GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup

Last updated
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup
Category Grand tourer
Endurance racing
Country Europe
Inaugural season 2011
Tyre suppliers Michelin (2011–2012)
Pirelli (2013–present)
Drivers' champion Flag of Andorra.svg Jules Gounon
White flag of surrender.svg Timur Boguslavskiy
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Raffaele Marciello
Teams' champion Flag of France.svg AKKodis ASP Team
Official website www.gt-world-challenge-europe.com
Motorsport current event.svg Current season
Presentation of the inaugural 2011 Blancpain Endurance Series season Blancpain Endurance Series - Vue d'ensemble des vehicules - 002.jpg
Presentation of the inaugural 2011 Blancpain Endurance Series season

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 (now GT3 and Le Mans Hypercars). 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.

Contents

Format

Audi R8 LMS during Blancpain Endurance Series season Audi R8 LMS ndeg32.jpg
Audi R8 LMS during Blancpain Endurance Series season
Audi R8 LMS Ultra from W Racing Team during the 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series round at the Nurburgring Audi R8 LMS Ultra 2014 BES Nurburgring.jpg
Audi R8 LMS Ultra from W Racing Team during the 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series round at the Nürburgring
Nissan GT-R GT3 driven by the 2015 Champions Alex Buncombe, Wolfgang Reip and Katsumasa Chiyo at the 2015 24 Hours of Spa Nissan GTR GT3 BES 2015.jpg
Nissan GT-R GT3 driven by the 2015 Champions Alex Buncombe, Wolfgang Reip and Katsumasa Chiyo at the 2015 24 Hours of Spa
Mercedes AMG GT3 from Black Falcon at the 2018 24 Hours of Spa Mercedes AMG GT3 24H Spa 2018.jpg
Mercedes AMG GT3 from Black Falcon at the 2018 24 Hours of Spa
The Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo driven by Jules Gounon, Daniel Juncadella and Raffaele Marciello that won the 2022 Overall Championship AKKodisAMG88Spa2022.jpg
The Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo driven by Jules Gounon, Daniel Juncadella and Raffaele Marciello that won the 2022 Overall Championship

The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup reestablishes several elements of the former FIA GT Championship, with three hour endurance races held on European circuits such as Monza and Silverstone, as well as a continuation of the Spa 24 Hours. The races feature five classes derived from the FIA's GT3, GT4, and Supersport regulations, with the GT3 cars divided into a class for professional driver line-ups (GT3 Pro), a class for a mixed team of professional and amateurs (GT3 Pro-Am), and a class for gentleman drivers who use cars at least one year old (GT3 Am). The FIA's ranking system for drivers is utilized in determining what class each entry is eligible for. The GT4 category remained its own class. [1]

For the 2012 season, the GT4 and Supersport category were dropped and the GT3 Citation class was modified into the Gentlemen class. [2] In 2013, grids have reached 60 cars for regular races.

The series uses extensive performance balancing and handicap weights to equalise the cars' performance.

