OVER on this side of the ditch the debut of the global Touring Car Racing class TCR is rapidly approaching.
With less than three months until the series scheduled kick off at Sydney Motorsport Park in mid-May, interest seems to be building and all pointers are that the series will launch with at least 12 cars, if not more – which is an impressive start.
Where TCR sits within the broader racing landscape in Australia, however, remains a question without an answer at this early stage in the game.
The championship certainly has strong backers and has secured well-established teams all keen to run the cars, including Supercars outfit Garry Rogers Motorsport.
Just this week, former Supercars CEO James Warburton was signed to join ARG, the company running both TCR Australia and the new S5000 open wheeler class, as a non-executive director.
They’ve also locked in a free-to-air TV deal for every round which is impressive given they’ve not yet turned a wheel.
So even though there’s only been one driver officially confirmed, on paper it’s off to a good start.
Yet it will take some time for TCR to find its place in the local marketplace given the sheer volume of categories that already exist in the same or a similar sphere.
Supercars has the main game and both Super 2 and now Super 3 from which to develop young talent. It’s a proven ladder system that now operates under the same brand, with good fields and competitive racing.
Porsche’s two tiers of racing in Australia, meanwhile, go from strength to strength thanks to the recent successes of Jaxon Evans and Matt Campbell.
It seems instead that TCR may pick from the fringes of the core or established categories with which to build their grid, capitalising on disgruntled ‘pro’ drivers who can no longer race in anything other than Australian GT’s long distance racers, or drivers unsettled by the confusing rules that currently govern Production Car racing, for instance.
Over the other side of the Tasman, though, I feel like it could be a different story.
Word on the grapevine that there’s been talks to set up shop in New Zealand and that seems to make sense for everyone concerned.
While TRS looks healthy and is coming off the back off a strong summer, the North and South Island Endurance Series’ continue to flourish and series’ like GTR NZ and Central Muscle Cars produce big grids and great racing, the top Kiwi Touring Car category clearly needs a shake-up.
I appreciate the effort in trying to keep it going and how hard it must be – but is it really the flagship Touring Car category New Zealand needs right now? Could it be better served by adopting something global?
I’ve seen proposals published elsewhere for a new generation of car with Camaro and Mustang body shapes which look pretty tasty – but the question has to be asked, is the market there to support it?
While TCR may struggle to fit in the crowded local landscape in Australia, it seems that a turn-key, globally influenced racing category that represents a range of brands could be the perfect thing for the sport in New Zealand.
While the V8 series stretches back to the mid-1990s, it was the four-cylinder based New Zealand Touring Car Championship that preceded it that created legends like Craig Baird and Jason Richards.
Breaking the hold of a V8-powered Touring Car category as the showpiece of the sport in Australia is nigh on impossible, nor should it change.
Australia is more than big and bad enough to support a stand-alone domestic formula.
But it strikes this outside observer that after all the drama of the last decade, a clean break to TCR may be the best thing to happen to the sport in New Zealand for some time.
With the level of talent in there already, it’d be a reasonably affordable, turn-key way to get Touring Car racing firing across the Tasman once again – with the real potential for overseas input as well thanks to the still unique Summer calendar of races.
Plus, there’d be the potential for proper Trans-Tasman racing for the first time in years, giving your lot yet another sport at which they are better than we are.
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