Official Pre-Season Test Postponed by Two Weeks

The official pre-season test for Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS has been postponed by two weeks to give teams additional preparation time.

Series organizer SRO Motorsports Group confirmed on Monday that the two-day test at Paul Ricard is now scheduled for Mar. 25-26 rather than the original Mar. 11-12 date.

A GTWC Europe statement read: “In light of the global health situation [the test] has now been moved back by two weeks, allowing teams extra time to prepare and to manage their travel plans.”

The opening round of the GTWC Europe season is due to take place at Monza on Apr. 16-18, and is currently scheduled to go ahead as planned.

Last year the series made significant changes to its Endurance Cup and Sprint Cup schedules in light of the coronavirus pandemic and associated control measures.

After staging its pre-season test at Paul Ricard in mid-March, the series didn’t return to action until late July when it staged the Endurance Cup opener at Imola.

Both Endurance and Sprint were reduced to four-round calendars with longer enduros and triple-header sprint weekends to compensate, while this year the GTWC Europe schedule has returned the familiar five-round season for each of the championships. 

When asked recently by Sportscar365 about how the 2021 European calendar is shaping up, SRO founder and CEO Stephane Ratel said: “Very simply, we don’t know when we’re going to operate normally.

“Or when we’re going to operate hospitality, who will be able to go where. We don’t know yet. We have to wait and watch the news, and hope that things will get better soon.”