TOCA has announced today that hybrid energy will be introduced to the British Touring Car Championship in the next wave of regulations at the end of 2021.
The series organiser announced the news after the BTCC Technical Working Group (TWG) agreed on an outline to implement hybrid power into the championship.
The new rules will come into effect at the end of 2021, with a specified hybrid unit to be fitted to all cars in addition to their current drive train.
This will add an extra strategic element to the BTCC, as each car will have a reserve of supplementary hybrid power available during each race.
The next step for the project may well see some current cars fitted with hybrid units during 2020/2021 for testing and development reasons.
More detailed technical decisions are expected to be made over the next 12-18 months.
The Series Director of the BTCC, Alan Gow, said: “We’re going through a very important and exciting time for this great championship, so I’m delighted to now confirm that the BTCC will be introducing hybrid energy as part of our evolution.
“This concept was very welcomed at our recent TWG meeting and now the real work begins as to the technical implementation. But different to hybrid development within the likes of Formula 1, this certainly shouldn’t – and won’t – be an ‘extreme’ technical exercise, but rather will be one which we will introduce within our NGTC technical regulations relatively seamlessly and very cost-effectively.”
Gow also spoke of the importance of keeping the championship relevant in the context of modern road-going machinery, and the fact that it will add another element to race strategy.
“Just as importantly, by incorporating hybrid it keeps the BTCC absolutely relevant to manufacturers, sponsors and the public… with the added benefit of further enhancing our great racing.
“Drivers will have a given reserve of additional hybrid power to use during each race, which will provide an extra element of race-craft and excitement to the fantastically close and entertaining racing that is the hallmark of the BTCC.”