FIA launches new low-cost TC Lite technical regulation set

The FIA has launched a new set of technical regulations aimed at helping national and regional motorsport organisers to create entry level front-wheel drive racing categories, with the aim of rebuilding the pyramid which places the current global TCR technical regulations at its top.

The new ruleset will allow manufacturers to produce low-cost touring cars geared towards entry level touring car racing, and share significant technical crossover with the lowest two tiers of the rally regulation sets, Rally4 and Rally5, which will also allow manufacturers already building cars for those classes to produce TC Lite cars at minimal additional spend.

The cars use the existing rally rulesets, but remove the handheld fire extinguisher, spare wheel allocation and tools but adding racing nets, with an adjusted minimum racing weight accordingly.

Matching up with the rally nomenclature, the two classes will be called TCL4 and TCL5, with TCL4 cars featuring 2.0 litre turbocharged engines, while TCL5 cars are 1.6.

The ruleset will allow series to start creating new championships that will foster driving talent that are working their way up to the top touring car tiers in their countries.

In the UK, the leading category is the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), which mostly has front-wheel drive cars, while in the majority of other regions, the lower-cost, manufacturer-supported TCR class has become the mainstay, with significantly strong categories in Italy, China, Europe, and South America.

Only in Australia is the main touring car category, the Supercars Championship, an all rear-wheel drive category, and has its own progession ladder using legacy Supercars.

While there are many popular all-front wheel drive cup series, particularly in western Europe, the cars are often taken from defunct cup series which were previously single-make manufacturer series run directly by the OEMs.

The trend in manufacturer motorsport involvement has seen them move away running their own series, but with a growing interest in selling race cars, parts, and providing technical support as part of dedicated customer racing operations across rally, touring cars, and GT racing. As a result, TC Lite looks set to capitalise on that trend and help the various motorsport authorities put together exciting new multi-manufacturer racing series, taking the place of series such as the Renault Clio Cup, Trofeo Abarth 500, and long defunct SEAT Leon Eurocup series, with a progession to the various national TCR categories the logical career path for an aspiring racing driver.

“Introducing a pyramid structure to touring car racing is something that has been our aim for quite a while,” said Alan Gow, FIA Touring Car Commission President.

“TCR is a proven customer racing platform that works well both in national-level series and in world-level touring car racing. However, we have been missing an accessible entry-level platform. The introduction of the TC Lite ruleset fills that gap. Having the very same cars in rallying and touring car racing has plenty of benefits — it is cost-effective, sustainable, provides the competitors with a level playing field and creates opportunities for more available seat time. At the same time, the manufacturers and their customer racing programmes will be able to grow their business as the market of these cars will naturally broaden.”

Manufacturers already building cars to the Rally4 and Rally5 rulesets include the Stellantis Group manufacturers Opel and Peugeot, with the Corsa and 208 Rally4s respectively, and Renault with the Clio.