Macau organisers have reportedly offered teams competing in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship the possibility of joining as part of the Macau Grand Prix outing for touring cars in 2015 at the historic Chinese venue.
BTCC series director Alan Gow commented to Motorsport News that Macau organisers have tentatively offered BTCC teams the opportunity of contesting the Guia race for touring cars, part of the prestigious Formula 3 Grand Prix weekend which takes place on November 21-22.
“The bosses at Macau have been in touch with TOCA,” Gow confirmed. “They are looking at various options and the BTCC cars are one of those options.
“They asked me if teams would be interested so I got in touch with the teams and most of them said yes. The reaction has been positive, but I think they will only bring a handful of cars.
“The organisers haven’t had direct contact with the teams so they are just fishing around to see what is available.”
The streets of Macau have played host the final round World Touring Car Championship since 2005, but that event will switch to Qatar from 2015. With that in mind, the Guia circuit approached other touring car championships over a replacement for the vacated slot in the weekend’s timetable, options stated now including the new-for-2015 TCR International Series which take over the mantle from the FIA World Touring Car Championship after 10 years, founded by ex-WTCC boss, Marcello Lotti.
A possible multi-class event has been brought up which could amalgamate national class TCN-1 cars and NGTC machines from the BTCC, the latter again showcasing the UK series’ current technical regulations which were recently ratified by the FIA to form the basis of the new TCN-1 rules which could now be adopted by a number of other domestic championships around the globe.
It is understood that Macau organisers have offered to cover the cost of freight and travel, while teams themselves would then have to attract the required running budget.
Organisers claim the line-up is yet to be confirmed for the Far East event although, should teams from the UK championship opt to accept the invitation, this would not form part of the 2015 official BTCC calendar.
