24 / 26
24
WORLD AND LIFE
TCR 2016
HOME INTERVIEW
NEWS
DRIV
TCR Las Americas
to kick off at Mexican GP
Italian round
moves from
Monza to Imola
The Italian round of the 2016 TCR In-
ternational Series will take place in
two weeks at Imola, on May 22.
The timetable of the event will be con-
centrated in one day only, on the
Suday, with the aim to make the most
out of the promotion and gather as
much public as possible during what
will be a mid spring weekend.
TCR promoter Marcello Lotti explained:
“
We are grateful to the Municipality of
Imola and Formula Imola for offering
us this opportunity to bring an interna-
tional touring car series back to this
glorious and demanding racetrack. And
we are currently meeting with a lot of
interest from Italian teams and drivers
that want to join for the event.
”
Imola’s circuit, named after Enzo and
Dino Ferrari, was built in 1952, along
the Santerno river; it underwent a
complete reconstruction in 1979 and
hosted both the Italian and San Marino
F1 Grands Prix between 1980 and 2006.
The racetrack was further modified and
its facilities rebuilt in 2010.
The lap distance is 4.5 kilometres; TCR
competitors will complete 14 of those
laps in each race.
WSC America has officially launched TCR Las Americas, a brand new regional
series reserved for TCR cars.
The announcement was made last Thursday in Santo Domingo, following a mee-
ting between WSC Ltd. CEO Marcello Lotti and Series manager Alberto Puig with
the local promoters that took place during the presentation of Dominican Re-
public’s Campeonato de Velocidad Sunix.
The new series – the latest in a number of national and regional championships
that have embraced the TCR concept – will be run between October 2016 and
March 2017, visiting seven countries in the Central America-Caribbean area.
Negotiations are ongoing to finalize the inaugural event as part of the Formula
One Mexican Grand Prix at Mexico City’s Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
Marcello Lotti explained:
“This was a plan we have worked on for some time, as
this region is an important market for car manufacturers and has a long-standing
tradition for touring car competitions. Some of the countries that will host the
series already have strong national championships. As soon as we began nego-
tiating with the local promoters we met with an overwhelming enthusiasm from
them, but also from local teams and drivers. The fact that the series will be run
in what we consider the ‘off season’ in Europe may encourage some of the Euro-
pean teams to take part.”
The series aims for a field of 16 cars for the maiden season.
2016/2017 TCR Las Americas – provisional calendar
30th October: Mexico, Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez (F1 Mexican GP)
27th November: USA, Homestead-Miami Speedway
18th December: Dominican Republic, Autódromo Sunix
15th January: Guatemala, Autódromo Pedro Cofiño
12th February: Costa Rica, Circuito Grupo Sur en Parque Viva
12th March: Colombia, Autódromo de Tocancipá
26th March: Venezuela, Autódromo Internacional Simón Bolívar