Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition that uses race prepared touring cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States.
Throughout its history, BMW cars and motorcycles have been successful in a range of motorsport activities. Apart from the factory efforts, many privateer teams enter BMW road cars in touring car racing. BMW also entered cars or provided engines in Formula One, Formula Two and sportscar racing. BMW is currently active in IMSA, the Isle of Man TT, the North West 200, the Superbike World Championship and the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters.
The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as the British Touring Car Championship for the 1987 season. The championship, currently running Next Generation Touring Car regulations, has been run to various national and international regulations over the years including FIA Group 2, FIA Group 5, FIA Group 1, FIA Group A, FIA Super Touring and FIA Super 2000. A lower-key Group N class for production cars ran from 2000 until 2003.
The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a single season in 1987 as the World Touring Car Championship and most recently a world championship (WTCC) that has run between 2005 and 2017. Following the 2017 season, an agreement was reached for the FIA WTCC to become FIA WTCR and use the TCR technical regulations.
The European Touring Car Championship was an international touring car racing series organised by the FIA. It had two incarnations, the first one between 1963 and 1988, and the second between 2000 and 2004. In 2005 it was superseded by the World Touring Car Championship, and replaced by the European Touring Car Cup between 2005 and 2017 when became also defunct.
Schnitzer Motorsport was a motorsport team based in Freilassing near Munich, Germany. From the early days of its establishment, the team mostly operated an automobile racing squad for BMW, and had remarkable results in touring car and sports car racing. The team would often run the cars for BMW under the name of "BMW Motorsport". In 2012, the team operated the DTM team for BMW under the name of "BMW Team Schnitzer".
The 2006 World Touring Car Championship season was the third season of FIA World Touring Car Championship motor racing. It featured a ten event, twenty race series which commenced on 2 April 2006 and ended on 19 November. The series was open to Super 2000, Diesel 2000 and Super Production Cars, with two titles awarded, the FIA World Touring Car Champion for Drivers and the FIA World Touring Car Champion for Manufacturers. Andy Priaulx won the Drivers title and BMW won the Manufacturers award.
The 2007 World Touring Car Championship season was the 4th season of FIA World Touring Car Championship motor racing. The championship, which commenced on 11 March and ended on 18 November, after twenty-two races, was open to Super 2000 Cars, Diesel 2000 Cars and Super Production Cars as defined by the relevant FIA regulations. The Drivers' Championship was won by Andy Priaulx and the Manufacturers' Championship by BMW.
The 1987 World Touring Car Championship season was the inaugural World Touring Car Championship season. It commenced on 22 March 1987 and ended on 15 November after eleven races. The championship was open to Touring Cars complying with FIA Group A regulations. The Drivers title was won by Roberto Ravaglia in a BMW M3 and the Entrants title by Eggenberger Motorsport in a Ford Sierra Cosworth No 7.
Super 2000 is an FIA powertrain specification used in the World Rally Championship, the British Touring Car Championship, the World Touring Car Championship, and other touring car championships. The engines were originally 2 L naturally aspirated, and later being also allowed 1.6 L turbocharged units producing approximately 280 bhp.
Norbert Michelisz is a Hungarian auto racing driver. He was the 2019 winner of the World Touring Car Cup and the 2023 winner of the TCR World Tour.
Engstler Motorsport is a private German auto racing team based in Wiggensbach, run by driver Franz Engstler. It has competed successfully in the Asian Touring Car Championship and the ADAC Procar Series. It is sponsored by lubricants company Liqui Moly and known officially as Liqui Moly Team Engstler.
Mehdi Bennani is a Moroccan racing driver who currently competes in the TCR Europe with Sébastien Loeb Racing. He was TCR Europe Champion in 2020 with the Belgian team Comtoyou Racing.
The 2010 World Touring Car Championship season was the seventh season of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, and the sixth since its 2005 return. It began with the Race of Brazil at Curitiba on 7 March and ended with the Guia Race of Macau at the Guia Circuit on 21 November, after twenty-two races at eleven events. The championship was open to both Super 2000 and Diesel 2000 cars.
Masaki Kano is a Japanese auto racing driver who currently races in the Super GT racing series. He is best known for having competed in the World Touring Car Championship.
The 2011 World Touring Car Championship season was the eighth season of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, and the seventh since its 2005 return. The championship, which was open to Super 2000 cars and Diesel 2000 cars, began with the Race of Brazil at Curitiba on 20 March and ended with the Guia Race of Macau at the Guia Circuit on 20 November, after twelve events and twenty-four races.
Next Generation Touring Car, also known as NGTC and by its Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) designation TCN-1, is an FIA and TOCA specification and classification for production based race cars. The specification covers national level touring car racing. The goal of the limited choices in engines and parts in the NGTC classification is to allow more manufacturers and privateers to race by reducing the cost of a competitive car and to reduce reliance on the increasingly expensive Super 2000 equipment. The only significant differences between different models is the external body shells and the use of front- or rear-wheel drive; the suspension, brakes and transmissions are common to all cars, and engines are of uniform performance.
The 2013 World Touring Car Championship season was the tenth season of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, and the ninth since the series was revived in 2005. The championship, which was reserved for cars run to Super 2000 regulations, began with the Race of Italy on 23 March and concluded with the Race of Macau in support of the Macau Grand Prix at the Guia Circuit on 17 November, after twenty-four races at twelve events.
JAS Motorsport is an Italian motor racing team and an engineering and manufacturing company. It was founded in 1995 by Paolo Jasson, Maurizio Ambrogetti and Giorgio Schon. The company initially competed with Alfa Romeo in 1996 and 1997. Since 1998, they have been an official partner of Honda, and have developed, built and raced cars in various different disciplines for the Japanese manufacturer, as well as provided customer racing services.
The FIA World Touring Car Cup was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had different incarnation of a World Touring Car Cup held between 1993 and 1995. Following the 2017 season, an agreement was reached for the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) to become WTCR and use the TCR technical regulations. As factory teams were not allowed to compete in WTCR, the series lost the 'World Championship' status of the WTCC, instead becoming a 'Cup'.
