A new TCR series appears on the international stage of touring cars for the 2024 season. The TCR European Endurance it’s clearly an interesting choice, and is the new championship dedicated to endurance races for TCR cars only.
The TCR European Endurance is promoted by RIZA International, which already operates in the TCR world of the WSC Group with TCR South America and TCR Brasil. However, the format of the inaugural season presents some peculiarities, which Mauricio Slaviero himself, founder of RIZA International and promoter of the TCR European Endurance, wanted as precautionary measures to contain costs in this initial phase.
The TCR cars will be seen in action along a continental calendar in races lasting 120 minutes, but divided into two parts of one hour each. Going into details about the weekend’s format, after two free practice sessions there will be as well two 15-minutes qualifying sessions, where the two drivers of each crew will attend respectively; the sum of the fastest times will make up the starting grid for the first part of the race, which will last 60 minutes. During this hour it will be mandatory to make a pit stop to change drivers and replace at least two tyres. The final results of this first part will establish the starting grid for Part 2.
Both racing sessions will have a rolling start, and in the last stint of the race, as in the first, it will be mandatory to make a pit stop with a driver change and at least two tyres. The final ranking of the event, however, will see the sum of the two parts and three different categories will be awarded: the Overall, the DSG category and finally the Gen 1 category, with the new categorization that belongs to the first generation TCR cars.
The calendar includes a total of four rounds. The start is scheduled for the weekend of 27/28 April on the new Hungarian circuit of Balaton Park. It will then be the turn of a double stage in Italy, with Vallelunga (18/19 May), already home to an event of the TCR Europe and TCR World Tour, and Misano (21/22 June), on the circuit named after Marco Simoncelli. The closing of the inaugural season of the TCR European Endurance is expected on 25/26 August at the Slovakiaring.
