Four-car cap per manufacturer confirmed for 2019 WTCR season
The FIA World Motor Sport Council has also ratified a number of organisational changes to the regulations ahead of the 2019 World Touring Car Cup season, including the four-car limit per brand and two-car teams, as reported earlier.
The championship has also confirmed a move back to three-day events for 2019 race weekends, with Free Practice 1 moved to the first day of the race weekend, and increased to 45 minutes in length.
Also changed is the running order for Q3 of the second qualifying session. The change has been to allow the fastest driver of Q2 choosing their starting order for Q3, as previously called for by Honda driver Esteban Guerrieri. The WTCR has confirmed this “follows feedback from drivers who felt they could be disadvantage by waiting due to the potential drop-off in car performance and tyre temperature, for example.”
Restrictions on in-season testing has been made more strict, with no testing allowed on any WTCR circuits prior or during a race weekend, with the exception of the Nurburgring 24 Hour event, where traditionally some drivers have taken part in both this race and the WTCR races. Tom Coronel is already scheduled to take part in next year’s N24, and a number of WTCR drivers are involved in GT programmes which could well include the famous endurance race.
A personnel restriction has also been introduced, with only ten people per car entered issued with armbands which indicate they’re allowed to work on the cars during the duration of the race weekend.
