Prize Money Opened Up to Endurance-Only Teams

Teams that decide to only compete in the Endurance Cup element of Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS will be eligible for prize money from next season.

Competition organizer SRO Motorsports Group has announced a set of changes to the GTWC Europe prize money structure, as part of its new title sponsorship deal with German esports company Fanatec.

In 2021, teams signed up for the full Endurance Cup season in the Overall and Silver Cup categories will be able to win prize money for their finishing positions in each race.

Last season only teams that were registered with a competition license for the full GTWC Europe – covering both Endurance and Sprint Cup – could receive financial rewards.

Garage 59, K-PAX Racing, GPX Racing, Dinamic Motorsport and Barwell Motorsport were among the Pro and Silver teams to place a sole focus on Endurance Cup in 2020.

Going forward, teams that finish in the Overall and Silver Cup class top-three in Endurance races will get €10,000 for winning, €7,500 for second and €5,500 for third, provided they are only signed up for the long-distance championship.

As an incentive for teams to continue racing in both Endurance and Sprint, SRO has also extended the amount of prize money on offer for teams competing in both series.

At Endurance races, a full-time GTWC Europe team will earn prize money for finishing in the top-six of Overall and Silver, rather than the top-three as was previously the case.

The amount for a win has been reduced from €25,000 to €20,000, but the total prize pot is now larger. Pro-Am and Am Cup prize money will cover the top-three finishers in each class, and will be distributed on the condition that the team is also involved in Sprint Cup.

Teams that are entered full-time in Sprint Cup but not the full GTWC Europe will not be eligible for prize money. Toksport WRT and ERC Sport were the two Sprint-only entrants last season.

Teams with cars on the outright podium and the top-three in Silver, Pro-Am and Am at each Sprint race will receive prize money provided they are entered in Endurance as well.

Prize money is also being distributed to high-performers in SRO Motorsports Group’s new esports competition that will run alongside Endurance Cup events and score points towards the combined GTWC Europe teams’ championship.

First place in each virtual race wins €6,000, while second and third dish out €4,000 and €2,500 respectively. This structure is copied for the Silver Cup esports category.

In addition to its prize money update, GTWC Europe will continue to award free sets of Pirelli tires will to the top-finishing Silver Cup entries.

SRO says the changes add a further €430,000 ($517,300 US) to the prize pool, which now stands at just over €2.5 million ($3 million).