Private racing team to develop electric Alfa Romeo for ETCR
The Italian tuning and racing team Romeo Ferraris has announced the development of an electric version of the Alfa Romeo Giulia for the electric touring car racing series ETCR, which will start next year.
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The Monza-based racing team has now published the first image of the Alfa Romeo Giulia ETCR on Instagram. It is the first private team to confirm its participation in the 2020 ETCR, so far Seat subsidiary Cupra and Hyundai have presented their racing cars. Romeo Ferraris is not competing with a purchased factory car, but with its own development. There is no support from Fiat-Chrysler.
In order to participate in the ETCR, the basic vehicle does not necessarily have to be a BEV – Hyundai, for example, drives a converted version of the Veloster, while the Cupra e-Racer is based on the Seat Leon. It can be used with any four- or five-door sedan. In the racing version, an electric motor with 300 kW continuous power and 500 kW peak power must be used. The power is transmitted to the rear axle via a single-speed gearbox. The battery has an energy content of 65 kWh.
The components such as battery, engine, inverter and transmission are standard parts for all vehicles, but the teams can (and must) find their own solutions when adapting to the vehicles. Thanks to these standard parts, Romeo Ferraris hopes to be able to compete with the factory teams. “We believe that electric is the obvious choice for the future,” says Michela Cerruti, Operations Manager of Romeo Ferraris.
Romeo Ferraris has already rebuilt the Alfa Romeo Giulietta for the combustion engine TCR series, winning both the TCR International Series and the FIA WTCR races. “After providing the Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR with the best results that could be achieved with a non-work based program like ours, we courageously plunge into the new concept of the ETCR series,” says Cerruti.
Update 30 November 2020: Almost one year after the initial announcement, Romeo Ferraris has presented the ETCR racing car. Since the car’s key data are specified by regulations, there are two changes worth mentioning compared to 2019: While the car was still partially painted in white on the renderings at the time of the announcement, the car now presented in Spain is mainly red. Accordingly, the finished racing car is now called “Furia Rossa” by its Italian developers.
Just how fast and efficient the red Fury really is will be shown in 2021 in the first season of ETCR. Similar to the World Rallycross Championship WRX, the ETCR will be held in several short elimination races in a knockout system. Driver at Romeo Ferraris will be Jean-Karl Vernay.
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