The SRO press conference at Spa-Francorchamps led by its owner, Stephane Ratel, just brought more blend in the recently created Blancpain GT World Challenge brand, with a step ahead being taken with the introduction of endurance races as part of American and Asian series, and also with the Endurance Cup becoming a part of the European series.
Much of the 2020 GT World Challenge America calendar remains there, with some venues swapping slots, like MoSport and Virginia and also Road America and Watkins Glen, while the late planned 2019 finale at Las Vegas will give place to the Indianapolis 8 Hour, which also replaces the California 8 Hours held at Laguna Seca, with SRO wanting a change after disappointing turnouts in both entries and spectators.
The Indianapolis 8 Hours also comes as an integrated event to the GT World Challenge America calendar, while the California 8 Hour was always a mid-season standalone race, counting only for the Intercontinental GT Challenge.
2020 Blancpain GT World Challenge America
March/April - COTA
May 16th/17th - MoSport
June 6th//7th - Virginia
August 8th/9th - Sonoma
August 29th/30th - Road America
September 19th/20th - Watkins Glen
October 4th - Indianapolis 8 Hour [shared with IGTC]
The 2020 GT World Challenge Asia calendar sees Buriram say goodbye while the Sepang, Fuji and Yeongam weekends were brought to earlier dates compared to 2019, with special attention to Fuji Speedway as the Japanese circuit will be used at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. A second undisclosed Chinese race is slotted for September while the once standalone Shanghai 888 becomes part of the Blancpain GT schedule as the continent’s endurance round.
2020 Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia
March 28th/29th - Sepang
May 23rd/24th - Fuji
June 20th/21st - Suzuka
July 11th/12th - Yeongam
September 12th/13th - China round TBC
October TBC - Shanghai 888 [3 Hour Endurance]
The European front sees mostly date changes for 2020 as the venues remain the same. The Paul Ricard 1000 and the 24 Hours of Spa test day were brought forward along with the Misano Sprint weekend, which gives more time to prepare for the 24 Hours of Spa as there’s no mid-July race. With consecutive endurance events at Spa and Nürburgring, the Sprint rounds will stay in late September and early October in order to give a certain amount of time for the teams to recover and even look to other Blancpain GT events in other continental series.
2020 Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe
Test days
March 12th/13th - Paul Ricard
June 16th/17th - Spa-Francorchamps
Races
April 19th - Monza [Endurance]
May 2nd/3rd - Brands Hatch
May 10th - Silverstone [Endurance]
May 30th - Paul Ricard 1000 [Endurance]
June 27th/28th - Zandvoort
July 4th/5th - Misano
July 25th and 26th - TOTAL 24 Hours of Spa [Endurance - shared with IGTC]
September 6th - Nurburgring [Endurance]
September 26th/27th - Hungaroring
October 10th/11th - Barcelona
The Intercontinental GT Challenge calendar almost has no changes as the same venues have basically the same dates, with only the Indianapolis 8 Hours being introduced in October in place of the California 8 Hours that was in late March. If you compare the IGTC calendar to the others, those opting for the global competition will have a hard time as multiple endurance events will take place after Spa-Francorchamps with roughly a month between them.
Considering that the Kyalami 9 Hours will be held after all series have ended, the grid numbers may be boosted despite the logistic constraints.
2020 Intercontinental GT Challenge
February 2nd - Bathurst 12 Hour
July 25th and 26th - 24 Hours of Spa
August 23rd - Suzuka 10 Hours
October 4th - Indianapolis 8 Hours
November 22nd - Kyalami 9 Hours
PHOTO - SRO
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