Smaller turbo engines & bigger wheels planned

TouringCarTimes has received new information about the coming changes of the World Touring Car Championship S2000 rules. It seems that first and foremost the new rules will not be far from the current rules, mainly an update.
The current S2000 cars are going to be able to compete along side the new S2000 cars. The biggest changes will effect the engine configuration.

From 2010 turbo-charged two litre petrol engines will be allowed.

They will be adjusted to be equal to the current naturally aspirated two litre petrol engines and the, debated, two litre turbo-charged diesel engines.

But it seems that the diesel era of the WTCC could be over quite quickly. According to our information SEAT is going to scrap their diesel engine and go back to petrol, to be ready for the turbo-charged petrol engines.

Then two or three years later, the plan is to change to smaller engines, still turbo-charged, in the size of 1600 cc to 1800 cc. The same change is reported to be planned for the World Rally Championship.

And the WTCC and WRC are going to have a lot in common in the future on the rule side. According to our information the only difference is going to be that the WRC cars are 4WD while the S2000 cars are going to keep FWD/RWD.

Another change that is reported to be planned for 2010 is bigger wheels. The S2000 rules started with 16″ wheels, which quickly was changed to the current 17″. For 2010 18″ wheels will be introduced.

Stay tuned for more news on the subject!