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Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be either purpose-built sports prototypes which are the highest level in sports car racing or grand tourers based on road-going models and therefore, in general, not as fast as sports prototypes. Sports car racing is one of the main types of circuit auto racing, alongside open-wheel racing, touring car racing and stock car racing. Sports car races are often, though not always, endurance races that are run over particularly long distances or large amounts of time, resulting in a larger emphasis on the reliability and efficiency of the car and its drivers as opposed to outright car performance or driver skills. The FIA World Endurance Championship is an example of one of the best known sports car racing series.
The European Le Mans Series is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the former American Le Mans Series (ALMS) based in the United States and Canada that was running with ACO and IMSA between 1999 and 2013. ELMS team champions and runners-up receive an automatic entry to the following year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. Originally titled the Le Mans Endurance Series before becoming simply the Le Mans Series in 2006, the series was renamed once more in 2012, reusing a name previously utilized by IMSA in 2001.
The Circuit Zolder, also known as Circuit Terlamen, is an undulating 4.011 km (2.492 mi) motorsport race track in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium.
The 24 Hours of Zolder is a yearly sports car and touring car endurance race held at Circuit Zolder in Belgium.
Jan Heylen is a championship-winning Belgian racing driver, based out of Tampa, Florida.
Stéphane Ortelli is a Monégasque professional racing driver with three world championship titles. He has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1998 with Allan McNish and Laurent Aïello and the Spa 24 Hours in 2003 with Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb. He's also won the GT1 Class at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2005 with David Brabham and Darren Turner. Currently, he is an Emil Frey Racing driver competing and developing the Jaguar and Lexus GT racing cars in the Blancpain Endurance Series and the VLN series.
The Chevrolet Corvette C5-R is a grand touring racing car built by Pratt Miller and Chevrolet for competition in endurance racing. The car is based on the C5 generation of the Chevrolet Corvette sports car, yet is designed purely for motorsports use. It became one of the most successful cars in GT categories, with wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, and 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as championships in the American Le Mans Series. The Corvette C5-Rs debuted in 1999 and continues to be raced to this day in vintage racing events, although the C5-R was effectively replaced by the Corvette C6.R in 2005.
The GT4 European Series is a sports car championship created and organised by SRO Motorsports Group. It is a pro/am championship which utilizes SRO GT4 class cars, and runs alongside the GT World Challenge Europe as a support series.
Reiter Engineering GmbH & Co Kg, commonly known simply as Reiter Engineering, is a German racing team and racing car manufacturer established in 2000 by motorsport engineer Hans Reiter.
Christopher Haase is a German professional racing driver. He currently competes in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup with Audi customer team Tresor Attempto Racing. Among his most notable successes are winning the 2007 ADAC GT Masters title, triumphing alongside Christopher Mies in the 2009 FIA GT3 European Championship, and taking home the Nürburgring 24 Hours in 2012 and 2014. He also won the 24 Hours of Spa in 2017.
United Autosports is a sports car racing team based in Wakefield, England, United Kingdom, founded by businessman Zak Brown and former driver Richard Dean.
W Racing Team is a Belgian auto racing team founded in 2009 by engineer and former head of Volkswagen Motorsport René Verbist, racing driver Vincent Vosse, and entrepreneur Yves Weerts. Between 2010 and 2022 the team campaigned Audi R8 LMSs in several international sports car series. In 2010 the team won the Belcar Drivers' and Teams' Championships, while in 2011 they won the Spa 24 Hours. After winning multiple titles in various GT championships, WRT is considered to be one of the best teams worldwide in GT racing. In 2019 and 2020 WRT ran two Audi RS5 Turbo DTMs in the highly competitive DTM championship. In 2021 WRT added a full time LMP2 program, by entering an Oreca 07 in both the FIA World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series, and won the LMP2 class of the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans. From 2023 on WRT switched their partnership in GT racing from Audi to BMW and will run the BMW M4 GT3. The team will also run two factory backed BMW M Hybrid V8s in the FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar category from 2024.
Enzo Ide is a Belgian racing driver.
Prospeed Competition is a sports car racing team based in Liège, Belgium. It was founded in 2006 by Rudi Penders and Luc Goris. It has been a factory-supported Porsche team since 2008.
Group GT3, known technically as Cup Grand Touring Cars and commonly referred to as simply GT3, is a set of regulations maintained by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) for grand tourer racing cars designed for use in various auto racing series throughout the world. The GT3 category was initially created in 2005 by the SRO Motorsports Group as a third rung in the ladder of grand touring motorsport, below the Group GT1 and Group GT2 categories which were utilized in the SRO's FIA GT Championship, and launched its own series in 2006 called the FIA GT3 European Championship. Since then, Group GT3 has expanded to become the de facto category for many national and international grand touring series, although some series modify the ruleset from the FIA standard. By 2013, nearly 20 automobile manufacturers have built or been represented with GT3 machines.
Stienes Longin is a Belgian professional racing driver. Longin currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series driving the No. 11 Chevrolet Camaro for PK Carsport in the Elite 1 class and in Belcar Endurance Championship driving the No. 11 Norma M20 FC for Krafft Racing. He previously won the Euro Series Elite 2 championship in 2016. He is also a one-time winner at the 24 Hours of Zolder, having scored his first overall victory in 2019. He is the son of former FIA GT driver Bert Longin.
Pekaracing NV, competing as PK Carsport, is a racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series as well as the Belcar Trophy in conjunction with Russell Racing. The team has previously competed in other series such as the FIA GT Championship.
The Renault Sport R.S. 01 is a sports racing car manufactured by Renault Sport, the performance division of French automaker Renault. It was originally built to compete in the Renault Sport Trophy, the company's one-make racing series, serving as a replacement for the Renault Mégane Trophy. The car was later homologated for Group GT3 by the SRO Motorsports Group for the car to be able to compete in GT3 class racing series. The Trophy-spec R.S. 01 is the most powerful one-make racer built by Renault, and also the only race car not based on a production car.
JNVS Sprl, competing as Comtoyou Racing, is a Belgian auto racing team based in Waterloo, Belgium. Upon its creation the team raced in the Fun Cup. The team has also previously raced in the TCR International Series in 2017. Between 2018 and 2023 Comtoyou Racing represented Audi Sport in the World Touring Car Cup. From 2024 on the team will race Aston Martin cars in various GT3 and GT4 championships.
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.
References
- ↑ "BELCAR ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP". PorscheSport | Latest Motorsport News & Interviews. 4 September 2020. Retrieved 2022-10-16.
- ↑ "Class success for Audi RS 3 LMS in Belcar Endurance Championship - automobilsport.com". www.automobilsport.com. Archived from the original on June 27, 2022. Retrieved 2022-10-16.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ↑ "Les grandes lignes du Belgian GT Championship 2009 connues". RTBF (in French). Retrieved 2022-10-16.
- ↑ Elsa (2022-08-16). "One-two finish for the Xwift Racing Ligier JS2 Rs at the 24 Hours of Zolder". Ligier Automotive. Retrieved 2022-10-16.
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