Since its introduction in 2015, the TCR International Series has quickly grown in popularity for both fans and teams. Based around the concept of being exciting yet attractively priced, the series has piqued the interest of several manufacturers, as diverse as Subaru, Volkswagen, Honda, and now, Alfa Romeo.
2016 will see a two car entry by the racing and tuning garage of Romeo Ferraris, who will field Alfa Romeo’s Giulietta in TCR specification. Much like the highly dominant Alfa Romeo 155 BTCC and DTM cars of the mid-1990’s, the new Giulietta’s will be equipped with racing shock absorbers from Bilstein.
N.T.P. from Eppan in South Tyrol, Italy, acted as the technical link to the German suspension specialist. The company is not only a renowned importer of high-performance components, but has also made a name for itself designing customised Bilsteinsuspension solutions as one of Bilstein’s technical centres.
“Everything we produced had to precisely meet Romeo Ferraris’ requirements. These included extremely precise dimensions for the rebound and compression travel”, explained Jochen Trettl from N.T.P. “As always, the aim of our development work is to find the easiest and best solution for making the car capable of winning the TCR.”
In accordance with the TCR technical regulations, the cars will use a two-way shock absorber with adjustable compression and rebound stages from Bilstein’s MDS range on the front axle. At the rear, N.T.P. independently designed and adapted the shock absorber using Bilstein MDS components. The car also uses Eibach ERS springs fore and aft.
Ferraris has also stated that the Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR is not intended to be a one-off car; it will be produced in a small series of around ten vehicles.
