Bathurst charging towards an electric TCR future

The world’s first electric touring car racer could be turning demonstration laps at Bathurst in 2020 as part of an ambitious new TCR festival at Mount Panorama.

The landmark E TCR prototype is part of a multi-pronged package that would include a leg of the World TCR Championship and a TCR endurance race, likely to include two drivers over 500km, during a weekend of new-generation touring car racing.

The Bathurst 500 plan is to be presented by the Australian Racing Group to Bathurst City Council later this week as one of the three final contenders for the fifth event at Mount Panorama from 2020.

The others on the shortlist are from Supercars Australia, which refuses to provide detail of its proposal but reportedly has changed it several times, and Mountain Motorsport, a specialist road rally organiser.

“If we are discussing 2020, it could be that we could air-freight our car for a demonstration. Why not?” global TCR boss, Marcello Lotti, told carsales during his flying visit to the second round of the carsales TCR Australia Series at Phillip Island last weekend.

Lotti is clearly in favour of the Bathurst TCR plan and, apart from the potential for the E TCR runner, promises a full grid of 55 cars for the planned endurance event.

He also confirmed he has had preliminary talks with the WTCR promoter about a sprint race that would become part of a Bathurst double-header.

“It’s exciting, clearly. When we talk about legends, the Bathurst race is at the top. We have 82 different [TCR] tracks around the world and to have an opportunity to go for this one would be very exciting for the whole TCR community,” he said.

“Because of the legend around this track it would be better to have an opportunity for everyone to come and enjoy. For one event like that, people would come from Europe, from America.

“For the format, we have to be careful if it is better as a sprint race or an endurance event. If we are to be there it has to be at an international level.

“It could be we have 50 or 60 cars. There are many cars in Asia, 50 in China and 20 in Japan, also New Zealand and America.”

During his TCR Australia visit, Lotti confirmed that the Australian Racing Group had been awarded the TCR rights for New Zealand, a move that is likely to provide a series of synergies including trans-Tasman migration to boost grid counts in both countries.

The NZ series is expected to start in the first half of 2020, with more than a dozen cars already confirmed and several Australian teams potentially to become involved.

While Lotti is assisting the ARG principals including Matt Braid with the Bathurst plan, he was also happy to tout his E TCR ambitions.

Formula E and its supporting events featuring Jaguar’s I-PACE are currently the only major categories running on battery power and a plan to electrify rallycross has stumbled without manufacturer support.

But Lotti’s creation of the TCR category has sparked the building of 850 petrol-powered racers, which compete around the world in more than a dozen individual championships, and his organisation has now built a prototype based on a Seat Cupra.

It has been switched from front- to rear-wheel drive, is capable of racing for more than 30 minutes on a single charge, and plans for an E TCR championship would involve common key components including the battery, motor, invertor and control computers.

“The car has 500kW. It is rear-wheel drive. It is very fast -- it is a proper car,” Lotti said.

“At the moment we have four factories committed. We already have six manufacturers interested. But I cannot tell you the names.

“I think from 2021 and 2022 it is starting. In the race it would probably be 300 to 350kW, and in qualifying the teams can use their own fantasy.”