TCR leaves Macau for 2017, opens door for FIA World Cup #3
The TCR International Series will end its association with the Guia Race of Macau after just two years, with their season finale later this month at the Chinese special administrative region their final appearance at the famous street circuit.
The series provided the cars for the 2015 race after the World Touring Car Championship ended its ten-year association at the end of 2014, switching its season finale instead to a night race at the Losail circuit in Qatar.
There’s a full grid of 36 cars entered for this year’s race on November 20th, with 25 of the entries coming from the TCR International & Asia series. There are another five “privateer” TCR-specifiication cars also entered, as well as six cars from the China Touring Car Championship.
This year there’s been a change in organisation of the Macau Grand Prix, with the previous Macau Grand Prix Committee gone, with the race now organised by the Sports Bureau of the Macau government and the new Macau Grand Prix Organizing Committee, along with increased involvement from the FIA. This has seen the entry criteria for the race opened up to allow cars from the British and China Touring Car Championships.
Sources within the TCR series have confirmed to TouringCarTimes that because of the rule changes, they’ve decised not to return next year, and will likely move their season finale to share with Formula 1’s finale at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi.
The move paves the way for the FIA to take over as the organiser of a trio of “World Cup” events at Macau, with the touring car race likely to join the FIA GT World Cup and the new FIA F3 World Cup in 2017, potentially rebadged as the FIA Touring Car World Cup.
