GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup
	File:Blancpain endurance series logo.jpg
Category	Grand tourer; Endurance racing
Country	Europe
Inaugural season	2011
Tyre suppliers	Michelin (2011-2012); Pirelli (2013-)
Drivers' champion	Alex Buncombe; Katsumasa Chiyo; Wolfgang Reip
Teams' champion	Belgian Audi Club Team WRT
Official website	www.blancpain-endurance-series.com
	Current season

The Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, formerly the Blancpain Endurance Series from 2011 to 2015, is a sports car racing series developed by the SRO Group and the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium (RACB) with approval from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It features grand tourer racing cars modified from production road cars complying with the FIA's GT3 regulations. The series's goal is to be an endurance racing championship for GT3 cars, similar to the European Le Mans Series which uses GTE cars and Le Mans Prototypes. The series is primarily sponsored by Swiss watchmaker Blancpain, and the company's Lamborghini Super Trofeo series serves as support races.

Format

The Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup reestablishes several elements of the former FIA GT Championship, with three hour endurance races held on European circuits such as Monza and Silverstone, as well as a continuation of the Spa 24 Hours. The races feature five classes derived from the FIA's GT3, GT4, and Supersport regulations, with the GT3 cars divided into a class for professional driver line-ups (GT3 Pro), a class for a mixed team of professional and amateurs (GT3 Pro-Am), and a class for gentleman drivers who use cars at least one year old (Gentlemen). The FIA's ranking system for drivers is utilized in determining what class each entry is eligible for. The GT4 category remained its own class.^[1]

For the 2012 season, the GT4 and Supersport category were dropped and the GT3 Citation class was modified into the Gentlemen class.^[2] In 2013, grids have reached 60 cars for regular races.

The series uses extensive performance balancing and handicap weights to equalise the cars' performance.

Champions

Drivers

Year	GT3 Pro Cup	GT3 Pro-Am Cup	GT3 Gentlemen Trophy (2011–2014) GT3 Am Cup (2015–)	GT4
2011	Greg Franchi	Louis Machiels Niek Hommerson	Georges Cabannes	Jordan Tresson Alex Buncombe Christopher Ward
2012	Stéphane Ortelli Christopher Haase Christopher Mies	Louis Machiels Niek Hommerson	Robert Hissom Pierre Hirschi	not held (discontinued)
2013	Maximilian Buhk	Lucas Ordóñez	Jean-Luc Beaubélique Patrice Goueslard Jean-Luc Blanchemain
2014	Laurens Vanthoor	Andrea Rizzoli Stefano Gai	Francisco Guedes Peter Mann
2015	Wolfgang Reip Alex Buncombe Katsumasa Chiyo	Duncan Cameron Matt Griffin	Ian Loggie Julian Westwood

Teams

Year	GT3 Pro	GT3 Pro/Am	GT3 Gentlemen	GT4
2011	Belgian Audi Club	Vita4One	Ruffier Racing	RJN Motorsport
2012	Belgian Audi Club Team WRT	AF Corse	Sainteloc Racing	not held (discontinued)
2013	Marc VDS Racing Team	Nissan GT Academy Team RJN	SOFREV Auto Sport Promotion
2014	Belgian Audi Club Team WRT	Scuderia Villorba Corse	AF Corse
2015	Belgian Audi Club Team WRT	AF Corse	AKKA ASP

References

^ "The new GT Endurance Series in detail!". planetlemans.com. 2010-11-03. Retrieved 2010-11-03.
^ "2012 Blancpain Endurance Series Presentation (english)". SRO. 2012. Retrieved 2012-03-20. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

External links

[GT_Endurance-1] "The new GT Endurance Series in detail!". planetlemans.com. 2010-11-03. Retrieved 2010-11-03.

[2012_BES_Presentation-2] "2012 Blancpain Endurance Series Presentation (english)". SRO. 2012. Retrieved 2012-03-20. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

[1]

[2]