Marcello Lotti confirms five manufacturers and more coming

TCR head Marcello Lotti today confirmed that five different manufacturers will be represented on the grid for the inaugural TCR International Series season.
“We are going to see at least five brands in 2015 with SEAT, Honda, Volkswagen, Ford and Opel. We have three more manufacturers, but I cannot say the names of them yet,” said Lotti in an interview at the Autosport International Show.

A first glimpse of the new cars are to be expected in February when TCR is going to run a first balance of performance test.
“We are going run a first BOP test in the beginning of February. Then we can also reveal the remaining three brands,” said Lotti.

The TCR regulations are expected to be spread to a number of national championship as well during 2015, with TCR Asia and TCR USA previously being confirmed. But a TCR series in the UK is not likely according to Lotti due to the strong national profile of the British Touring Car Championship.
“Britain is a good market, it is legendary in terms of touring cars. But Britain is the BTCC. We prioritise other countries where there is not an existing strong touring car championship. I do not think England is feasible to organise TCR in as BTCC is so strong,” said Lotti.

The TCR season starts on March 29th in Sepang, Malaysia, in support of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.