New World Touring Car Cup grid fully subscribed for 2018 season
The new World Touring Car Cup will have a capacity entry for the 2018 season
As part of plans outlined for the WTCR world cup, which will succeed the World Touring Car Championship this year, organisers stated a 26-car limit would be imposed on full-season entries and that teams must run a minimum of two cars.
A deadline of January 30 (Tuesday) for those entries being lodged was also put in place.
That has now passed, with all 26 permanent spaces on the 2018 grid assigned.
Autosport understands that seven brands will represented next year, with teams running a mixture of two or three cars.
"Last December, after the meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council, the WTCR announcement generated more than 1000 articles around the world," said Francois Ribeiro, head of WTCR promoter Eurosport Events.
"From that moment we were left in no doubt that the expectations of the new series were very high.
"Whilst we only had two months to put the grid together and during a period after most companies' budgets were already closed for 2018, Eurosport Events and the FIA had a clear objective to target quality over quantity.
"We are therefore glad that WTCR will deliver a grid of very high sporting quality to touring car fans around the world: the best of WTCC and TCR International under the same umbrella, including a great mix of touring car champions.
"We will now work on filling the two wildcard entry slots available at each of the 10 WTCR events, thereby building additional interest in the all-new series and promoting strong domestic talent."
Three outfits have so far announced entries.
Comtoyou Racing revealed earlier this month that it had signed Denis Dupont and Aurelien Panis for the 2018 season, and on Tuesday '17 WTCC runner-up Norbert Michelisz and '09 world champion Gabriele Tarquini were announced at the BRC Racing Hyundai outfit.
Boutsen Ginion, which ran Honda Civics in the TCR International Series, will enter the series with two of the latest model Honda Civic FK8 Type R TCRs but is yet to announce its drivers.
Belgian outfit DG Sport announced its intention to contest the world cup with a pair of Peugeot 308TCRs, but that project remained dependent on the team securing the necessary budget.
2018 WTCR line-up so far
Comtoyou Audi: Denis Dupont, Aurelien Panis
BRC Racing Hyundai: Norbert Michelisz, Gabriele Tarquini
Boutsen Ginion Honda: TBA
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