The championship will split into the Endurance Cup and the Sprint Cup, each with its respective titles, alongside the overall GT World Challenge Europe championship. The season will take place over ten rounds at various European circuits. The annual season prologue, which acts as the championship's pre-season testing, is scheduled to take place between 8 and 9 April, with testing for the 24 Hours of Spa occurring between 19 and 20 May. Racing is planned to commence in April and conclude in October.
Calendar
All Sprint Cup rounds consist of two one-hour races, totalling 15 races throughout the season, alongside the single 3-hour (Monza, Nürburgring and Portimão), 6-hour (Paul Ricard), or 24-hour (Spa) races in Endurance Cup rounds.[1][2]
2026 is scheduled to feature a largely unchanged calendar. With the only significant alterations being the return of the Algarve International Circuit as the season finale, marking its first appearance since 2015, and Circuit Zandvoort being moved from May to September.[3]
Entries
Sprint Cup
Bronze Cup entries will not compete at the Brands Hatch round and will instead begin their Sprint Cup season at Misano World Circuit, the second round of the Sprint Cup and the fifth round of the season.[4]
In their place, Boutsen VDS will make two full-season Porsche entries after splitting from Mercedes-AMG, one of which is confirmed to have Dorian Boccolacci and Alessio Picariello at the helm for the whole season.[5] The other will have Gilles Magnus and Swedish rising star Robin Knutsson in the Gold Cup.[5] Additional Porsches will be entered by Dinamic GT and Razoon – more than racing.[22][13]Tanart Sathienthirakul, will take the wheel of the No. 54 Silver Cup car in both Sprint and Endurance for the former.[13]
It was also announced that Verstappen Racing would return to the series for a second year, now running a Mercedes-AMG, in a bid for the overall championship. Chris Lulham, last year's Gold Cup champion, will be paired with Mercedes-AMG factory talent Daniel Juncadella.[7]Winward Racing's Mann-Filter No. 48 car will also return for the third consecutive year with an unchanged line-up of Lucas Auer and Maro Engel.[8] The team will also enter a Bronze Cup car to be driven by Marvin Dienst and Rinat Salikhov.[8] Further Mercedes-AMGs will be entered by GetSpeed, who will make two full-season entries: the No. 6 Silver Cup car, driven by Anthony Bartone and Aurélien Panis, and the No. 12 Bronze Cup car, driven by Gabriel Rindone and Fabian Schiller.[8] Finally, 2 Seas Motorsport will run the No. 222 Mercedes-AMG with Charles Dawson and Kiern Jewiss.[8]
Valentino Rossi is also set to make a full-time return to the series in the No. 46 Team WRTBMW after largely sitting out the 2025 season, making just two appearances at Spa and Misano. In 2026, he will be partnered with Max Hesse at all rounds.[11] In the sister No. 32 Pro car, last year's drivers' champions Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts will team up to defend their overall title across the whole season, with Jordan Pepper joining for the Endurance Cup.[11] Pepper will also contest full-time in 2026, splitting his driving duties with the No. 31 Sprint Cup car.[11] To complete the Team WRT lineup, a full-time No. 30 entry will see Matisse Lismont and Ignacio Montenegro compete for honours in the Silver Cup.[11]Darren Leung and Paradine Competition will enter an additional full-season BMW in the Bronze Cup.[23]
Aston Martin marquee Comtoyou Racing will expand its European programme by making three full-season entries in 2026. Car No. 7 will compete for overall honours with Nicki Thiim at the helm. Kobe Pauwels will share driving duties between the No. 7 at Sprint Cup rounds and the No. 21 Silver Cup entry at Endurance rounds; also in the No. 21, Oliver Söderström will compete for the full season. Finally, Marcelo Tomasoni will pilot the No. 11 Bronze Cup entry at all rounds in 2026.[10]
For McLaren, CSA Racing announced two full-season entries. The No. 111 with James Kell and Arthur Rougier for both Sprint and Endurance Gold Cup, and the No. 555, driven by Romain Andriolo in both the Gold Cup (Sprint) and the Silver Cup (Endurance). Simon Gachet will alternate driving duties between the cars at Sprint and Endurance rounds.[20] Garage 59 will field two further McLaren full-season entries. Marvin Kirchhöfer and Dean MacDonald will drive the No. 59 in Pro, while Tom Fleming and Louis Prette will compete in the No. 58 for the Gold Cup.[14] Optimum Motorsport will add another McLaren, driven by Guilherme Oliveira and Mikey Porter, in the Gold Cup.[9]
Championship points are awarded for the first ten positions in each race. The pole-sitter in each class also receives one point and entries are required to complete 75% of the winning car's race distance in order to be classified and earn points. Individual drivers are required to participate for a minimum of 25 minutes in order to earn championship points in any race. In the teams' standings, only the best-placed car for each team is classified.
Sprint Cup points
Position
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
Pole
Points
16.5
12
9.5
7.5
6
4.5
3
2
1
0.5
1
Monza, Nürburgring and Barcelona points
Position
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
Pole
Points
25
18
15
12
10
8
6
4
2
1
1
Paul Ricard points
Position
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
Pole
Points
33
24
19
15
12
9
6
4
2
1
1
24 Hours of Spa points
Points are awarded after six hours, after twelve hours and at the finish.
Position
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
Points after 6hrs/12hrs
12
9
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Points at the finish
25
18
15
12
10
8
6
4
2
1
Additionally, points are awarded to the top 3 in Superpole.
Position
1st
2nd
3rd
Points
3
2
1
Drivers' Championship standings
Drivers compete for their respective GT World Challenge Powered by AWS championships which are split into Overall, Gold, Silver and Bronze titles.
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