GT World Challenge Europe (known as the Blancpain GT Series between 2014 and 2019) 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.
| Category | Grand tourer Endurance racing |
|---|---|
| Country | International |
| Inaugural season | 2014 |
| Tyre suppliers | Pirelli (2014–present) |
| Drivers' champion |  Timur Boguslavskiy Raffaele Marciello |
| Teams' champion |  AKKodis ASP Team |
| Official website | www |
 Current season | |
The series is divided into two separate championships, the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup and the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, with five weekends each for 2022. Each race meeting focuses on Sprint Cup OR Endurance Cup exclusively.
History
editAlthough the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup (then the Blancpain Endurance Series) has been organised since 2011, the inaugural season of the Blancpain GT Series was 2014, because in that year the FIA GT Series became the Blancpain Sprint Series, which is now the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup. The series was primarily sponsored by Swiss watchmaker Blancpain.
After developing their partnership, Blancpain and the SRO have decided that 2016 will see both the Sprint and Endurance Series further integrated into the Blancpain GT Series, putting the emphasis on the prestigious overall drivers' and manufacturers' titles, and causing the Sprint Series name to change from Blancpain Sprint Series to Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup and the Endurance Series name to change from Blancpain Endurance Series to Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup.[1]
In 2019, SRO Group announced that their sponsorship agreement with Blancpain had come to an end, this resulted in the Blancpain GT Series being renamed the GT World Challenge Europe with the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup and Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe being renamed the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup and Sprint Cup respectively.
Circuits
edit- Bold denotes a circuit will be used in the 2023 season.
- Italic denotes a future circuit will be used in the 2024 season.
| Number | Circuits | Rounds | Endurance Rounds and Years | Sprint Rounds and Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Circuit Paul Ricard
|
10 | 10 (2014–present) | 0 |
 Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
|
10 | 10 (2014–present) | 0 | |
 Nürburgring
|
10[a] | 7 (2014–2016, 2019–2021, 2023–present) | 3 (2016–2018) | |
| 4 |  Brands Hatch
|
9 | 0 | 9 (2014–2019, 2021–present) |
 Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli
|
9 | 0 | 9 (2015–present) | |
| 6 | Monza Circuit
|
8 | 8 (2014–2019, 2021, 2023–present) | 0 |
 Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
|
8 | 6 (2017–2019, 2021–2023) | 2 (2016, 2020, 2024) | |
| 8 |  Circuit Zandvoort
|
7 | 0 | 7 (2014–2015, 2019–2023) |
| 9 | Silverstone Circuit
|
6 | 6 (2014–2019) | 0 |
| 10 | Circuit Zolder
|
4 | 0 | 4 (2014–2015, 2017–2018) |
 Hungaroring
|
4 | 0 | 4 (2016–2019) | |
| 12 | Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours
|
3 | 0 | 3 (2020–2022, 2024) |
| Circuit Ricardo Tormo
|
3 | 0 | 3 (2021–2023) | |
| 14 | Circuit Paul Armagnac
|
2 | 0 | 2 (2014–2015) |
 Algarve International Circuit
|
2 | 0 | 2 (2014–2015) | |
| Imola Circuit
|
2 | 2 (2020, 2022) | 0 | |
| Hockenheimring
|
2 | 1 (2022) | 1 (2023–present) | |
| 18 |  Automotodróm Slovakia Ring
|
1 | 0 | 1 (2014) |
 Baku World Challenge
|
1 | 0 | 1 (2014) | |
| Moscow Raceway
|
1 | 0 | 1 (2015) | |
| 21 |  Jeddah Corniche Circuit
|
0 | 0 (2024) | 0 |
Champions
editDrivers
edit| Year | Overall | Silver Cup | Pro-Am Cup | Am Cup | Gold Cup | Bronze Cup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Laurens Vanthoor
|
— | — | — | — | — |
| 2015 | Robin Frijns
| |||||
| 2016 |  Dominik Baumann Maximilian Buhk
|
 Michał Broniszewski
|
Claudio Sdanewitsch
| |||
| 2017 | Mirko Bortolotti Christian Engelhart
|
Alexander Mattschull
|
 David Perel
| |||
| 2018 | Raffaele Marciello
|
Nico Bastian Jack Manchester
|
Nyls Stievenart Markus Winkelhock
|
Adrian Amstutz Leo Machitski
| ||
| 2019 | Andrea Caldarelli Marco Mapelli
|
Nico Bastian
|
Andrea Bertolini Louis Machiels
|
— | ||
| 2020 | Timur Boguslavskiy
|
 Ezequiel Pérez Companc
|
Chris Froggatt Edward Cheever
| |||
| 2021 | Dries Vanthoor Charles Weerts
|
Alex Fontana
|
Henrique Chaves Miguel Ramos
| |||
| 2022 | Raffaele Marciello
|
 Benjamin Goethe Thomas Neubauer
|
Miguel Ramos
| |||
| 2023 | Timur Boguslavskiy Raffaele Marciello
|
Alex Aka Lorenzo Patrese
|
Alex Fontana Ivan Jacoma Nicolas Leutwiler
|
Niklas Krütten Calan Williams
|
Alex Malykhin
|
Teams
edit| Year | Overall | Silver Cup | Pro-Am Cup | Am Cup | Gold Cup | Bronze Cup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT
|
— | — | — | — | — |
| 2015 | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT
| |||||
| 2016 | (AMG - Team) HTP Motorsport
|
Kessel Racing
|
AF Corse/Kaspersky Motorsport
| |||
| 2017 | GRT Grasser Racing Team
|
Rinaldi Racing
|
Kessel Racing
| |||
| 2018 | (Mercedes-AMG Team) AKKA ASP / SMP Racing by AKKA ASP
|
Saintéloc Racing
|
Barwell Motorsport
| |||
| 2019 |  Orange1 FFF Racing Team
|
AKKA ASP Team
|
AF Corse
|
— | ||
| 2020 | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT
|
Madpanda Motorsport
|
Sky - Tempesta Racing
| |||
| 2021 | Team WRT
|
Emil Frey Racing
|
Barwell Motorsport
| |||
| 2022 | AKKodis ASP Team
|
Team WRT
|
AF Corse
| |||
| 2023 | AKKodis ASP Team
|
Tresor Attempto Racing
|
Car Collection Motorsport
|
Boutsen VDS
|
 Pure Rxcing
|
See also
editNotes
editReferences
edit- ^ "About Blancpain GT Series". Blancpain GT Series. Archived from the original on 27 April 2014. Retrieved 31 March 2016.