The 2019 Blancpain GT Series season is almost knocking on our doors but team and driver announcements keep popping up everywhere, and although not being as incredible as previous years, the team and car list for this season impresses by the variety, which is a mark of the GT3 class.
Ten manufacturers will be represented in the whole Blancpain GT field, in what can be considered a period of renovation, given that most of the entries switched to Evo spec GT3s and even to new models, with the Mercedes teams being the group against the wave. Honda is the newest manufacturer to have a full time entry, being this the Jenson Team Rocket RJN NSX GT3 Evo, which unfortunately left Nissan with no teams on the grid.
Starting with the renewed GT World Challenge Europe series, 24 cars will take part of the grid, and it doesn’t seem that the Pro Cup grid gap had that much of an effect on it, as 16 entries will compete for overall honors, way below the 26 car limit imposed by SRO in order to promote entries for the other classes. The highly contested Silver Cup will have only four entries and the Pro-Am Cup will feature three cars, while the Am Cup has only a Ferrari 488 GT3 from HB Racing as a competitor.
WRT, AKKA-ASP and FFF Racing will enter with the biggest programs, with a total of 11 cars if you combine the numbers of these teams, though only WRT will feature all of their cars in the Pro Cup. Saintéloc, Phoenix Racing, R-Motorsport and Attempto Racing bet on two-car lineups, while the rest of the grid is formed by single car entries, with Grässer Racing and Black Falcon being the highlights, with their focus going mostly to the Endurance Cup.
Talking about the Endurance Cup, 49 cars will take part of the full season, with a bunch of the World Challenge Europe efforts taking part of it while other top teams opted to dedicate themselves to the longer races, as the examples of M-Sport Bentley, Strakka Racing and ROWE Racing. Tech 1 Racing replaces Emil Frey as the Lexus customer team, RJN switched to Honda and Garage 59 went with Aston Martin to name a few highlights, and there’s also the return of Boutsen Ginion, coming with a BMW M6 and a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo, both in the Am Cup.
The usual suspects are bringing the biggest efforts too, as while WRT is the only of them commiting to the Pro Cup with its three entries, and the huge majority of the field is composed by double or single entries, as the likes of R-Motorsport, newcomer Dinamic Motorsport, Grässer Racing and many more.
Of all the 2018 class champions, three teams will return to compete this year, with overall champions Black Falcon and Am Cup champions Barwell Motorsport set to defend their titles. Strakka Racing, which conquered the Silver Cup last year, will come back but will compete in the Pro Cup.
This week saw the pre-season tests happen at Paul Ricard, and 47 cars clocked times during the two days of testing, though some of them weren’t confirmed Blancpain GT entries, as it was the case of the Honda Racing NSX GT3 Evo, which set the pace with Marco Bonanomi lapping 1:52.765. The Mercedes AMG GT3 was an impressive front runner with its different squads, counting even with a machine under the Mercedes HWA AG banner for Thomas Jäger.
The Blancpain GT Series season starts on April 14 with the Endurance Cup at Monza.
PHOTO: SRO
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