In 1995, DTM expanded to run alongside the newly formed International Touring Car Series, with the two merging in 1996. At the end of 1996, they both collapsed. As the TCR World Tour nears the end of its first year having replaced the short-lived WTCR championship, this article takes a dive into the question of whether an international touring car series can ever be sustainable.
Domestic touring car series have had better luck. The British Touring Car Championship started out in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship, while the Australian Touring Car Championship started in 1960 and lives on as the Supercars Championship.
Meanwhile, the survival of international touring car racing series has been difficult. The original European Touring Car Championship had the best stab at it, lasting from 1963-1988 before it was cancelled due to high costs for teams. Manufacturers needed to produce homologation specials to win such as the Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth and the BMW M3 Evo, and the only year of the first World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) compounded the problem in 1987. The WTCC was marred by cheating scandals with both BMW and Ford earning disqualification from the Monza round of the championship, with Ford also being disqualified from the Bathurst round. As such, Roberto Ravaglia was not officially awarded the championship until March 1988, by which point the series had already folded.
The concept of an international touring car series was not seen again until 1995, as the International Touring Car Championship (ITC) ran as an extension of the DTM season. The two merged in 1996 to form the ITC, which folded at the end of the year due to the high costs of running a Class 1 touring car and the logistics involved in flying to Brazil and Japan. This was a real shame as the list of drivers was impressive: Giancarlo Fisichella balanced his ITC commitments with a maiden F1 campaign, driving against former F1 drivers such as JJ Lehto and Alessandro Nannini as well as future Indycar driver Dario Franchitti and touring car royalty in Bernd Schneider, just to name a few.
The WTCC was revived again in 2005 following the success of the European Touring Car Championship and ran until 2017, after which it merged with the TCR International Series to form the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR). While the WTCC had its ups and downs, the main factor for this decision was cost, as the FIA referenced their hope that cheaper regulations would “trigger a flurry of competitor interest.” The WTCR era started in 2018 and ended after the 2022 season, with the format changing to the TCR World Tour for 2023. This championship is made up of races from other regional TCR championships, culminating in a four day event at the end of the year to find the world champion amidst the highest ranked TCR touring car drivers in the world.
Too Expensive?
Cost comes up as a recurrent problem in international touring car racing. The collapse of the 1987, 1996 and 2017 efforts all reference the rising costs of the regulations at the time; Group A, Supertouring and TC1 respectively. However, if this was the only factor then the BTCC would have been in even more trouble, as they also used Group A and Supertouring regulations. Of course, the logistics of a world championship means shipping huge amounts of cars, equipment, and people is far more expensive than a domestic championship, but the stability of the BTCC and Supercars championship implies that there is more at play. In fact, both regulations are more expensive than TCR: a BTCC car costs £250,000 to build and Supercar teams need to invest 1.2 million to 3 million Australian dollars (780,000 to 1.95 million USD) to keep up with the competition. In contrast, the cost cap for a complete TCR car is €139,000.
Nevertheless, it is important to address the issue of cost as it is a recurrent feature in the downfall of all racing series, including the WTCC. This will require the FIA and the promoter, WSC, to scrutinise every expense and source of income for teams and squeeze every last penny available. The success of the TCR regulations in cost saving is evident in the many domestic and regional series it can be found in, which the TCR World Tour makes good use of by featuring races for various domestic series in its championship. The series could introduce specified parts, development freezes or a lower cost cap, but this may be unnecessary as TCR cars are already much cheaper than the NGTC cars used in the BTCC and the cars used in the Supercars Championship. The first financial decision WSC has to make is to do with promotion and TV rights.
Streaming and Promotion
Races are currently streamed on the TCR TV website and YouTube channel, which comes with advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, making coverage free and simple to access ensures a higher number of viewers across the world, keeping sponsors and fans happy. It also saves the time and effort of negotiating with different broadcasters across the world and ensures that the coverage adheres to a good standard as the broadcasting is centralised. Furthermore, it means the series is not beholden to the will of TV companies, meaning stability for viewers in finding the stream, fixed start times, and not having to cut a race short to enable TV stations to broadcast other programs.
On the other hand, centralised broadcasting incurs costs for TCR itself for equipment, transportation, and staff, as well as losing out on the money that TV stations can pay to broadcast it. Furthermore, WSC loses out on the promotion of the rights holders. If the series’ broadcasting rights were sold to various TV stations around the world, these TV stations would have an incentive to promote the TCR World Tour themselves to try and get larger audiences. Without this, WSC is left to promote the TCR World Tour by itself, incurring costs and limiting its audience.
However, it must be stressed that putting the TCR World Tour behind a paywall could kill the series, as it will lead to much fewer views which in turn may lead to sponsors and teams pulling out. WTCR was streamed in Europe by Eurosport, which was a paid TV channel, limiting its viewership to those who were willing to pay. Like the BTCC does, selling the broadcasting rights to national free to air channels may be the best compromise, as it retains the accessibility for fans while taking advantage of the extra money and promotion.
