With the 2020 calendar in place and safety and health protocols defined, GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS still needed to announce the entry lists for the upcoming season, and as always the machine variety is a highlight.
The Sprint Cup will have a grid of 23 cars, with most of the teams opting for extended focus in the Endurance Cup and staying away from the overall title. Mercedes and Audi dominate the grid in numbers, with nine and seven cars, respectively, which makes for way more than a half of the field. Bentley, Ferrari and Lamborghini appear with two cars while Lexus has a single machine.
The Pro Cup keeps most of the big name teams in the grid, like WRT, Attempto Racing, AKKA-ASP and Saintéloc, while receiving new and returning names like Emil Frey Racing, the recently announced Haupt Racing Team, CMR and 24H SERIES stalwart Toksport WRT. In the Silver Cup, the established trio from Saintéloc, WRT and AKKA-ASP will be challenged by Tech1 Racing and newcomer Madpanda Motorsport.
The Pro-Am Cup is composed mostly of newcomers to SRO sprint racing like CMR, SPS Performance Automotive, ERC Sport and SKY Tempesta Racing, while AF Corse is the only 2019 team to remain in the class. SPS Performance Automotive is also responsive for the only GT Sports Club entry, which will race along the Sprint Cup this year while carrying its own rules.
GT World Challenge Europe - Sprint Cup entry list
For the Endurance Cup, 42 full time entries plus 5 partial entries show that this will be the aim for most of the teams, and Mercedes dominates in numbers with 10 cars, though Audi and Lamborghini come close with 7 each, while 6 Porsches, 5 Bentleys and 5 Ferraris come after them. McLaren and Aston Martin have a pair of cars each, and BMW, Lexus and Honda will put their luck in their single car entries.
Some of the big teams of 2019 are staying in the Pro Cup, like WRT, GPX, FFF Racing, SMP Racing and ROWE Racing, while having a bunch of new teams alongside, like CMR, Optimum Motorsport, Haupt Racing Team and K-PAX Racing, and while they may be newcomers in the series, they have their fair share of experience in SRO competitions. The Silver Cup keeps the champions from AKKA-ASP and top placed teams like Barwell, though Dinamic Motorsport, Garage 59, Madpanda, Tech1 and Parker Racing will be the ones to challenge the crown-holders as Grässer Racing focused their efforts in USA and Black Falcon will take a time off GT3 racing.
The Pro-Am Cup doesn’t count with champion team Oman Racing with TF Sport, which means that the path is open for RAM Racing, Barwell, AKKA-ASP, Tempesta, FFF Racing and AF Corse to get the class title, only to name a few. CMR, SPS Automotive and Reno Racing are the teams in the Am Cup, the least populated of the field with a car from each team, filling the void as none of the 2019 teams will return.
GT World Challenge Europe - Endurance Cup entry list
Only 19 cars will be available to conquer the overall GT World Challenge Europe title, with the whole Sprint Cup field taking part of the Endurance Cup, with the excepetion of the Toksport WRT pair of Mercedes and ERC Sport.
GT World Challenge Europe - Overall entry list
The 2020 GT World Challenge Europe by AWS will start on 26th July at Imola for Endurance Cup, while the Sprint Cup starting right after it on 7th to 9th August with the Misano triple header, which closes the Italian section of the series.
PHOTO - SRO/Dirk Bogaerts Photography
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