53 Cars for Endurance Cup; 11 GT3 Brands Represented

Photo: Jules Benichou/SRO

A total of 53 cars will take part in the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup this year, in a diverse field representing 11 brands.

The full-season entry lists for both the Endurance Cup and Sprint Cup were released on Thursday afternoon during the pre-season test at Circuit Paul Ricard.

The Endurance Cup field includes large contingents from Audi, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Mercedes-AMG, plus increased representation for Bentley and Porsche, and further entries from Aston Martin, BMW, Honda and Lexus.

The McLaren 720S GT3 will also make its series debut after being absent last year, with entries from Optimum Motorsport and Jenson Team Rocket RJN, plus 2 Seas Motorsport in the Sprint Cup.

A number of the series’ front-running teams will return for another season, including Orange1 FFF Racing Team, AKKA ASP, Black Falcon, WRT and AF Corse, while Emil Frey Racing is back in the paddock after a year in International GT Open.

The most notable absence, as already expected, is that of Grasser Racing Team, which is focusing its efforts this year on ADAC GT Masters and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Newcomers include North American GT stalwart K-PAX Racing, which takes over the factory-supported Bentley efforts from M-Sport, and French GT4 regular CMR, also with a Bentley program.

Reno Racing will keep Honda represented in the series with a program led by reigning GT Sports Club champion Jens Reno Moller.

The Endurance Cup is included under the global GT World Challenge umbrella for the first time last year after running as the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup in 2019.

Sprint Cup Field Increases to 33 Cars

The Sprint Cup sees an increase to 33 cars, marking the largest full-season field since 2017 and bringing the grid towards capacity at smaller tracks such as Brands Hatch.

Eight brands will be represented at the short-format races, with only BMW, Honda and Porsche not present out of the brands that will participate in the Endurance races.

The grid includes large three or four-car commitments from WRT, AKKA ASP, R-Motorsport, AF Corse and Sainteloc Racing, while a number of other teams have pledged two-car entries.

A list of teams committed for all ten rounds – including both the Endurance and Sprint Cups – was also released, and includes 28 cars.

The GT World Challenge Europe season is scheduled to get underway later than planned following the cancelation of Monza’s traditional season-opening round in April.

Brands Hatch will kick off the Sprint Cup on May 2-3, while the first Endurance race will be held at Silverstone one week later on May 8-10.

Jake Kilshaw

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