At the beginning of February, WSC Group, as the managing company of the TCR and ETCR technical concept, announced its objective of introducing a common ‘mild hybrid’ system for all TCR cars for the 2023 season. This project, which started in 2021 , has had the approval of the manufacturers involved, to the point of now entering its final phase. While the standard hybrid system is set to be tested on the track in the coming weeks, the WSC Group has started a round of contacts to learn about the interest in this technology.
Marcello Lotti, ‘alma mater’ of the WSC Group and of the TCR technical concept, has welcomed the interest of different championships. Lotti himself has confirmed in statements to the specialized media ‘TouringCarTimes’ that the development of the hybrid system is progressing as planned and that he expects some five championships to be able to use this hybrid technology next season. Obviously, the WTCR as the pinnacle of touring car racing will adopt this hybrid system from the 2023 season. However, it is expected that some regional and national championships may also have this ‘mild hybrid’ technology.
“WSC Group has been working on the new hybrid technology for a year and we hope to be able to test it on the track in the next week or at most the next. We are at a good level and our intention is to start talking more concretely with the different promoters. We want to present this not only in the WTCR, but in other TCR series. We have more than 1,000 cars built under this concept. We have new meetings in May about it,” explained Marcelo Lotti to the aforementioned media.
However, the production capacity of this hybrid system is limited, so it cannot respond to all teams, brands and championships at the same time. For this reason, in 2023 the TCR championships with hybrid technology will be limited: “We have a lot of interest, but we cannot welcome all the cars. We start production in September and we have decided to make a limited run of hybrid kits. We are in a position to have four or five championships in total with hybrid technology next year. We are going to have a meeting with the promoters to define the exact number.”
Along these lines, Lotti added: “Naturally, the WTCR is one of these championships. It will be a plug-in hybrid system with a 48V battery. The weight of the batteries is 3.5 kilograms and they have been designed from a cell of new specification. There will be an extra power button that the driver will use as they wish and depending on the software configuration, it will give between 20 and 25 HP. We want to give drivers the freedom to use it to define strategies. The system is very affordable to level of costs. In the end it is linked to the TCR concept”.
Source: TouringCarTimes
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Photos: FIA WTCR