500 guests attended the first TCR Open Day at Mettet

The Circuit Jules Tachény at Mettet, Belgium, yesterday played host to the first TCR Open Day that was attended by more than 500 guests.
The event was mainly intended as an opportunity offered to teams and drivers who are interested in joining one of the TCR racing series next year, to meet the representatives of car manufacturers and engineering companies, plus the promoters of the national championships in Europe that have either already adopted the TCR regulations or will do from next year: Benelux, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Russia and Spain.

T wo press conferences served to launch the TCR European Trophy and the TCR Benelux Championship.

And during the whole day 25 drivers coming from all over Europe had their first taste of a TCR machine, driving on the track at the wheel of Honda Civic and SEAT León cars run by JAS Motorsport and Bas Koeten Racing respectively.

A small exhibition of TCR cars was also set up in the paddock with the new Opel Astra, Volkswagen Golf and Subaru STi alongside Honda and SEAT.

Marcello Lotti, promoter of the TCR concept, commented: “The participation was even larger than expected. We were literally overwhelmed by the influx of people who were asking for information or wanted to book tests and meetings. Indeed it was such a successful event that, by general request, we are thinking of organising an Open Day twice a year, at the beginning and the end of the season.”

TCR launches the European Trophy in 2016

WSC Ltd, promoter of the TCR International Series, announced that a TCR European Trophy will be organised in 2016.

CEO Marcello Lotti commented: “This is a commercial trophy, based on the cooperation with the promoters of the TCR national championships in Europe. The plan is to nominate six or seven events, one per each country that will have a TCR championship, and make four of them valid to award the Drivers’ and Teams’ European Trophies.”

A provisional list of events includes Benelux, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Russia. Only the competitors (teams or drivers) who have registered for the full season in one of these national championships will be eligible to score points in the European Trophy.

“Our priority is encouraging the participation in the national series, and we don’t want to see drivers and teams deciding to enter in the European Trophy rather than in their own country’s series,” Lotti explained.

Each round of the European Trophy will be run according to the Sporting Regulations of the hosting championship and all competitors will have to conform to the local prescriptions in terms of format, control tyres, etc.

Further details, including the 2016 calendar, will be unveiled in due course.

Opel will deliver first TCR cars by mid February

The brand new Opel Astra OPC TCR broke cover at Mettet, Belgium, during the TCR Open Day that was attended by a large number of manufacturer representatives, promoters, teams, drivers and journalists.

The German car was at the centre of the attention and Opel Motorsport Director Jörg Schrott proudly presented the company’s new baby: “This is a prototype that we will use in the next days for the final aerodynamics tests. The following step will be the track testing, probably in Southern Europe in order to find favourable weather conditions. Our aim is to complete the technical development as soon as possible and be able to make the first contingent of ten cars available for sale by the mid of February. The plan is to have another twenty cars ready by the end of May.”

Talking about the participation in the different TCR series, Schrott explained: “Our priority are the International Series and ADAC TCR Germany, but we are also interested to extend the Opel presence in the other national championships in Europe. We are currently talking to a few teams with which we wish to establish high level partnerships; we will support them with a technical package, but they must be able to help in further technical development and to perform at a competitive level.”

The selling price of the Opel Astra OPC TCR has been fixed at 95000 euros plus VAT, including sequential gearbox with paddle-shift and the 100-litre fuel tank that will permit its participation in the long distance races.