Infiniti has announced plans to join the British Touring Car Championships in 2015 with a Q50 sedan.
The factory backed team will field two Q50s under the banner of “Support Our Paras,” a charity that raises awareness and funding for the British Army’s paratroopers. In fact, injured paratrooper veterans will be part of the team, working on the Infinitis to prep them for racing throughout the season. The team says it would like to eventually groom an injured paratrooper veteran to get behind the wheel of a Q50 as a race driver.
BTCC is the UK’s largest road racing series, made popular by a grid of touring cars that closely resemble street cars in the early years of the series. Today, competition cars include the Audi RS4, Volkswagen CC, Toyota Avensis, Mercedes A-Class, Honda Civic, BMW 125i, Ford Focus and Chevrolet Cruze.
The partnership will raise awareness for the Infiniti brand as well, which is making headway into the UK market. A new design center was recently established in London, while a new expansion to Nissan’s Sunderland plant will mark the first time an Infiniti car is manufactured outside of Japan when the Q30 begins production in 2015.
Specs for the Q50 racer have not yet been announced, but the BTCC rules limited saloons (sedans) to a displacement of of 2.0 liters.
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