At the venue of the TCR Europe finale, Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya, WSC Technology hosted a conference in which they outlined further details on their ETCR concept.
It seemed rather fitting that Mikel Azcona took the TCR Europe drivers’ title in a petrol-powered Cupra, as this would be the event at which its fully-electric counterpart would make it’s public on-track debut. The spanish marque are the first to have officially committed to the ETCR concept, and have been developing an all-electric touring car for quite some time now.
As previously reported on, the performance capabilities of the Cupra e-Racer are very impressive, certainly in comparison to the current speed of regular TCR cars. Although only Cupra have surfaced so far, multiple other manufacturers are rumoured to be interested in joining the electric initiative in touring car racing. After all, ETCR is not intended to be a one-make series like the Jaguar i-Pace eTrophy.
However, before Cupra test driver Jordi Gene took to the circuit for a demonstration run, a selection of guests from the automotive industry were hosted at a conference by Marcello Lotti; the man who ignited the TCR (and now ETCR) revolution.
Lotti, President of WSC, had this to say about the relevance of ETCR, and the future of touring car racing: “In the wake of the global success achieved by TCR and being aware of the automotive market’s current trend towards a new and responsible mobility, two years ago WSC Technology embarked on this ambitious project with the aim of educating the motorsport community in making contact with these new technologies that represent the future reality.”
“The ETCR applies electric power units to the very same chassis concept of TCR cars. It is already attracting the interest of different car manufacturers that also regard it as a tool to restore the role of motorsport as a platform for research & development that can transfer experience and innovations to the standard products.”
Of course, there is still a very long way to go in the incarnation of ETCR as its own championship, however the future certainly seems bright. The regular, petrol-powered TCR concept has grown at an exponential rate around the world since 2015, so WSC have already proven themselves capable of bringing success to the touring car category.
