50 Cars for Blancpain GT Endurance Cup

Photo: Vision Sport Agency

The entry list for the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup has been released at the Paul Ricard test with a total of 50 cars set to take part in the five-race season.

ENTRY LIST: Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup

It features 11 manufacturers, including new cars from Bentley and Nissan and the full-season debut of the Lexus RC F GT3.

Twenty-five Pro Cup entries are listed, down one from the pre-selected entry list last month, following the SRO’s decision to place a cap on the top class.

Attempto Racing will field two Audi R8 LMS GT3s in the Pro Cup despite only previously having one entry slot, although both Strakka Racing and Team Lazarus have each moved a Pro entry to a lower class. 

This has resulted in a Pro-Am class size of 12 as well as eight entries in the new Silver Cup. 

Am Cup entries have remained low, however, with only five cars entered in the all-Bronze category.

Grasser Racing Team has returned with a three-car entry, including one Lamborghini Huracan GT3 for reigning champions Mirko Bortolotti, Andrea Caldarelli and Christian Engelhart.

Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, meanwhile, is only set to run two Audi R8 LMS GT3s in a downsized effort from the long-time entrant.

HTP Motorsport is no longer competing in the series and has plans to compete elsewhere instead, including in the ADAC GT Masters. 

This leaves Black Falcon, AKKA ASP, Ram Racing and Strakka as the Mercedes-AMG teams, with the latter making the switch from McLaren machinery.

The McLaren 650S GT3 is still represented on the grid, however, with a single Pro Cup entry from Garage 59 which is set to make its full-time return after a partial effort in the Am Cup last year.

Porsche and Aston Martin have both ramped up their commitment to the series with each manufacturer supporting Pro Cup entries featuring factory drivers.

Manthey Racing will field a single Porsche 911 GT3 R while new team R-Motorsport has a pair of Aston Martin Vantage GT3s.

The season gets underway with the three-hour race at Monza on April 20-22.

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.