Looking to return to action in 2021, TCR Asia releases provisional calendar | Asia Motorsports Network
By Jim Moore
01/21/2021
Despite several efforts to salvage the year, TCR Asia saw their entire 2020 season scrapped due to Covid-19 restrictions in key countries. David Sonenscher announced on March 20, 2020 the postponement of the start of the new season just 3 weeks prior to the scheduled opening round at Sepang International Circuit. By that time most of the entire Motorsport world was already reeling with postponement or outright cancellation notices. According to Touring Car Times TCR Asia planned for an August restart using a geographically split for teams before coming back together for the final two rounds at Macau and Sepang, However ongoing travel restrictions and quarantines made it impossible to run in 2020.
The picture today isn’t much clearer, but with other series announcing their schedules the pressure was building for TCR Asia to give teams some idea of what to expect in 2021. Again according to Touring Car Times TCR Asia will open the 2021 season on May 7th at Shanghai International Circuit along side TCR China. From there they will make 2 additional stops in China before heading to Sepang International Circuit in August for 2 rounds and finally wrapping up in Macau.
The big question will Covid-19 restrictions be eased enough in time for them to pull this off and how many teams they will be able to attract this year. Liqui Moly Team Engstler has dominated both the driver and team competitions over the last several years and without new entrants TCR Asia could find themselves in a difficult position in 2021. With F1 already announcing the postponement of the Shanghai stop, TCR Asia may once again be forced into a split in order to have a 2021 season.
2021 TCR Asia Provisional Calendar
May 7-9 Shanghai International Circuit
Jun 18-19 Zhejiang International Circuit
Jul 2-4 Jiangsu Wanchi International Circuit
Aug 13-15 Sepang International Circuit
Sep 17-19 Sepang International Circuit
Nov TBC Macau Grand Prix
Sources: TCR Asia Series (tcr-series.com), TCR Asia and TCR China issue provisional 2021 calendars – TouringCarTimes
