Since the complete turnaround in the model that composed the Pirelli World Challenge into what’s now the GT World Challenge America powered by AWS, SRO is still finding ways to make their North American GT3 series become as popular as the European and Asian counterparts, and one of the points this project goes by is the return of fully professional lineups in the 2021 season.
The move to bring back the Pro Cup comes after a mix of low car counts and complains from active and prospecting teams and drivers. This year the move to axe the all-Pro lineups come with the intention of giving more value to the Pro-Am Cup aspect of the game, while also debuting the Silver Cup as GTWC America was the only series without the class until 2019.
The problem is that mostly because of the current scenario regarding the COVID-10 pandemic, many entries stepped away and the new class couldn’t attract serious numbers to the grid, as most o the races had the No. 93 Racers Edge Acura racing on his own in Silver Cup, with Winward Racing bringing a single Mercedes AMG GT3 in the final events. Along with this Pro-Am Cup managed to get the most entries while the Am Cup was another class with a single entry, which saw GTWC America having joint races with GT Sports Club America as the GT3s numbers couldn’t get to 10 cars.
If you’re wondering what was the size of the loss from 2019 to 2020, axing the Pro Cup meant that the grid lost K-PAX Racing, Alegra Motorsports, RealTime Racing and R. Ferri Motorsport, with the former two usually having a pair of machines and the latter being a strong contender for titles in recent years, as well being the last Pro Cup champion.
Along with this, a new support series was announced for Bronze drivers wanting some sprint racing, as GT America, which brings together GT3s, GT2s and GT4s into a single grid for 40 minute races like in the Pirelli World Challenge days, extending the model that was used for the now defunct GT4 Sprint and GT Sports Club America series.
The calendar for 2021 was the final piece of the cake, starting at Sonoma and ending with the Indianapolis 8 Hour. The interesting change for 2021 is that the GTWC America entries will need to complete the full race to score points, unlike this years where they just need to complete the first three hours.
2021 GT World Challenge America calendar:
6-7 March - Sonoma
TBC April - Circuit of the Americas
22-23 April - Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
12-13 June - Virginia International Raceway
28-29 August - Road America
18-19 September - Watkins Glen
17 October - Indianapolis 8 Hour
PHOTO: SRO/Fabian Lagunas
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