BoP: Balance of Performance or Boring old Politics?
Once WSC has made a decision on TV rights, it must then ensure the sporting side of the championship is under control. Politics, gaming the system and cheating spelled the end of the first World Touring Car Championship in 1987 and the WTCR was infamous for the same issues. Team orders, tyre issues and complaints over the Balance of Performance (BoP) system made the series unattractive and easy to discredit, especially with the withdrawal of the Cyan Racing-run Lynk & Co team in the middle of 2022 over tyre issues after multiple tyre blowouts. Hyundai even withdrew all its teams from the 2020 Race of Germany over BoP. Teams complained non-stop about it being unfair to try and gain an advantage before even sending the cars out on track.
The WTCR used both BoP and compensation weight handicaps, which proved to make the series a farce on and off the track. Apart from the persistent politicking, teams would often try to game the system by driving slower in qualifying and the race to avoid flagging the true speed of the cars to the officials, as faster cars were given weight handicaps to try to level the playing field. Compensation weight was given to all models of a car rather than to an individual driver, meaning that whole teams would deliberately drive slowly to avoid running a heavier car in future races.
BoP is necessary to guarantee that all cars have a chance in touring car racing as they are very different, but when there is room for interpretation and it can be changed from race to race, it can be easily gamed. The TCR World Tour needs to choose between BoP and compensation weight penalties to ensure that drivers drive as fast as possible in qualifying and the race, which avoids the racing turning into a procession. The WTCC chose compensation weight, leading to years dominated by Citroen and the eventual switch to TCR regulations. The BTCC also used compensation weight with the drivers at the top end of the grid given more weight, which proved more successful.
Compensation weight, also called success ballast, has been criticised as being artificial as it punishes the cars that do well. However, reverse grid races are now a staple of touring car racing and even junior single-seater series. These artificially create good racing as the faster cars are forced to start at the back, but create drama and excitement as the faster cars fight through the field so are seen as the highlight of the weekend for many series. If reverse grid races have a place in touring car racing, then so does success ballast.
Success ballast is usually given to individual drivers based on their results for the previous results of the day or by championship standings, making it harder to game than BoP which is given to the car model. There is less incentive to drive slowly to post slower lap times as ballast is given for results, meaning that as long as the organisers can ensure relatively equal cars through the regulations they can get away with only using success ballast. There is also no point for teams to play the politics game as success ballast is the same for everyone, whereas teams frequently complain to the officials to get the BoP changed in their favour. Having said that, the BTCC ditched its success ballast in 2022 for a different kind of success penalty; limiting the use of hybrid power.
Late to the Hybrid Hype Train?
The TCR regulations might benefit from increased manufacturer support from the use of hybrid engines. 32% of new cars sold in the EU in 2022 were hybrids while 36% were petrol cars, and the share of hybrid vehicles being sold is rising rapidly. Therefore, incorporating hybrid technology in TCR cars could lead to increased manufacturer interest due to its road relevance and image of environmental responsibility. In the BTCC, this works using a battery that supplies extra power. The use of this power is increasingly limited with better results, ensuring close racing while incorporating an element of strategy as drivers have to decide when to use their hybrid power boost.
This could be a way to entice more investment and publicity to the TCR World Tour, although cars will be heavier and cost more. They will be more powerful though, and the availability of an extra boost may be what a driver needs to get alongside during a battle giving the potential for great battles. It may be time to consider hybrid TCR cars; it could improve the show, provide a balanced success penalty, and entice manufacturers wanting to display an image of environmental responsibility.
A victim of its own failure?
The issues with international touring car racing
Of course, running an international touring car series is very different to a domestic series. The most obvious challenge is in the logistics. Transporting a car from Cheshire to Yorkshire is far cheaper, quicker and more simple than doing the same from Argentina to Australia. This doesn’t consider the fact that personnel and equipment also needs to be transported, or that the cars need to go back to the factory to be repaired and developed. While the cars themselves may be cheaper than other top-level touring car series, the logistics costs definitely are not.
The second issue that world touring cars cannot get away from is a lack of a continuous, unbroken history. The BTCC gets its prestige from its history going back to 1958, creating legends along the way such as Matt Neal, Jason Plato, and Andy Rouse. The Supercars Championship has its links back to the Australian Touring Car Championship. Its iconic race, the Bathurst 1000, has its roots in the 1960s, and the championship has also had legendary drivers in the past such as Jamie Whincup, Craig Lowndes, and Peter Brock. Meanwhile, the WTCC had 3 years of international touring car history to pick from (excluding European championships) when it started back in 2005. Just as WTCR and the WTCC were creating its own legends, such as Yvan Muller, Jose Maria Lopez, and Yann Ehrlacher, the format of the series changed which meant that the prestige of their titles was diminished.
