Motorsport Series News for January 19, 2022 – The Radical, the Clio, Racing in India and More

Motorsport Series News for January 19, 2022
Radical SR10 Photo by Radical

This week I have motorsport series news that spans the globe and covers everything from one make sportscars to Hypercars, Formula 4, the Road to Indy and more. Let’s hit the track!

Sports Cars, Touring Cars & One Makes

  • Toyota revealed their GR GT3 concept at the Tokyo Auto Salon. According to Toyota: “TGR is committed to further accelerating customer motorsports activities to make the world of motorsports sustainable. Promoting ‘driver first’ car development and with a desire to provide attractive cars that customers participating in GT3, which is the pinnacle of customer motorsports, would choose, TGR has unveiled the GR GT3 Concept.” No further details were announced.
  • In addition to the GR GT3 Toyota unveiled the GR86 GT300. This new vehicle is built to the GTA GT300 vehicle specifications, using the cabin from the road-going GR86 (ZN8) chassis, with a lightweight body and advanced aerodynamics – traits which have defined the GT300 regulations’ contrast to the heavier, more powerful FIA GT3 category vehicles. Further details can be found at Daily Sportscar.
  • Porsche have begun their long awaited return to high level prototype sportscar racing with news that their new LMDh prototype has made its test debut at Porsche’s Weissach test facility. No times were released but testing will continue over the next week or two at Weissach.
Motorsport Series News for January 19, 2022 - The Radical, the Clio, Racing in India and More
Peugeot 9X8
  • The TCR Europe race series have appointed Kumho as their official tire supplier. The tire manufacturer will provide teams with its dry weather ECSTA S700 and the wet weather ECSTA W701 competition tires. Under the supply arrangement, Kumho will also supply its products to TCR Spain, TCR Eastern Europe and TCR Denmark.
  • Believe it or not the the 2021 Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia Pro-Am title remains unawarded due to an ongoing appeal process. A decision is only expected in late January.
  • The BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship has announced that build kits and fully built race cars are now available to order for our next-generation Fiesta Junior Championship. Based on the 1.6 Sigma engined Mk7 Fiesta Zetec S, the next-generation car will race alongside the current Mk6 ST150 model within a 2-Class structure. This means that owners of Mk6 ST150 spec cars have the security of still being able to enjoy competing in their existing cars until the next-generation Mk7 Zetec S cars eventually supersede them. More details can be found here.

Single-Seaters

Motorsport Series News for January 19, 2022 - The Radical, the Clio, Racing in India and More
photo credit: Vaqaas Mansuri
  • Despite the recent setback, it looks like Indian motorsport is on an upswing as Perceval Wolff at F1 Feeder Series talks to Aditya Patel about the Formula Regional Indian Championship (FRIC) and Indian F4 and how this will make a difference to motorsport throughout the sub-continent.
  • While the two Indian development series prepare to get going, the Formula Regional Asian Championship is looking strong as four F1 juniors are among the 28 drivers confirmed for this weekend’s first round. The opening FRAC round begins this weekend at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, with a two-day test followed by three races around the grand prix circuit. The championship will feature five rounds, all taking place in the UAE, with three events at the Dubai Autodrome featured between two rounds at Yas Marina to begin and end the season.
  • For that brief period time when the Formula Renault Eurocup and the upstart Formula Regional European Championship (FREC) co-existed, I don’t think anybody thought it was a good idea. One or both series would suffer from a dilution of talent and/or car count and that is exactly how it all played out with FREC tending to be on the losing end of the deal. When the two series merged in 2021 there was a collective sigh of relief and car counts confirmed the fact that a merger was the right move. Formula Scout looks at how things worked out in 2021, the first year of the merger in how FRegional’s first year of European unification played out.

That’s it for Motorsport Series news this week. Tomorrow is the regular sim racing round-up as well as some amazing new cars available in the Motorsport Prospects Marketplace that you can own. Stay safe and see you at the track!

Mark Boudreau
Author: Mark Boudreau

Mark is the publisher of Motorsport Prospects. As a former lawyer, he applies his legal background and research skills to assist race drivers by showcasing the resources they need to make their motorsport careers happen.