ETCR - Electric Touring Car Racing

The FIA ETCR was the top category of the electric touring car pyramid. In the championship organized by Discovery Sports Events, manufacturers Cupra, Hyundai, and private team Romeo Ferraris competed against each other. The debut season of the series, then known as "Pure ETCR," started in June 2021 with a race in Vallelunga, Italy. Cupra driver Mattias Ekström became the first champion in October of the same year. Since 2022, the now-renamed ETCR series operated as the "FIA eTouring Car World Cup" under the umbrella of the international automobile governing body FIA.

Unlike in traditional touring car motorsport, the race format of ETCR is heavily influenced by rallycross: Most of the events are held in the form of "battles," in which only a small part of all cars participate. Nearly all battles begin at a special starting gate, which releases all drivers simultaneously and side-by-side into the race. A race lasts only a few laps. An essential part of the race format is also power boosts, which provide all participants with a "power-up" mode for a few seconds. Between races, all cars are charged at the "Energy Station," which is also accessible to fans.

Since its first season, ETCR has committed to "climate neutrality" and has planted more than 4,500 trees for CO2 compensation, including near the Aragon racetrack in Spain.

In early 2023, Discovery Sports Events announced it would no longer be promoting the ETCR championship. Organisers since have been trying to line up a new promoter for the series, so far with little success. If a replacement can't be found, it seems unlikely the ETCR will return before 2024.

ETCR Calender 2022

* together with WTCR
** together with GT Masters

Drivers & Teams in ETCR 2022

Technology

Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) and Magelec Propulsion, under the umbrella of WSC Technology, provided all ETCR teams with a standardized powertrain package. This meant that each constructor used the same motors, inverters, batteries, electronic control units, and cooling systems. Only the chassis could be modified by the manufacturers to match the appearance of their production models.

The race cars were powered by two electric motors on the rear axle. The peak power output was 300 kW (408 PS) or 450 kW (603 PS) in standard race mode, with the power-up mode briefly increasing the maximum power output to 500 kW (680 PS). Therefore, the ETCR was the most powerful vehicle class in touring car racing at the time. ETCR cars could accelerate from 0 to 100 kph in just 2.7 seconds.

Between sessions, all cars were charged at the "Energy Station" using CCS2 chargers. The required energy was generated in hydrogen fuel cells. The ETCR batteries, developed by Williams Advanced Engineering, could be charged from 10 to 90 percent of their capacity within an hour.

ETCR race format: Battles, Hot-Zone & Power-ups

The race weekend started on Friday with two free practice sessions for all cars. Afterwards, ETCR drew two pools ("Fast" and "Furious"), each with six cars. Each constructor had to be represented by at least two cars in each pool. Throughout the weekend, drivers could not leave their respective pools and were to compete against the same five opponents on Saturday and Sunday, independent of the events in the other pool.

Each pool started the weekend with a time trial session where all drivers had full power of 500 kW available. Then, each pool was divided into two groups of three, depending on their rankings. The top three drivers competed against each other in the quarter-finals, while positions 4 to 6 raced against each other. The first two battles of the weekend lasted no more than 15 minutes and began with the opening of the start gate. The trios had a constant power of 300 kW available, with "power-up" boosts that could be used for overtaking, increasing the maximum power to 500 kW for 40 seconds.

In the semi-finals, there were also short battles with groups of three. Here, the top two drivers from the first quarterfinal competed against the first-placed driver from the second quarter-final. In the second quarter-final, the remaining three pilots from the pool raced against each other. As in the quarter-finals, the basic power is 300 kW. The result of the semi-finals determined the starting grid for the so-called DHL SuperFinal, where all six cars from a pool met for the first time. Similar to the previous rounds, the constant power was 300 kW, with power-ups that could temporarily increase the power to 500 kW.

Between the battles, all drivers prepared for their races in the so-called Hot-Zone and followed the races of the other groups. The heart of the paddock was the "Energy Station", accessible and interactive for fans, where the vehicles were also charged.

Points in ETCR