British Touring Car Championship boss Alan Gow is keen to see the grid reduce to 26 cars in the future.
Britain’s leading national series has enjoyed a period of growth which has resulted in the grid swelling to 32 entries since the introduction of the TOCA BTCC Licence (TBL) in 2014.
Similar to the Racing Entitlement Contracts (RECs) used in Supercars, each entrant is required to purchase a TBL to earn a place on the grid.
Championship regulations allow for these licences to be sold and leased among teams or forfeited if an entrant fails to attend each race meeting.
Australian born series director Gow believes the championship is currently ‘bursting at seams’ and could benefit from reducing its grid size.
“In my honest opinion, I would prefer for there to be less cars and in fact I’ve been telling the teams over the last couple of years that I want to reduce the grid size,” said Gow.
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“Obviously I’m not going to just take a team’s TBL from them, so I have been hoping it will be achieved through natural attrition.
“Each year, the teams bring more and more equipment with them and you only have to look at the paddock areas – at some of the smaller venues, we are simply bursting at the seams.
“High grid numbers can also create problems on-track too: for example on the tight Indy track at Brands or at Knockhill, with the cars so evenly competitive there are just too many cars fighting for the same piece of track.
“So a more consolidated entry would be better for everyone in the long run.”
The BTCC heads to Oulton Park this weekend for Round 4 of the series.
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