Photo: TCR International Series
The Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR car is set to make its North American debut in both IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge and Pirelli World Challenge competition next year, as part of a new project spearheaded by former American Le Mans Series entrant Tim Munday.
The ex-Champion Racing crew chief has resurrected his 24 Hours of Le Mans GT2 class-winning BAM! organization to serve as the North American representative for Romeo Ferraris, which builds the Alfa TCR car on behalf of the Italian manufacturer.
Munday has been designated as the car’s official agent for North and South America, with plans to run at least two cars of his own in PWC’s new TCR class next year, while supporting customers in both series.
His connection to the TCR platform, ironically, came through a competitor’s model in Europe earlier this year.
“I’ve been doing the Creventic series with a Honda for Insight Racing,” Munday told Sportscar365. “I tried to get a Honda deal [for North America] and HPD shot me down.
“Then I got talking with the Alfa guys. I’ve done a lot of Alfa historics in HSR. They were up for it and they gave me the deal.
“I’m in place to supply the cars to these championships.”
While the Giulietta is not for sale as a production car in North America, Munday said he’s received dispensation from IMSA to allow it in Continental Tire Challenge, and has also paid the required manufacturer marketing commitment on behalf of Alfa.
The South Florida-based Brit said he’s already received inquiries from six teams wanting to run the car in the new-for-2018 TCR class.
“It’s been running for three years; It was one of the first cars [in TCR],” Munday said. “It’s won races and has come close to the championship the first year and has won races this year. It’s big in Europe and has been doing great.”
Munday said he’ll have an Alfa TCR at Daytona for IMSA’s Balance of Performance test in December, where it will be joined by at least three other TCR models that are expected to compete in the class, which will compete alongside ST and GS next year.
“We’re hedging our bets at the moment,” he said. “But if it goes big like we think it will, it would be awesome. It would be like British Touring Cars in America.
“The racing should be awesome. The cars are cheap, powerful and fast.”
While supplying cars and technical support to customers, Munday said he’ll enter two cars in PWC next year, likely under the Alfa TCR banner, with himself as one of the drivers.
Despite not currently having any direct manufacturer involvement, the team boss is hopeful the program could see support from Alfa in the future.
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