rd / Team (car) Winning team / Car2018 Gabriele TarquiniBRC Racing Team (Hyundai i30 N TCR) Yvan MullerM Racing-YMR (Hyundai i30 N TCR) Esteban GuerrieriMünnich Motorsport (Honda Civic Type R TCR) M Racing-YMRHyundai i30 N2019 Norbert MicheliszBRC Racing Team (Hyundai i30 N TCR) Esteban GuerrieriMünnich Motorsport (Honda Civic Type R TCR) Yvan MullerCyan Racing (Lynk & Co 03 TCR) Cyan RacingLynk & Co 03 TCR2020 Yann EhrlacherCyan Racing (Lynk & Co 03 TCR) Yvan MullerCyan Racing (Lynk & Co 03 TCR) Jean-Karl VernayTeam Mulsanne (Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR) Cyan RacingLynk & Co 03 TCR2021 Yann EhrlacherCyan Racing (Lynk & Co 03 TCR) Frédéric VervischComtoyou Racing (Audi RS 3 LMS TCR) Jean-Karl VernayEngstler Motorsport (Hyundai Elantra N TCR) Cyan RacingLynk & Co 03 TCR2022 Mikel AzconaBRC Racing Team (Hyundai Elantra N TCR) Néstor GirolamiMünnich Motorsport (Honda Civic Type R TCR) Nathanaël BerthonComtoyou Racing (Audi RS 3 LMS TCR) BRC Racing TeamHyundai Elantra N TCR

Event winners World Touring Car Cup (2018–2022)

+DriversDriverTotal1 Esteban Guerrieri 102 Thed Björk 8 Gabriele Tarquini 8 Yvan Muller 8 Norbert Michelisz 86 Jean-Karl Vernay 7 Néstor Girolami 7 Yann Ehrlacher 7 Mikel Azcona 710 Robert Huff 5 Santiago Urrutia 512 Gilles Magnus 4 Frédéric Vervisch 414 Nathanaël Berthon 3 Johan Kristoffersson 316 Tiago Monteiro 217 Mehdi Bennani 1 Attila Tassi 1 Kevin Ceccon 1 Aurélien Comte 1 Mat'o Homola 1 Nicky Catsburg 1 Benjamin Leuchter 1 Pepe Oriola 1 Ma Qing Hua 1 Gordon Shedden 1 Andy Priaulx 1 Tom Coronel 1

+TeamsTeamTotal1 Münnich Motorsport 212 Cyan Racing 20 BRC Racing Team 204 Comtoyou Racing 125 M Racing-YMR 7 Sébastien Loeb Racing 77 Zengő Motorsport 5 W Racing Team 59 Team Mulsanne 3 Engstler Motorsport 311 DG Sport Compétition 212 KCMG 1 Campos Racing 1 PWR Racing 1

+CarsCarTotal1Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8) 222Hyundai i30 N TCR 213Lynk & Co 03 TCR 204Audi RS 3 LMS TCR 175Hyundai Elantra N TCR 96Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR 77Cupra León Competición TCR 58Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR 39Peugeot 308 TCR 2Cupra León TCR 2

See also TCR Model of the Year TCR World Tour World Touring Car Championship TCR International Series List of World Touring Car Cup drivers

References

Sources Autosport, January 14, 1988

External links