TCR World and life

10 BACKSTAGE ThedayBernieasked: Marcello, doyouhavethecars? Sepang International Circuit, 27 March 2015: after a short trip from the F1 corral, a golf cart stops in the support race paddock. Marcello Lotti, promoter of the TCR International Series steps forward to welcome Bernie Ecclestone, the man who had made it possible for the newly-born series to join the F1 Malaysian GP for its inaugural event. “My acquaintance with him dates back to 2001, when I started cooperating with the FIA for Touring Car racing. Since then we discussed several times the idea of bringing Touring Cars to an F1 event and finally the opportunity arose when I launched TCR, ” Lotti remembers. “I went to meet him in London and I felt like a car dealer, as I had a folder with pictures of road cars: SEAT León, Honda Civic, Ford Focus, Opel Astra. He liked the idea, looked at the pictures and said: ‘but they will become proper racing cars, won’t they?”