While the cropped 2020 season is still open, SRO took the opportunity to announce its schedules for the next one in all its fronts during the 24 Hours of Spa weekend, covering mostly updates to the proposed calendars for its GT World Challenge regional series and the Intercontinental GT Challenge.
The 2021 Intercontinental GT Challenge calendar remains largely unchanged, though it will only start st Spa-Francorchamps as heavy travel restrictions to Australia made the Bathurst 12 Hour realization not possible, with promise that it will return in 2022, and as it was the case with the Suzuka 10 Hours this year, SRO won’t bring a replacement as an emergency measure, even with New Zealand being in a better state in regard to COVID-19 control.
Following the 24 Hours of Spa are the Suzuka 10 Hour, the Indianapolis 8 Hour and Kyalami 9 Hours, with the interesting fact that Spa and Suzuka will both be in August, which may be quite the burden for manufacturer-nominated teams that will campaign the full season.
24 Hours of Spa - 31 July-1 August
Suzuka 10 Hours - 22 August
Indianapolis 8 Hours - 17 October
Kyalami 9 Hours - TBA December
In the GT World Challenge America schedule, the Continental Tire Motorsport Park returns after being axed in 2020, with the highlight being mostly date changes and the inclusion of Watkins Glen as the last sprint weekend of the year. Sonoma will start the season while COTA, CTMP and VIR are pushed back, with the second part of the season having Road America and Watkins Glen ahead of the Indianapolis 8 Hour, of which the whole race will count points instead of only the first three hours like in 2020.
Sonoma - 6-7 March
Circuit of the America - 1-2 May
Continental Tire Motorsport Park - 22-23 May
Virginia - 12-13 June
Road America - 28-29 August
Watkins Glen - 18-19 September
Indianapolis 8 Hour - 17 October (also valid for IGTC)
The GT World Challenge Asia is the series which took the biggest hit as it couldn’t be held in 2020 due to travel restrictions and health and safety concerns, initially in China and Japan but then spread to Thailand and Malaysia, with plans going down to four weekends in two venues, which were eventually scrapped.
Only Sepang, which will retain its season opener spot, has a confirmed date, while the other venues have still to be settled in the months they were allocated. Fuji will stay out this season as the circuit will hold events of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, so Motegi will replace it while Suzuka remains in the calendar as the second Japanese destination, with the possibility of a third venue if SRO gets a deal with Autopolis instead of Buriram, and two Chinese events close the season, with Shanghai remaining in the schedule while the other venue remains unconfirmed.
Sepang (Test) - TBA May
Sepang - 19-20 June
Buriram/Autopolis - TBA JulyMotegi - TBA July
Suzuka - TBA August
Shanghai - TBA September
TBA Chinese round - TBA October
GT World Challenge Europe was the most stable competition in the SRO calendar this year, but it didn’t get away from being reshaped according to the needs of the moment. Of the canceled events in 2020, Brands Hatch, Monza and Zandvoort are featured in the calendar, while Hungaroring and Silverstone remain covered in doubt, especially as there’s only one slot available as Magny-Cours was retained after being included as an emergency measure, and Stephane Ratel explained that SRO has multiple options available for the empty Sprint Cup slot.
Most of the traditional venues will be present in 2021 for both Sprint and Endurance Cup, and unlike any sort of complication appears during the season, they will retain their original slots in the calendar.
Paul Ricard (Test) - 11-12 March
Spa-Francorchamps (Test) - 21 to 25 June (TBC)
Monza (Endurance) - 18 April
Brands Hatch (Sprint) - 1-2 May
Magny-Cours (Sprint) - 8-9 May
Paul Ricard 1000 (Endurance) - 30 May
Zandvoort (Sprint) - 19-20 June
Misano (Sprint) - 3-4 July
24 Hours of Spa (Endurance) - 30 July-1 August (also valid for IGTC)
Nürburgring (Endurance) - 5 September
TBA (Sprint) - 18-19 or 25-26 September
Barcelona (Endurance) - 10 October
The FIA Motorsport Games, which had a year off in 2020, are expected to return in 2021 in late October, which will include 15 categories with possibility of having more, spread between road racing, drift, karting, rally and rallycross, to be opened at Marseille and held at Paul Ricard and Sainte Baume.
The 2020 calendar will end with the Paul Ricard 1000, the final GT World Challenge Europe round, on 15 November, and the Kyalami 9 Hours, the final Intercontinental GT Challenge event, on 10 December.
PHOTOS: SRO/Brian Cleary, Dirk Bogaerts, Sarah Weeks
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