The TCR category: Touring cars for club racing

The Italian Marcello Lotti created the TCR category in 2015. The abbreviation stands for “Touring Car Racing” and has since asserted itself as a cost-efficient and attractive platform in worldwide touring car racing.

Many Audi fans still perfectly remember the era of the Super Touring Cars (STW): Audi, with the A4 quattro, in the nineteen-nineties was one of the protagonists in this class and in 1996 alone celebrated seven worldwide championship wins. The S2000 and TC1 categories subsequently took the place of the Super Touring Cars. Escalating budgets meant that the TC1 almost made only cost-intensive factory-backed racing possible anymore. An entry-level category was lacking and Marcello Lotti filled this gap with the TCR regulations. Within a very short period of time, more than 20 racing series for TCR models emerged.

Low costs of less than 130,000 euros for a ready-to-race touring car that is also able to handle endurance racing distances are equally attractive for teams in club and top-tier racing. The balance of performance and the compensatory weight are intended to maximize equality of opportunity between the race cars of the 14 manufacturers.

Since 2018 the WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup has been the highest ranking international TCR series. Many customers are active in national series, plus there are continental series such as the TC America, TCR Europe, TCR Asia and TCR Australia. In addition to pure TCR series, a number of other championships have established classes for TCR race cars such as the Nürburgring Endurance Racing Series in Germany, the Canadian Touring Car Championship, the Super Taikyu Series in Japan and the 24H Series, which extends across three continents. The TCR DSG racing series, which have been held in Italy since 2019 and additionally throughout Europe since 2020, are special: They are reserved to race cars from Audi, Cupra and Volkswagen that rely on the double-clutch transmission from the Volkswagen Group.