2013 TM Master Cup season

The 2013 TM Master Cup season saw Michael Sykes capture the championship in his final season as a driver.

Independent's Trophy
It was mentioned during the 2012 Round of Wisconsin that the Independent's Trophy cars will all be given numbers within a certain range in order to make them easier to identify. However, other reports indicate that Independent's Trophy entries will be required to carry a special windshield decal.

After Lycoia opted to enter two models in 2013, the Interceptor (a full time car) and the Brute, many rumors began to swirl that Lycoia had done this deliberately in order to guarantee themselves a better chance at winning the Independent's Trophy. Series officials have considered Lycoia's situation, even though other rumors suggest that the Independent's Trophy Lycoias are actually rebadged cars from Lenard, Lycoia's parent company.

The rumors can be laid to rest as it has been confirmed that Lycoia is going to be merging with Lenard by 2013. The deal between the two has been getting hammered out over the 2012 season. The 2012 Interceptor was a rebaged Lenard with Lycoia parts replacing a majority of the Lenard components. It was confirmed by Lycoia's Press Release section of the Lycoia Motors website. Lenard has yet to confirm it from their end.

Lenard is also rumored to return with Evans Motorsports for the Independent's Trophy.

110% Rule
Prior to the 2012 Round of Brazil, series organizers confirmed the addition of a 110% rule for qualifying. Under this new format, any car that fails to set a time within 110% of the pole speed will not be allowed to take part in the race unless an exception is granted. Exceptions will be in place to give leeway to teams who are easily fast enough to take part in the race, but are hampered by mechanical failures or crashes in qualifying.

Promoter's Option
The officials also confirmed that a Promoter's Option will be added. The Promoter's Option will allow the promoter of the race to arbitrarily add a maximum of four cars to the entry list for that particular race. The cars that are eligible for the Promoter's Option could be third cars fielded by full-time teams, local teams, or Independent's Trophy teams (though, if an Independent uses a Promoter's Option entry, it will not count as one of their Independent's Trophy runs). This rule was added to allow local drivers into the race, in order to drum up local support.

The Promoter's Option rule will not apply to Special Events (Karjala, Indy, Decatur), but discussions are underway to give Special Events two Promoter's Option entries. The Round of Decatur promoters have already indicated that, if they are given the ability to use the Promoter's Option, that they would use it to guarantee the top two in the championship a starting position.

Schedule

 * The blue boxes represent a road/street course race.

Independent's Trophy Team Chart
(*)-MT Motorsports' will have Mummert drive in all road course and short track events the team is entered for, with Morris scheduled to only run the Round of Indianapolis, as he is a superspeedway specialist.

Promoter's Option Entries
The following cars have all attempted to get a Promoter's Option at some stage in 2013.

Points System
The TM Master Cup Series point system remains the same as last year's.


 * 5 bonus points goes to the race's polesitter
 * 5 bonus points goes to the driver who leads the most laps in the race.
 * Points are doubled at Special Events with the exception of Decatur. However, if Decatur is not the last race of the season (for whatever reason), expect it to be a double points race.