Marcello Lotti doubles down on TCR entries into ‘unlicensed events’

Marcello Lotti has reiterated the stance of WSC Group regarding TCR cars competing in ‘unlicensed events’ by confirming that an entry into such an event will result in a car losing its official homologation.

WSC issued a statement to car owners in the UK late last year after a number of new series were announced for 2025, and which suggested TCR cars would be eligible to compete.

At the time, Maximum Motorsport – the promoter of TCR UK – was the only authorised licensee for TCR competition in the country, although deals have since been signed that will allow Gen 1 cars to compete in both the 750 Motor Club and in the new BRSCC Pro Sports Sprint Series.

Cars racing elsewhere however will do so with teams and drivers having been reminded that homologation will be removed, therefore presenting cars from ever again competing in an official TCR series and reducing the residual value of the machine.

“It’s important for any team that chooses to race their car in an unlicensed series to understand the ramifications to themselves from both a commercial and safety perspective,” Lotti said.

“With over 1,500 cars built in the last ten years, and with 36 officially licenced TCR categories racing globally in 2024, we ensure that every car has its own official TCR digital passport to ensure it’s been correctly maintained, homologated, and is fit for purpose.

“As part of our ethos, we have a duty of care to maintain the integrity of the cars for our series and our TCR series licence holders, and so once a car is out of ‘circulation’, it will lose its TCR authentication, and it will not be allowed to race in any of the global network of licenced TCR categories from that point on.

“TCR has an incredible network of series in which to race, which is why TCR cars have an incredibly strong residual value, we believe it’s perhaps the highest residual value of any dedicated racing car product in the world.

“A car with a TCR technical passport can be taken by any team or racing driver to any series anywhere in the world. However, that residual value will be lost as any car that races in an unlicensed series will lose access to the global TCR market, and the car will become almost valueless, restricted to private or grassroots events only.”

The decision to remove the official TCR passport has been taken because WSC could no longer be certain that a car ‘hasn’t been tampered with in an unprofessional manner’ when away from the ‘stringent FIA-standard scrutineering processes that we enforce’.

As such, Lotti added that it would be down to individuals to ensure that any car they were to purchase in the future came with the correct homologation in place, and that people should be aware of ‘unauthorised and misleading statements’ regarding TCR cars and the rules around the category being made by third parties.

“Once the car has its passport removed, there will be no way to have its TCR technical passport reinstated,” he said.

“Our advice to anyone planning to buy a car which they believe has been racing in unlicensed competition, does their own due diligence to ensure the car’s TCR technical passport is valid so they have bought a car which is certified to take part in the many official TCR categories across the world.”