#TouringCar

Four of the eight venues for the 2012 Pirelli World Challenge Schedule has been announced, but the bigger news is the confirmation of the new Touring Car B-Spec Class, something we’ve been eagerly awaiting.

BMW reportedly considered creating a stripped-out CSL version of its M6 luxury coupe, but ended up axing the project after the company could not justify a business case for the car.

The World Touring Car Championship, a popular series in Europe, is planning to come to North America as a book-end to its usual race in Brazil. So far, the location of such an event is undecided.

What you’re looking at might be the most badass Toyota in existence right now. The Toyota Avensis BTCC bears a resemblance to the dowdy, Euro-market family sedan, but rest assured that these cars can positively rip it up on the track.

In a move that would have been unthinkable in the last decade, but is hardly surprising in this era, BMW has announced that it is abandoning factory support for the World Touring Car Championship.

The move comes after BMW’s  withdrawl from Formula 1 at the end of the 2009 season, and a change in management at BMW Motorsport. BMW will still offer the 320 TC to independent teams, leaving Chevrolet and Volvo as the only factory-supported outfits in the series.

BMW will still support European endurance racing with their M3 and Z4 programs, as well as an upcoming DTM effort, a WRC team for its MINI division and driver development programs.

Hit the jump to see the official press release

[Source: BMW]

The German DTM Touring Car series is looking to make a foray into North America sometime around 2013, with a possible partnership involving NASCAR and Grand-Am.

Volvo is set to enter the World Touring Car Championship in 2011, and while the brand isn’t normally associated with motorsports, the Volvo 850 wagon had a previous campaign in the British Touring Car Championship, where it was famous for being a station wagon, and having a penchant for going up on three wheels.

Now, Volvo is planning to return to touring cars with a WTCC entry based on the S60. A successful season in the Swedish Touring Car Championship spurred Volvo on to the idea of taking their race program to the rest of Europe, and with top rivals SEAT and BMW scaling back their efforts, we’d say that the Swedes have a decent shot of winning.

[Source: Volvo]

Hit the jump to see the official press release

It was only a matter of time until someone turned a Porsche Panamera into a race car. Virtually every Porsche (Cayenne excluded) has been subjected to some form of competition, even the lowly cast-offs like the 924 and 914.

N.Technology, an Italian race shop, decided to be the first to step up to the plate with the Porsche Panamera platform, selecting the “base” Panamera S, with a naturally aspirated V8 and rear-wheel drive, as the base for their new Touring Car.

The Panamera will be piloted by Fabrizio Giovanardi, a well known European touring car driver, with the car competing in the new Superstars series, with the first race at Hockenheim, Germany on July 2nd.

Full specs after the jump

[Source: Jon Sibal]

While our most popular sedan-based racing series involves only left turns, Europe has a long, storied history of touring car racing, where pumped up sedans go head to head on some of the world’s most famous tracks. British automaker Jaguar is hoping to get into the action with a new touring car of its own.

Let’s get this right out in the open: Why do the Swedes get all the fun? How awesome is this Volvo C30 “Performance Concept” prototype? It packs a 405 horsepower and 376 ft-lbs turbocharged 5-cylinder T5 motor (similar to the one used in the Ford Focus RS500), all-wheel-drive, front-and-rear limited slip differentials, Öhlins suspension components, Brembo brakes, and, yeah…you get the idea.

The body kit is similar to the one used on the — defending champion — Polestar Racing STCC (Swedish Touring Car Championship) C30 race car. Polestar Racing is the official partner of Volvo Cars in the STCC and is used to winning on the track. Polestar Performance Power Operations is an aftermarket line of upgrades sold through the Volvo dealer network — and it appears they’ve applied a bunch of their tricks here.

It’ll be unveiled in full at the Gothenburg Motorshow, held from April 22-25 2010.

Full specs (in slightly broken English) and a video of the heavenly-sounding Polestar Racing STCC Volvo C30 embedded after the jump!

Earlier today we reported that RealTime Racing would be taking their expertise to the new GTS class in World Challenge. So perhaps there’s a changing of the guard with a new manufacturer poised to enter the World Challenge Touring Car class – Scion

Toyota’s youth brand is no strangers to all forms of motorsports, sponsoring and fielding cars in road racing, time attack, drag racing and even drifting. Sure some of these cars aren’t even close to what you get off the lot as a commuter, but Scion has continued strengthened its brand and image by posting fast lap times and setting records. Two cars and three drivers will be campaigned throughout the season with all the world’s attention turned to St. Petersburg, Florida this weekend for the first race of the season.

The Scion tCs are equipped with a plethora of parts from OE Scion, TRD (including their supercharger, intercooler and big brake kit) and Dan Gardner Spec (DG-Spec), performance parts that Gardner has developed over three years of racing Scions. Gardner’s resume of racing includes 2009 championships in NASA PTC and WERC Endurance E1. His partner-in-crime for the No. 36 car will be Tom Lepper, veteran club and Grand-Am driver who took top honors in the US Touring Car Championship series in 2009. The second car, the No. 18 Scion tC, will be piloted by 18-year-old Robert Stout, 2009 NASA PTA National Champion.

Make sure to check out the full press release and a video of testing after the break. And be sure to have your TVs set and ready for the playback of this weekend’s event.

[Source: World Challenge News]