Bentley changes plans for Intercontinental GT Challenge

In what is seen as a quite sharp change of direction, Bentley opted to remove the M-SPORT team from the Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli with immediate effect, with priority set to be given to Bentley’s customer teams for the remainder of the season.

M-SPORT acts to Bentley in the same way that JAS Motorsport acts to Honda, serving as the builder of the GT3 models, offering support to customer teams and also acted as a factory squad in SRO competition, and while until 2019 M-SPORT took the spotlight in both GT World Challenge Europe and Intercontinental GT Challenge, the focus was shifted so that the Crewe team would take only of international matters, leaving the European, Asian and North American competitions to teams like K-PAX Racing, Classic and Modern Racing, Bullit Racing, Parker Racing, Team Lazarus, JMW and JRM as the customer base increased in the transition from 2019 to 2020.

The reason for the change of plans is related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects that were triggered by the situation, which mostly included postponed or canceled events, like the announcements that wiped the Suzuka Circuit from the SRO schedule in 2020, and while M-SPORT won’t compete, they will continue serving Bentley’s customer base with all support possible for the programs to come, specially in IGTC where the nominated customer teams will score points in place of M-SPORT.

While Bentley staff explained that more customer racing news may come soon, the possibility is high for K-PAX Racing to be the nominated points scorer for the upcoming Indianapolis 8 Hour despite their plans to focus their season in Europe. For the TOTAL 24 Hours of Spa the Bentley army will be bigger as the GT World Challenge Europe teams will join the grid, while the Kyalami 9 Hours seems to be the biggest interrogation as to which team will represent Bentley.

Should the expected Asian IGTC round find a new venue, British outfit JMW, which is set to step into GT3 racing in the GT World Challenge Asia, can be nominated for the race.

M-SPORT leaves the IGTC on a high note, having won the 2020 Bathurst 12 Hour with Jules Gounon, Jordan Lee Pepper and Maxime Soulet, and before that, they had the 2017 title of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup.

PHOTO - Bentley Motorsport