The 2025 Ultimate Cup European Series is the scheduled seventh season of the Ultimate Cup European Series. It will start at Circuit Paul Ricard on 28 March and will end at the same venue on 9 November. [1] The Ultimate Cup Series is a program comprising multiple endurance and sprint championships across different classes of motor racing.
The 2025 calendar was announced on 11 October 2024. The series will not return to the Hockenheimring, instead opting to race at Motorland Aragón for the first time in its history. A pre-season test will also be held on 27–28 February at Paul Ricard. [1]
Round | Circuit | Date | Map of circuit locations |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet | 28–30 March | |
2 | Mugello Circuit, Scarperia e San Piero | 25–27 April | |
3 | Algarve International Circuit, Portimão | 30 May – 1 June | |
4 | Motorland Aragón, Alcañiz | 5–7 September | |
5 | Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, Magny-Cours | 10–12 October | |
6 | Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet | 7–9 November |
The European Endurance Prototype Cup will only be open to Nova Proto NP02 cars in 2025, a significant change compared to prior years. A separate Bronze Cup for drivers with an FIA Bronze rating will also be newly introduced. [2]
The LMP3 cars previously racing in the European Endurance Prototype Cup are scheduled to be placed in their own category in 2025, currently known under the pseudonym "Project 2025". [3] These plans would see drivers compete in three separate classes based on their FIA ratings: the Pro Cup for Platinum- and Gold-rated drivers, the Silver Cup for Silver-rated drivers and the Bronze Cup for Bronze-rated drivers. [2]
The Ultimate GT Endurance Cup will be open to GT3, GT4 and single-make series (Porsche Carrera Cup, Ferrari Challenge, Lamborghini Super Trofeo) cars. [4] Its number of different classes will be reduced in 2025: drivers will be competing in four classes numbered from UCS1 to UCS4, meaning the separate Porsche Cup and UCS Light classes will be discontinued. [2]
The Ultimate GT-Sprint Cup is open to GT3, GT4 and single-make series (Porsche Carrera Cup, Ferrari Challenge, Lamborghini Super Trofeo) cars. [5] It will consist of the same UCS1-UCS4 classes seen in the GT Endurance Cup, as well as separate classes for the Porsche Cup and the Ferrari Challenge. [2]
The Hoosier Formula Cup, formerly known as the Ultimate Formula Cup, will be open to Tatuus F3R T318 cars powered by either Alfa Romeo or Renault engines on 13-inch Hoosier tyres. There will no longer be any classes catering to Formula Renault or Formula 4 machinery. [2]
Team | No. | Driver | Rounds |
---|---|---|---|
Winfield Racing School [6] | TBA | TBA | TBC |
The Circuit Paul Ricard is a French motorsport race track built in 1969 at Le Castellet, Var, near Marseille, with finance from pastis magnate Paul Ricard. Ricard wanted to experience the challenge of building a racetrack. The circuit has hosted the FIA Formula One French Grand Prix intermittently from 1971 to 2022.
The GT World Challenge America is a North American auto racing series launched in 1990 by the Sports Car Club of America. It has been managed by the SRO Motorsports Group since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club since 2017.
Porsche Carrera Cup is a number of one-make racing by Porsche premier series competed with, initially Porsche 911 Carrera Cup, then later Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. The cars are specifically built by Porsche for one-make racing, but are visually and mechanically quite similar to road-registrable 911s of the same generation.
SRO Motorsports Group is an international sporting organisation best known for promoting and running a variety of racing events and series, including the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, Intercontinental GT Challenge and Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe.
The Italian GT Championship is an Italian sports car series founded in 2003 and organized by the Automobile Club d'Italia (ACI) and the Commissione Sportiva Automobilistica Italiana (CSAI). It replaced a previous supercar-based championship which ran from 1992 until 2002 when it was folded due to a lack of entrants. The series borrowed heavily from the international FIA GT Championship in its first few seasons, although additional entries from Ferrari Challenge, Porsche Supercup, and Maserati Trofeo competitors were allowed.
The Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup powered by AWS, formerly for sponsorship reasons the Blancpain Endurance Series from 2011 to 2015 and Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup from 2016 to 2019, is a sports car racing series developed by SRO Motorsports Group and the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium (RACB) with approval from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It features grand tourer racing cars modified from production road cars complying with the FIA's GT3 regulations. The series's goal is to be an endurance racing championship for GT3 cars, similar to the FIA World Endurance Championship which were using GTE cars and Le Mans Prototypes. The series was primarily sponsored by Swiss watchmaker Blancpain, and the company's Lamborghini Super Trofeo series serve as support races. In 2019, SRO announced that their sponsorship deal with Blancpain had been discontinued and the series was renamed the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup for the 2020 season.
Campeonato Sudamericano de GT previously known as GT3 Brasil Championship, GT Brasil and Campeonato Brasileiro de GT was a sports car racing series based in Brazil organized by the SRO Latin America.
Alex Fontana is a Greek-Swiss racing driver currently racing as a professional driver in the 2023 GT World Challenge Europe for Car Collection Motorsport. He is a freelance driver with an open contract able to race for different teams and different manufacturers at the same time. When he is not racing, he works as a coach and driving instructor in Europe, America, and China, while commentating the Formula 1 Grands Prix for Swiss television with RSI.
Patrick Kujala is a Spanish-born Finnish professional racing driver, who lives in city of Mäntsälä, Finland, and races under a Finnish racing licence.
Jonathan Robert Lester is a racing driver from New Zealand, competing in various GT3 and touring car championships throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
Hunter David Abbott is a British racing driver, businessman and inventor. He has raced sportscars, GT cars and Touring Cars. He was 2017 Blancpain GT Series Asia Champion and won the RAC Trophy after victory in the 2021 Silverstone 500 race.
Ross Wylie is a Scottish racing driver. He started his motor racing career contesting the 2004 Mini Max Kart Championship, becoming a multiple kart champion in his native Scotland over the next eight years, before moving up to car racing in 2012.
Iron Lynx Motorsport Lab is an Italian auto racing team founded by Andrea Piccini, Deborah Mayer, Claudio Schiavoni and Sergio Pianezzola. The team is based in Cesena, Emilia-Romagna. They operate Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 sports cars in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, GT World Challenge Europe, and FIA World Endurance Championship.
SRO GT2 is a class of grand tourer racing cars maintained by the SRO Motorsports Group. Despite the name, this class slots between GT4 and GT3 in terms of performance. The cars have more power than GT3 cars, with the most powerful entries at nearly 700 horsepower. However, they don’t have anywhere nearly as much downforce as a GT3 car. It also shouldn’t be confused with the Group GT2 from the early 2000s, which evolved into the now-defunct LM GTE class. The class uses a balance of performance to allow for close competition between competitors.
The 2023 Ultimate Cup Series was the fifth season of the Ultimate Cup Series. It began at Circuit Paul Ricard on 25 March and ended at the same venue on 26 November. The Ultimate Cup Series is a program comprising multiple endurance and sprint championships across different classes of motor racing.
The 2023 24 Hours of Spa was the 76th running of the 24 Hours of Spa. The race took place from June 29 to July 2, 2023. The race was a part of both the 2023 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup and the 2023 Intercontinental GT Challenge.
The 2024 Ultimate Cup Series was the sixth season of the Ultimate Cup Series. It began at Circuit Paul Ricard on 15 March and finished at the same venue on 8 November. The Ultimate Cup Series is a program comprising multiple endurance and sprint championships across different classes of motor racing.
The 2024 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS is the eleventh season of GT World Challenge Europe. The season begins at Paul Ricard on 5 April, and will end at Jeddah Corniche on 30 November. The season consists of 10 events: 5 Sprint Cup events, and 5 Endurance Cup events.
The Ultimate Cup Series is an auto racing series formed in 2019. This endurance championship mainly takes place in France, with rounds elsewhere in Europe.