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WTCR 2018: all you need to know

WTCR - FIA World Touring Car Cup presented by OSCARO is go in Marrakech this week when WTCR AFRIQUIA Race of Morocco takes place. Here's what you need to know.

WTCC becomes WTCR: WTCR - FIA World Touring Car Cup presented by OSCARO is the new name for the FIA World Touring Car Championship from 2018.

Why? To reflect the change of technical regulations from TC1 to TCR and with drivers and their teams the focus rather than manufacturers, there's been a change from world championship to world cup.

So what changes? Apart from the name and regulations, WTCR remains the premier FIA world touring car series, the team behind the scenes is the same, WTCR will run to the FIA's stringent sporting and technical rules, most of the tracks will be familiar and the majority of the drivers have WTCC experience.

But there's a new format, right? In an exciting change, race weekends will now feature two qualifying sessions rather than the previous one, while an extra race has been added to the schedule to make it three in total. With 10 weekends between April and November that means 30 action-packed races.

How will it work? At most events, one qualifying session and one race will take place on the opening day of a weekend, with the second day more in keeping with the old WTCC format: namely a three-phase qualifying session and two races with the first race from a reverse grid.

Does the points system change? It does and this is how it works:
The five drivers in the Q3 phase of Second Qualifying score points as follows: 5-4-3-2-1.
R1: top 10 classified finishers score points as follows: 27-20-17-14-12-10-8-6-4-2 
R2: top 10 classified finishers score points as follows: 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1
R3: top 10 classified finishers score points as follows: 30-23-19-16-13-10-7-4-2-1

Have the changes proved popular? Very much so. All entry spaces were snapped up ahead of the deadline and the grid is full of champions including four WTCC title holders.

And what about the cars? The TCR technical regulations cater for front-wheel-drive, four/five-door saloons or hatchbacks using turbocharged production engines with a capacity of between 1750-2000cc and with a maximum power output of 350bhp. Several manufacturers have, or are in the process, of homologating TCR cars including Alfa Romeo, Audi, Cupra, Honda, Hyundai, Peugeot and Volkswagen. A Balance of Performance (BOP) system has been developed to ensure a level playing field between the cars.

Zdroj: fiawtcr.com