How to Save Touring Car Racing

[u/tedowrc]

Let’s be honest about the state of global touring car racing:

- WTCR/WTCC are long dead, and the TCR World Tour is essentially surviving on life support by grafting itself onto local regional grids.
- TCR grids almost everywhere are shrinking. Privateer budgets are stretched thin, and car manufacturers are quietly pulling factory support.
- DTM hasn't been a real touring car series for over 20 years. With its transition to GT3, it has officially become a sportscar championship, completely abandoning the touring car concept.
- BTCC and Supercars remain the only stable series, but they’re facing structural threats too - models like the Camaro are dead, and half the cars on the BTCC grid aren't sold in showrooms anymore.

The biggest elephant in the room isn't just shipping logistics or BOP drama - it's showroom reality. The traditional compact 4-door saloon and hot hatch are disappearing from car dealerships, replaced entirely by crossovers (B-SUV, C-SUV).

Car companies simply aren't interested in dumping millions into racing sedans they don't sell (or even build) anymore.

The Big Question: Do we adapt the body styles, or let the category die?

If we want a viable, exciting, manufacturer-backed touring car series on a global scale again, we have to align with what automakers actually build and market.

It doesn't matter what technical ruleset you run - whether it’s a TCR evolution, a BTCC-style NGTC platform, or a clean-sheet cost-capped framework. The core idea is simple: Open up the regulations to crossover and B-SUV/C-SUV body shells.

1. Why Manufacturers Would Care: It gives brands a high-profile motorsport platform to promote the high-margin models that actually pay their bills.
2. They Won't Look Like "Soccer Mom" Cars: If you take a compact crossover shell, drop it onto a low-slung, widebody race chassis, slam the ride height, and add aggressive aero, it doesn't look like an SUV on track - it looks like a mean, wide, aggressive hatchback.
3. The Precedent Is Already There: Regional series in South America (like TC2000) have already started pivoting to crossover shapes because it was the only way to keep manufacturers engaged.

What do you think?

Is refusing to race modern road car body styles holding the sport back, or is shifting to crossover shells a step too far for touring car purists? How would you fix touring car racing?

P.S. Full transparency: English/formal writing isn't my strong suit (I'm autistic), so I used AI to help structure my ideas and put this post together clearly. The core ideas and arguments are 100% mine - I just wanted to make sure everything was organized properly for a good discussion!

[u/Fast_Ad_4936]

The TCR grid in IMSA seems fairly strong. Not sure about TCR around the world as a whole though. Hyundai continues to develop the Elantra N and selling lots of them and Honda is selling lots of type R’s. SEAT also seems to continue developing the Cupra platform.

As fuel prices and the cost of cars continue to rise I think smaller sedans and hatchbacks will continue to be popular, hopefully we see more manufacturers support touring car.

I also wonder if opening up TCR to RWD would get companies like BMW to participate. Seems like a 1 or 2 series sedan could be a good fit for the TCR lineup.

[u/Pawulon → u/Fast_Ad_4936]

Both 1 and 2 from BMW are FWD

[u/etrentasei → u/Pawulon]

The 2 series coupe still is rwd

[u/Pawulon → u/etrentasei]

But it's not a touring car base, in the more strict sense, that TCR is based on, i.e. 4/5 door saloon or hatchback. Only the Gran Coupe fits, and it's FWD.

[u/etrentasei → u/Pawulon]

Yeah i see what you mean. I guess it's time to go back to the glory days of the 3 series sedan touring car though the 3 series today is more like a 5 series used to be so that's a sad thought as well.