FIA Touring Car World Cup: 1993-1995
Not long after the demise of the original World Touring Car Championship, the Super Touring boom led to another attempt at a world title event for touring cars. This time the title would be awarded at a standalone event held towards the end of the season, featuring drivers from Super Touring championships all around the world.
In 1993 and 1995 the event consisted of two races, with the highest points scorer across the two races crowned champion, while in 1994 the title was awarded following a single race. Regardless of the format though, all three iterations attracted remarkable entry lists. 40+ cars were scheduled to compete in each of the three years the World Cup was held, and the quality of the field was probably about as good as has ever been assembled; if you name any star tin-top driver of this era, there’s a very high likelihood they contested at least one of the World Cups.
Surprisingly the races weren’t all complete chaos, although the carnage of the 1994 running at Donington certainly made up for the tamer event at Monza the year prior. Paul Radisich was the victor in 1993 and 1994, both times racing an Andy Rouse-prepared Ford Mondeo, while Frank Biela claimed the title in 1995 with an Audi A4 quattro.
Despite the ongoing success of the Super Touring regulations, the World Cup was cancelled for 1996 due to declining interest. It would take another decade and the re-launch of the World Touring Car Championship for there to be another touring car world champion.
Confusingly, when the WTCC eventually re-branded and became WTCR it meant there had been both a Touring Car World Cup (1993-1995) and a World Touring Car Cup (2018-2022). With such a similar name you sort of wonder why the old name wasn’t simply revived, but then that would be too simple, wouldn’t it?