Italy planning “TCS” class alongside TCR
ACI Sport’s Roberto Marazzi was in Mettet, Belgium, to represent the Italian promoter in today’s presentation. TouringCarTimes discussed the declination of the championship with him, with some new interesting ideas to be developed in Italy.
“The TCR concept is the way in which touring car racing can resurrect in Italy,” explained Marazzi. “We have seen so many good cars here, and the business structure is sustainable. We are the ones who had the Italian Superturismo back in the days, and Italy deserves a proper touring car championship.”
The Italian declination of the TCR concept will feature several differences compared to the International series: “The cars eligible to compete will be those homologated for the TCR International Series. Having said that, waivers can be applied for teams who want to build their own cars, or even one-make series cars such as the Renault Clio, of course applying the necessary balance of performance. This will help enlarge the grid, as well as adding to the variety of the brands present on the track.”
Besides these differences, the Italian ASN is also planning to introduce a “TCS” class, which will include cars directly derived from their road-going counterparts, with even less modifications than the TCR concept allows: “TCR is very good, but we believe there is an entry level which is missing at the moment, at least in Italy. That is why we want to create a class which will basically include sporty cars made into racing cars. The machines will cost about half the price of a TCR car and provide an entry level to start going up the ladder of motorsport. We want to take youngsters back on track, but in order to achieve this we will have to develop this road-going-like class as an introduction into the sport.”
The plan is for the two classes to share the grid in the first year, with a view into splitting them from the second year on.
Italy is one of the six countries which will host a national championship and compete for the European crown, together with Spain, Portugal, Germany, Benelux and Russia.