Champions

Drivers

YearPro Cup (2011–2015)
Overall (2016–present)
Silver CupGold CupPro-Am CupGentlemen Trophy (2011–2014)
Am Cup (2015–2020)
Bronze Cup (2022-present)
GT4
2011 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Greg Franchi Not heldNot held Flag of the Netherlands.svg Niek Hommerson
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Louis Machiels
Flag of France.svg Georges Cabannes Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Alex Buncombe
Flag of France.svg Jordan Tresson
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Christopher Ward
2012 Flag of Germany.svg Christopher Haase
Flag of Germany.svg Christopher Mies
Flag of Monaco.svg Stéphane Ortelli
Flag of the Netherlands.svg Niek Hommerson
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Louis Machiels
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Pierre Hirschi
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Robert Hissom
Not held
(discontinued)
2013 Flag of Germany.svg Maximilian Buhk Flag of Spain.svg Lucas Ordóñez Flag of France.svg Jean-Luc Beaubelique
Flag of France.svg Jean-Luc Blanchemain
Flag of France.svg Patrice Goueslard
2014 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Laurens Vanthoor Flag of Italy.svg Stefano Gai
Flag of Italy.svg Andrea Rizzoli
Flag of Portugal.svg Francisco Guedes
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Peter Mann
2015 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Alex Buncombe
Flag of Japan.svg Katsumasa Chiyo
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Wolfgang Reip
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Duncan Cameron
Flag of Ireland.svg Matt Griffin
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Ian Loggie
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Julian Westwood
2016 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Rob Bell
Flag of France.svg Côme Ledogar
Flag of New Zealand.svg Shane van Gisbergen
Flag of Italy.svg Alessandro Bonacini
Flag of Poland.svg Michał Broniszewski
Flag of Italy.svg Andrea Rizzoli
Flag of Russia.svg Vadim Gitlin
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Liam Talbot
Flag of Italy.svg Marco Zanuttini
2017 Flag of Italy.svg Mirko Bortolotti
Flag of Italy.svg Andrea Caldarelli
Flag of Germany.svg Christian Engelhart
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jonathan Adam
Flag of Oman.svg Ahmad Al Harthy
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Jacques Duyver
Flag of South Africa.svg David Perel
Flag of Italy.svg Marco Zanuttini
2018 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Yelmer Buurman
Flag of Germany.svg Maro Engel
Flag of Germany.svg Luca Stolz
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Alex Fontana
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Mikaël Grenier
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Adrian Zaugg
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Chris Buncombe
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nick Leventis
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Lewis Williamson
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Adrian Amstutz
Flag of Russia.svg Leo Machitski
2019 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea Caldarelli
Flag of Italy.svg Marco Mapelli
Flag of Germany.svg Nico Bastian
Flag of Russia.svg Timur Boguslavskiy
Flag of Brazil.svg Felipe Fraga
Flag of Oman.svg Ahmad Al Harthy
Flag of Ireland.svg Charlie Eastwood
Flag of Turkey.svg Salih Yoluç
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Adrian Amstutz
Flag of Russia.svg Leo Machitski
2020 Flag of Italy.svg Alessandro Pier Guidi Flag of Finland.svg Patrick Kujala
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Alex MacDowall
Flag of Denmark.svg Frederik Schandorff
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Chris Goodwin
Flag of Sweden.svg Alexander West
Flag of France.svg Stéphane Tribaudini
2021 Flag of Italy.svg Alessandro Pier Guidi
Flag of Denmark.svg Nicklas Nielsen
Flag of France.svg Côme Ledogar
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Alex Fontana
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Ricardo Feller
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Rolf Ineichen
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Chris Froggatt
Flag of Hong Kong.svg Jonathan Hui
Not held
2022 Flag of France.svg Jules Gounon
Flag of Spain.svg Daniel Juncadella
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Raffaele Marciello
Flag of Denmark.svg Benjamin Goethe
Flag of France.svg Thomas Neubauer
Flag of France.svg Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Oliver Millroy
Flag of Denmark.svg Frederik Schandorff
Flag of the United States.svg Brendan Iribe
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Louis Machiels
Flag of Italy.svg Andrea Bertolini
Flag of Italy.svg Stefano Costantini
Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg Reema Juffali
Flag of Germany.svg Tim Müller
Flag of Germany.svg Valentin Pierburg
Flag of the United States.svg George Kurtz
YearPro Cup (2011–2015)
Overall (2016–present)
Gold CupSilver CupBronze CupPro-Am CupGT4
2023 Flag of Andorra.svg Jules Gounon
White flag of surrender.svg Timur Boguslavskiy
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Raffaele Marciello
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Nicolas Baert
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Maxime Soulet
Flag of Chile.svg Benjamín Hites
Flag of Austria.svg Clemens Schmid
Flag of the Netherlands.svg Glenn van Berlo
Flag of Italy.svg Eddie Cheever III
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Chris Froggatt
Flag of Hong Kong.svg Jonathan Hui
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Alex Fontana
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Ivan Jacoma
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Nicolas Leutwiler
Not held
(discontinued)

Teams

YearPro Cup (2011–2015)
Overall (2016–present)
Silver CupGold CupPro-Am CupGentlemen Trophy (2011–2014)
Am Cup (2015–2020)
Bronze Cup (2022-present)
GT4
2011 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgian Audi Club Not heldNot held Flag of Germany.svg Vita4One Flag of France.svg Ruffier Racing Flag of the United Kingdom.svg RJN Motorsport
2012 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Flag of Italy.svg AF Corse Flag of France.svg Saintéloc Racing Not held
(discontinued)
2013 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Marc VDS Racing Team Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nissan GT Academy Team RJN Flag of France.svg SOFREV Auto Sport Promotion
2014 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Flag of Italy.svg Scuderia Villorba Corse Flag of Italy.svg AF Corse
2015 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Flag of Italy.svg AF Corse Flag of France.svg AKKA ASP
2016 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Garage 59 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Kessel Racing Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Kessel Racing
2017 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Bentley Team M-Sport Flag of Oman.svg Oman Racing Team with TF Sport Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Kessel Racing
2018 Flag of Germany.svg (Mercedes-AMG Team) Black Falcon Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg 961 Corse / Flag of Italy.svg AF Corse Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Barwell Motorsport
2019 Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Orange1 FFF Racing Team Flag of France.svg AKKA ASP Team Flag of Oman.svg Oman Racing with TF Sport Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Barwell Motorsport
2020 Flag of Italy.svg AF Corse Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Barwell Motorsport Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Garage 59 Flag of France.svg CMR
2021 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Team WRT Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Emil Frey Racing Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Sky - Tempesta Racing Not held
2022 Flag of France.svg AKKodis ASP Team Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Team WRT Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Inception Racing Flag of Germany.svg SPS Automotive Performance Flag of Germany.svg SPS Automotive Performance
YearPro Cup (2011–2015)
Overall (2016–present)
Gold CupSilver CupBronze CupPro-Am CupGT4
2023 Flag of France.svg AKKodis ASP Team Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Comtoyou Racing Flag of Austria.svg GRT Grasser Racing Team Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Sky – Tempesta Racing Flag of Germany.svg Car Collection Motorsport

