Category | Gran Turismo |
---|---|
Country | United Kingdom |
Inaugural season | 2007 |
Drivers | Varies |
Teams | Varies |
Tyre suppliers | Pirelli |
Drivers' champion | Group GTO: Ian Loggie Richard Neary Group GT3: Greg Caton Shamus Jennings Group GTC: Charlotte Gilbert Tom Rawlings Group GTH: Sam Nesey Mikey Porter Group GTA: John Ingram Rupert Williams |
Teams' champion | Topcats Racing |
Official website | |
Current season |
The GT Cup Championship is a sports car racing series based in the United Kingdom. It was founded by Marc Haynes in 2007. [1] The championship supported the short-lived British LMP3 Cup in 2017, following the series to Spa-Francorchamps where it participated alongside the field of prototypes. It supported the 2021 GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup at Brands Hatch on 1–2 May. GT Cup Championship events consist of 1 free practice session, 1 qualifying session and 2 races per day; the first being a 25-minute sprint and the second being a 50-minute endurance race with driver changes. [2]
As of the 2022 season, GT Cup has six different classes: [1]
GTO: GT2, GTE, modified cars; silhouettes, replicas.
GT3: Homologated cars running to Group GT3 specifications.
GTA: Lower specification, cup challenge and one-make series cars.
GTB: Early year challenge and cup cars.
GTC: Later year challenge and cup cars.
GTH: Homologated cars running to Group GT4 specifications.
Year | Champion | Car | Team | Teams' Champion |
---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | Marco Pullen | Ferrari 360 GTC | Team OMG | Not awarded |
2011 | Andy Ruhan | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | JMH Automotive | |
2012 | Derek Johnston | Ferrari 458 Challenge | Greypaul Racing | |
2013 | Jeff Wyatt | BMW M3 GTR | Geoff Steel Racing | FF Corse |
2014 | Jim Geddie | McLaren MP4-12C GT3 | United Autosports | In2 Racing |
2015 | Charlie Hollings Wayne Marrs | Ferrari 458 Challenge | FF Corse | FF Corse |
2016 | Jordan Witt | Bentley Continental GT3 | Jordan Racing | JMH Automotive |
2017 | Graham Davidson | McLaren MP4-12C GT3 | Jetstream Motorsport | Spy Motorsport |
2018 | Adam Hatfield Chris Murphy | Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 | Whitebridge Motorsport | Topcats Racing |
2019 | Steve Ruston John Whitehouse | McLaren 570S GT4 | JMH Automotive | JMH Automotive |
2020 | Joshua Jackson Simon Orange | Ginetta G55 Supercup | Team HARD. Racing | Team HARD. Racing |
2021 | Richard Neary Sam Neary | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Abba Racing | Orange Racing powered by JMH |
2022 | Michael O'Brien Simon Orange | McLaren 720S GT3 | Orange Racing powered by JMH | Orange Racing powered by JMH |
2023 | Paul Bailey James Dorlin Ross Wylie | Brabham BT62 Competition Mercedes-AMG GT3 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | Kendall Developments | Orange Racing powered by JMH |
2024 | Charlotte Gilbert Tom Rawlings | Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo | Topcats Racing | Topcats Racing |
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 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.
Jan Heylen is a championship-winning Belgian racing driver, based out of Tampa, Florida.
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.
The Flying Lizard Motorsports group is a motorsport team from Sonoma, California, formed by Seth Neiman in early 2003. The team competed in the full American Le Mans Series season, as well as the 24 Hours of Daytona, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The team went on to win six driver and team championships in the American Le Mans Series, becoming a Porsche factory team and Porsche Motorsport North America's development partner from 2007 to 2012. The team helped develop the first- and second-generation 997 GT3 RSR as well as bring it to victory several times in its six-year run in the series. The team solely raced Porsche cars from 2004 to 2019, becoming a staple in the Porsche racing community.
The British GT Championship is a sports car racing series based predominantly in the United Kingdom. The series was originally created by the British Racing Drivers' Club in 1993 and, for its first two seasons, was known as the National Sports GT Challenge. The series is currently run by the SRO Motorsports Group, while Pirelli began its first season as the championship's official sole tyre supplier in 2016.
The International GT Open is a grand tourer-style sports car racing series founded in 2006 by the Spanish GT Sport Organización. It was a spin-off of the now-defunct Spanish GT Championship, but is now a distinct series featuring FIA GT3-spec cars modified from production road cars.
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.
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.
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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.
The 2012 Avon Tyres British GT season was the 20th season of the British GT Championship. The season began on 9 April at Oulton Park and finished on 30 September at Donington Park, after ten rounds held over seven meetings. Motorbase Performance drivers Michael Caine and Daniele Perfetti won the GT3 category in a Porsche 997 GT3-R, Team WFR's Jody Fanin and Warren Hughes won the GT4 championship driving a Ginetta G50, while Ryan Hooker and Gary Eastwood took the GTC title in a Ferrari 458 Challenge driving for FF Corse.
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.
In international rallying, Group R-GT, is a formula of rally car defined by the FIA for GT cars introduced in 2011. Between 2014 and 2019 technical passports were issued for individual vehicles built by tuners. Since 2020 R-GT cars are required to be homologated by the manufacturer in common with other rally car formulae.
The GT2 European Series, organized by SRO Motorsports Group, is an auto racing series for the SRO GT2 class of grand tourer cars, designed for amateur pay drivers in the FIA Bronze category. This target audience is also known in sportscar as "gentleman drivers".
The 2020 GT Cup Championship was the 14th GT Cup Championship, a British sports car championship. The season began on 11 July at Snetterton Circuit and ended on 25 October at Donington Park, after twenty races held over five meetings.
The 2021 GT Cup Championship is the 15th GT Cup Championship, a British sports car championship. The season began on April 10th at Donington Park and end on 3 October at Snetterton Circuit, after twenty-six races held over seven meetings.
The GT America Series is a sports car racing series based in the United States which runs as a support series to the GT World Challenge America. It is managed by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation and sanctioned by the United States Auto Club.
DXDT Racing is a professional sports car team based in Statesville, North Carolina, founded by competitive off-shore sailor and businessman David Askew in 2014. With an early history in IMSA's Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge and Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America, the team now primarily races in SRO America's GT World Challenge America, continuing a long term run as a Mercedes AMG Customer Racing team.
The 2024 Italian GT Championship was the 33rd season of the Italian GT Championship, the grand tourer-style sports car racing founded by the Italian Automobile Club. The season started on 4 May at Misano and ended on 27 October at Monza. Similar to the GT World Challenge Europe, the Italian GT Championship was split into two, the Sprint and the Endurance Championships. New for 2024 was the separation of the GT Cup field into two different divisions, Division 1 for Ferrari Challenge and Lamborghini Super Trofeo cars and Division 2 for Porsche Carrera Cup Cars.