TCR UK announced last week that the championship will partner with suspension manufacturer Ohlins and tyre manufacturer Yokohama for the upcoming season.
The Swedish suspension manufacturer has experience in touring cars, despite being known for dealing with motorcycles. Ohlins worked with Thed Bjork during his successful World Touring Car Championship title campaign in 2017.
Mark James, who is part of the media team at TCR UK, went into more detail about the announcement when talking to The Checkered Flag at Autosport International.
“I think it’s one that caught the fans out,” said Mark James. “It’s certainly what they weren’t expecting, but for us Ohlins has got a long history in supporting touring car racing.”
He also mentions that someone from Ohlins will be at every championship round this year to give support to the teams if they require.
Yokohama was announced as being the tyre supplier for TCR UK in its inaugural year. The company has also been WTCC’s tyre supplier for the past 11 years.
The decision to partner with Yokohama came down to both its experience with supplying for touring car racing and the potential for teams to transition if they want to compete elsewhere with their cars.
“They bring expertise, not just tyres and themselves but actually having worked at the top end of touring car racing,” said Mark James.
“And one of the reasons we wanted to go with a company like Yokohama is that if any of our teams decide to compete elsewhere, then they will be competing on about the best rubber there is available, which should make life a lot more easy for them to then transition to maybe another brand or that kind of thing.”
