The long lost Japan Touring Car Championship is set to be resurrected from the dead in 2012 and give JDM fans something to go berserk over again.
The modern touring car scene there was birthed from the European Group A scene that saw Ford and BMW enjoy relative success in Japan against the domestic Skylines RS, Supras and Starions before the domination of the series by the godzilla R32.
A change in regulations saw the series take on a Supertouring angle in the mid-90’s that saw the withdrawal of many manufacturers and the subsequent attention of the spectators being turned towards the Japan GT series, now known as the Super GT.
Although the plug was pulled at the dawn of the new millennium, the JTCC did give us some fantastic racecars like the Honda Accord anf Toyota Chaser driven by the top dogs of that era.
The idea of touring cars did start to take a fancy in the hearts of the Japanese motorsports fans once again when the World Touring Car Championship begun to make a stop at Okayama a few years ago. If everything falls into place now, 2012 could see the revival of the JTCC with a short six race calendar to kick things off with, including a street race in Macau.
The same organizing committee for the JTCC 12 years ago will be in charge now as well and made the announcement days ago. Unlike the Super GT series that has a more relaxed take on regulations, the JTCC will be run under the FIA S2000 regulations that are almost identical to the WTCC rulebook.
There is a drawback to the plan though, that being that no Japanese manufacturer has pledged an allegiance to join the series just yet. Nissan are running Latios in the Chinese Touring Car Championship but apart from that, no other Japanese manufacturer is currently directly involved in touring car racing.
It’s interesting to note though that some Toyota officials were spotted in the WTCC paddock amid speculations of an S2000 spec Toyota Auris for rallying that could be adapted for circuit racing. That being said, nothing’s set in stone as of yet.
Japanese manufacturers participation will make or break the JTCC so for now, hope is all we have.
Source: 7tune
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]-->
