TOCA ‘unlocks’ further potential in next five-year cycle
TOCA – organiser of the British Touring Car Championship – has today (22 July) announced its technical regulations for the next five-year cycle, commencing with the 2027 BTCC season.
The NGTC technical regulations were first introduced in the BTCC during the 2011 campaign before being phased in fully over the next three years, aimed at reducing costs and promoting greater parity among competitors.
Now, in its 15th season and with another year left of the existing specifications, TOCA has again put together an evolution of these successful regulations for a further five years – up until at least the end of 2031.
The goal of the new regulation cycle was to protect the assets of teams by maintaining eligibility for existing machinery, whilst introducing additional car and engine options, thereby expanding opportunities.
Firstly, TOCA has unlocked the necessity for the specific model of the car to be sold in the UK.
From 2027, providing that the vehicle brand is sold within the UK, then any model from that brand can be entered – as long as the car is originally equipped with an internal combustion engine as its primary means of motive power and, of course, conforms to the size and body regulations as per currently.
This change will allow a wider variety of cars to enter the BTCC, thus providing teams with greater flexibility and availability in choosing models that fit their goals, as well as giving spectators the experience of seeing cars compete that they may not have seen before.
Furthermore, TOCA has also unlinked the engine requirements to each respective car, meaning that any BTCC-homologated engine can be used – not necessarily that from the original manufacturer of that specific car.
Registered BTCC engine builders will also be bound to supply its engine to any interested team(s) if requested, although no engine supplier can provide more than 50% of the entered cars – with the exception of the TOCA engine, which is always made available to all teams.
Opening up engine availability and supply will enable teams and engine builders to more easily select their optimum base engine and share development costs.
A number of other technical regulations have received modest amendments with the full document due to be released over the coming weeks.
This news follows the recent announcement that TOCA has also been contracted to operate and promote the British Touring Car Championship through to the end of 2031.
Alan Gow, BTCC Chief Executive, said: “We’re pleased to announce the BTCC’s technical regulations for the next five-year cycle, to commence in 2027, and I thank all our teams for their invaluable input over the last two years to bring them to fruition.
“Every team wanted the BTCC to continue with the evolution of our great technical regulations… that was unquestioned. Therefore, our current stakeholders now have the assurance that their major components and capital investment will remain valid through 2031.
“This evolution of the regulations also provides teams with more options, through opening the door to a host of new models and engines that can now be eligible for the BTCC.
“We value these successful regulations, which will have largely been in place for almost 20 years at the conclusion of this next cycle. The BTCC technical regulations, like the BTCC itself, is a true British success story.”