There is also the question of different national and regional car cultures which comes into play. The cars and race formats popular in the UK might not be as popular in the USA, Australia or South America. Some car brands are not sold globally either, making attending certain rounds of the championship pointless from an accounting and marketing view. This is arguably the biggest danger that international touring car series face, as a lack of manufacturer interest means small grids, leading to worse racing and a lack of viewership.
Another potential issue that world touring cars have due to its lack of stable history may be attracting sponsors and investors of the appropriate size. The cyclical turmoil of world touring car championships means that investors and sponsors may be put off from backing the series, costing the championship money. Furthermore, racing internationally may be a barrier to the sponsorship of some national firms, as they may be put off from sponsoring a series that races in countries they do not operate in. Domestic series do not suffer from this problem as they can go to any company that operates in the country and ask them for sponsorship, but teams racing in international series have to find sponsors that operate globally. When they are competing with F1, WEC and WRC teams for sponsorship, all of which have long and stable histories, this makes the number of companies willing to sponsor international touring car teams small.
This last issue could be fixed by allowing and encouraging manufacturer backing. WTCR did not allow for manufacturer backing, presumably to prevent costs from spiralling, stop manufacturers from not attending rounds where their cars are not sold, and to prevent politics. However, as already discussed, politics marred the series, and costs were cited as being responsible for its downfall. Without sponsors, teams find it hard to survive, so should be allowed to use the financial might of car manufacturers to stay afloat. Of course, this would need to be kept in check to ensure the sustainability of the championship and the competitiveness of privateers, which could be done by a cost cap or spec parts.
Then there are things that could be changed. Could TCR cars go hybrid to entice more manufacturer support? Could international touring car racing even move away from TCR regulations in order to distinguish it more from regional series?
The WTCC tried to establish its own set of regulations in the form of TC1 to make the cars faster, and it backfired. High costs and Citroen's domination eventually led to the series’ downfall. So any change in the regulations will have to be carefully considered to ensure close competition and low costs, sacrificing ultimate speed if necessary.
To ensure that the TCR World Tour is not seen as a farce, WSC has to ensure that the sport is kept free of the incessant politicking and tyre issues that plagued WTCR until its end. Getting the balance between BoP and success ballast right is crucial to ensure close racing, safety and a lack of political games being played to try and benefit from the system.
There could also be a look into the calendar to try and maximise attendances at the track. The UK and Germany have a rich history of touring cars, yet the TCR World Tour does not make a visit to either. The German round of the WTCR championship, held on the full Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit, was especially seen as a highlight of the WTCR season. The calendar also leaves out North America and Africa, with the only round in Asia being Macau. Of course, the issue of logistics comes up again, but it may be something for the organisers to look into.
So we return to the question - can international touring car racing ever be successful?
A gap waiting to be filled
It is impossible to say for certain, but the success of domestic touring car series proves that there is an audience for top class touring car racing. The DTM faced enormous backlash when it became a GT3 series in 2021, proving that there is an appeal to watching family cars go racing. DTM made its own mistakes, possibly meriting its own article; over-reliance on a small number of manufacturers and regulations allowing for spiralling costs being two, but some may also add its insistence to be an international championship as the third mistake. DTM tried to become the de facto European championship by expanding into countries such as Russia, Hungary, Austria, and the UK, but this only added to the cost for teams.
On the face of it, this is concerning for those behind the efforts of making international touring car racing a success. However, this might just be a peculiarity of trying to internationalise a domestic championship. In an interview with motorsport.tv in 2017, Alan Gow, the chief executive of the BTCC and president of the FIA’s touring car commission, called the idea of domestic series racing abroad a “vanity exercise,” pointing out that it does not work for any domestic championship as it alienates the fanbase of the home country. This peculiarity means that while there are many domestic touring car series, none of them has successfully taken the step to go global. This gives an international touring car championship a very significant unique selling point. It is possible for international touring car racing to be a success.
Stability is paramount. The TCR World Tour needs to avoid becoming a victim of the failures of the past as the WTCC and WTCR were before it, as with time the prestige and trust in the series will be built up. With stability also comes more fans, as drivers stay to make a name for themselves in the series and manufacturers are encouraged to join as they trust in the stability of the series.
The stakes are high for the TCR World Tour. Get it wrong, and it becomes just another failed touring car series, joining the ITC, both WTCCs, and WTCR. It will give credibility to the doubters of the idea of an international touring car series, further highlighting every issue with the concept. Get it right, and it taps into the fanbase of every domestic touring car series around the world and more.
It could introduce more people to touring car racing and its frenetic, aggressive style of racing. It could instil a sense of optimism and enthusiasm around the sport as a whole. It could be more than sustainable; it could thrive.
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