Romeo Ferraris has released the first photos of its new TCR specification Alfa Romeo Giulietta, which was planned to make its début in the TCR International Series season finale in Macau.
The Italian team planned to enter one car on the streets of Macau, driven by experienced racer Salvatore Tavano, who took a win in the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) back in 2006 when racing an Alfa Romeo.
“It has been hard work, because we had in mind the target of running the Giulietta before the end of the season,” explained Mario Ferraris. “Finally the first car was completed and the engine tested on the bench with promising results. We are now ready to begin the technical development on the track.”
The company had originally hoped to test the car in November before it was flown to Macau, but that proved to be problematic. Thus the team will not race in the former Portuguese colony as originally planned.
“Unfortunately that plan proved to be a bit too optimistic,” added Ferraris. “On top of this, we did not want to risk that lack of preparation and experience could affect our first appearance in the championship. Especially not on a difficult track like Macau!”
Unlike the majority of the cars on the grid, the Giulietta will be powered by a 1.8-litre turbo engine, although Ferraris are confident that despite having a smaller engine on paper than most of the 2-litre grid that the engine can deliver equivalent horsepower.
Ferraris and Tavano will share testing duties next week in Italy. The car will cost €98,000 plus tax, with ten planned to be delivered to customers by April 2016.
