Nürburgring 24 to Join Four-Round IGTC Calendar Next Year

The Nürburgring 24 will join the Intercontinental GT Challenge next year as part of a four-round provisional schedule with two races in Europe.

The German endurance classic, which has a headlining class for GT3 cars that are used in the IGTC, will join the Bathurst 12 Hour, CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa and the Indianapolis 8 Hour on the calendar.

It will mark the second round of the season on May 30-June 2, a date that was recently established to avoid a prior date clash with the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The season will start at Bathurst in Australia on Feb. 17-18, followed by the N24 and then the 24 Hours of Spa on June 27-30.

A North American round at Indianapolis Motors Speedway will be retained on Oct. 5-6, as part of a joint event with Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS.

SRO Motorsports Group will consult with teams on the possibility of a fifth race being added later in the year.

The Gulf 12 Hours, which had a two-year deal with the IGTC, was not shown on the provisional calendar.

“I’m a big admirer of the 24h Nürburgring – both in terms of the spectacle and the organization,” said SRO founder and CEO Stephane Ratel.

“With Spa, Bathurst and the Nürburgring, the future IGTC calendar will undoubtedly include the three best GT3 races in the world.”

Ratel was joined at the press conference by N24 race director Walter Hornung, who confirmed that there will be a discounted ‘cooperation ticket’ for spectators attending both races.

“The fans of the Nordschleife can look forward to even more top teams from the GT3 scene,” said Hornung.

“The field will certainly become even more international in the future and the competition even tougher. In addition, it is part of securing the events on the Nordschleife for us when more and more globally committed teams also direct their focus to the Nürburgring.”

Next year’s IGTC season will be the first in which two 24-hour races form part of the schedule.

Ratel explained that SRO is continuing to push for the IGTC to rebound after experiencing a loss of manufacturers and raced during the coronavirus pandemic.

“The IGTC has really been the victim of COVID,” he said.

“When COVID started in February 2020, we had a legendary calendar with five legendary tracks on five continents with nine manufacturers entered.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t travel, we had Omicron falling on us in Kyalami. Suzuka stopped the [10 Hour] and hasn’t restarted it yet.

“So we had to do something as came down to a calendar that is not attractive as it used to be [with] only three manufacturers.

“The solution was clear, either we drop the Intercontinental GT Challenge or we do something new, strong and something that we believe will attract the manufacturers and help us to push it to new heights.

“It’s easy to understand that the Intercontinental GT is about the biggest GT races in the world, where a GT3 can win overall.”

2024 Intercontinental GT Challenge Schedule:
Feb. 17-18 – Bathurst 12 Hour
June 1-2 – Nürburgring 24
June 27-30 – CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa
Oct. 5-6 – Indianapolis 8 Hour