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sports car racing</span> Type of motorsport road 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GT World Challenge America</span> 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FIA GT Championship</span> Auto racing championship in Europe

The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout the years has visited other continents including Asia and South America. At the end of 2009, the championship was replaced by the FIA GT1 World Championship, which morphed into the FIA GT Series for 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stéphane Ortelli</span> Monegasque racing driver

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 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 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SRO Motorsports Group</span> International sporting organisation

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reiter Engineering</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FIA GT1 World Championship</span> World championship sports car racing series

The FIA GT1 World Championship was a world championship sports car racing series, developed by the SRO Group and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), that was held from 2010 to 2012. It featured multiple grand tourer race cars—based on production road cars and conforming with the GT1 (2010–2011) and GT3 (2012) regulations—that competed in one-hour races on multiple continents. All cars were performance balanced, with weight and restrictor adjustments, to artificially equalise their performance. Championships were awarded each season for drivers and teams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Buncombe</span>

Christopher James Buncombe is a British racing driver who made his last appearance at the Le Mans 24 Hours was in 2011. He joined Aston Martin Racing at the end of the 2009 season when he drove in the Le Mans Series scoring a podium finish on his debut with the team at Nürburgring driving the 008 Aston Martin LMP1 car. Chris won the 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2 class driving for Binnie Motorsports in their Lola B05/40-Zytek.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Haase</span> German racing driver

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.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Fontana</span> Swiss racing driver

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 GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup, officially known as Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS for sponsorship reasons, formerly the FIA GT Series, is a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) with the approval of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It was sponsored by Blancpain from 2014 to 2019, when it was variously branded as the Blancpain Sprint Series in 2014 and 2015, the Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup in 2016 to 2018, and the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe in 2019. In 2020, AWS was named 'Official Presenter' and the series was branded as "GT World Challenge Powered by AWS". Fanatec later joined as title sponsor in 2021, giving the series its current name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Group GT3</span> Regulation for grand tourer racing cars

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GT World Challenge Europe</span> Sports car racing series, begun in 2014

GT World Challenge Europe is a sports car racing series organised by SRO Motorsports Group. It features grand tourer racing cars modified from production road cars complying with the FIA's GT3 regulations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HTP Winward Motorsport</span> German auto racing team

HTP Winward Motorsport also known as HTP Motorsport and Winward Racing is a German-American-based auto racing team. The team mainly competes in GT3 based series such as the GT World Challenge Europe. The team was founded after HTP Investment BV took over Heico Motorsport.

<i>Assetto Corsa Competizione</i> 2019 sim racing video game by Kunos Simulazioni

Assetto Corsa Competizione is a racing simulation video game developed by Italian video game developer Kunos Simulazioni. The game focuses on GT3, GT4, GT2 and one make series cars and is an officially licensed simulation of the GT World Challenge Europe and the Total 24 Hours of Spa covering seasons from 2018 to 2023, and is set to serve as a platform for esports.

The 2019 Blancpain GT World Challenge America was the 30th season of the United States Auto Club's Blancpain GT World Challenge America. It was the first under Blancpain sponsorship, taking over from the longtime Pirelli sponsorship, as part of the standardisation of names of Stéphane Ratel Organisation-run GT3 sprint racing series globally, following the series' acquisition by the SRO Motorsports Group. It was also the last under Blancpain sponsorship, after they and the SRO concluded their partnership at the end of 2019. The season began on 2 March in Austin and ended on 20 October at Las Vegas.

The 2022 Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS was the fourth season of the GT World Challenge Asia, an auto racing series for grand tourer cars in Asia co-promoted by the SRO Motorsports Group and Team Asia One GT Management. The races were contested with GT3-spec and GT4-spec cars. The season began on 20 May at Sepang in Malaysia and was scheduled to end on 23 October at the new Mandalika Circuit in Indonesia, however the round was cancelled due to homologation issues, therefore the championship finished at the Okayama International Circuit in Japan. It was the second season of the unification of GT3 sprint series across the globe under the World Challenge name and the first since Blancpain ended its title sponsorship of the series.

References

  1. "The new GT Endurance Series in detail!". planetlemans.com. 2010-11-03. Archived from the original on 2010-11-12. Retrieved 2010-11-03.
  2. "2012 Blancpain Endurance Series Presentation (english)". SRO. 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-03-21. Retrieved 2012-03-20.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)