Some changes in SRO regulations and the current GT3 scene in Europe changed the reality of the Blancpain GT Sprint Cup as it was revealed by the entry list revealed this Tuesday (13) during the pre-season tests at Paul Ricard, in France, in total contrast of the healthy grid of the Blancpain GT Endurance Cup.
With SRO trying to limit full Pro commitment in Blancpain GT Series, the lift of the rule which mandated factories to align cars in the Sprint Cup to compete in the Endurance Cup and the attraction of the national GT series like ADAC GT Masters and British GT, only 20 entries will take part in the whole 2018 Sprint Cup season.
14 cars will join the Pro Cup while Silver Cup will see only 2 full time entries while the Pro-Am will feature four cars. Audi has the biggest share of entries, with 8 cars spread between Team WRT, Saintéloc Racing and Attempto Racing, while Lamborghini and Mercedes present three cars each with their representatives being Grässer Racing and AKKA ASP. Kessel Racing is the only Ferrari team in the list, while Lexus gets in with Emil Frey Racing, and Bentley and BMW will be represented by Parker Racing and new team 3Y Technologies.
Then there’s the matter of where most of the big names went, which is answered by the fact that various teams elected to focus only in the Endurance Cup, like M-SPORT Bentley, RJN Motorsport, Strakka Racing and ROWE Racing, while others like HTP Motorsport simply moved elsewhere, but this still resulted in a 50 car grid for 2018.
25 cars compose the almost capped Pro Cup list, as Audi features the same teams from the Sprint Cup, though WRT will only feature two cars, while Mercedes relies on Strakka, SMP with AKKA ASP and Black Falcon. SMP has also a Pro Cup Ferrari in the list, while M-SPORT, ROWE, GRT, Emil Frey, R-Motorsport, RJN, Manthey Racing and Garage 59 complete a pretty strong field.
Some Pro Cup teams saw their programs being spread between other classes against some specialists in each of them. The debut of the Silver Cup in the Endurance Cup will have eight entries, with Oman Racing and Barwell Motorsport making interesting moves from the Pro-Am Cup against solid programs from Lazarus and Reiter Engineering.
The Pro-Am Cup counts with 12 entries as 24H SERIES stalwarts Car Collection and RAM Racing take on the likes of Black Falcon, Lazarus, Parker Racing and the Ferrari fleet with AF Corse, Rinaldi Racing and Kessel Racing. The Am Cup has only five entries, being composed mostly of returning teams like Walkenhorst Motorsport, Rinaldi Racing and Garage 59, while HB Racing with a Ferrari and a Porsche from Herberth Motorsport complete the list.
PHOTO: Blancpain GT Series
Comments
Post a Comment
Do you have an opinion? Feel free to comment.