WTCR expects to have 20 drivers "able to win every race"

The World Touring Car Championship will cease as an FIA world championship from 2018 and become 'WTCR' as part of a two-year deal to allow it to adopt TCR regulations.

A 26-car limit has been imposed on full-season entries, with priority for those places given to teams from the WTCC and the now-defunct TCR International Series - which was canned as part of the WTCR deal.

Balance of Performance will be determined by the FIA alongside TCR technical officials, and Ribeiro said getting that right would allow the majority of the grid to be in contention for race wins.

"There won't be any proper factory teams on the grid, but you will see many teams directly, or at a very good level, supported by manufacturers," Ribeiro told Motorsport.com.

"I think you will see all WTCC drivers and all TCR International drivers, I guess, on the grid next year, and that will deliver something that I'm sure fans will like.

"If the BoP is properly managed, that will be maybe 20 drivers able to win every race."

In the final season of the WTCC's current guise, 10 drivers won races, while 12 were victorious in the TCR International Series - including Gabriele Tarquini in a temporarily homologated Hyundai i30 N TCR.

Ribeiro said combining the two sets of drivers would create an "awesome" spectacle.

"I always said last winter that this season I was expecting it [the 2017 season] to be one of the best of the WTCC era," he added.

"OK, we had only 16 cars but we had eight [drivers] potentially able to go for the world championship and both WTCC titles went to the wire in Qatar.

"I think next year will be even better; more fights, more winners, more uncertainty, more overtakings, more extreme manoeuvres, more risks, more variety of cars, more drama, more everything.

"I think it’s just going to be awesome.”