The SRO press conference revealed a practically unchanged calendar for the Intercontinental GT Challenge, with only date changes being applied in order to attract more entries or to ease off the load that teams and manufacturers have in specific months of the year.
The effort was more into finding more attractive dates than finding new venues, with the Bathurst 12 Hour, the 24 Hours of Nürburgring and the Indianapolis 8 Hour being moved within the 2026 calendar. The Bathurst 12 Hour stays as the opening round, but it will be moved to mid February, which should give an opening for the teams that open the season at the Dubai 24 Hours and ROLEX 24, as well the GT3 teams in the Asian Le Mans Series, attracting more teams to the grid outside the IGTC full season entries and the Australian teams.
The biggest change actually appears from the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, with the visit to the Nordschleife going to mid May while the 24 Hours of Spa stays in the same spot in late June. This also relieves the burden for teams and manufacturers, given that the 2025 season had the 24 hour races at Le Mans, Nürburgring and Spa one after another, with the involved parties eventually having the tough decision to choose races in detriment of others.
The Suzuka 1000km, that not only marks the return of the series to the Japanese track, but also to Asia, stays in the same slot in around mid September, while the Indianapolis 8 Hour closes the season but is moved a week ahead in comparison to 2025.
2026 Intercontinental GT Challenge calendar:
15 February - Bathurst 12 Hour
16-17 May - 24 Hours of Nürburgring
27-28 June - 24 Hours of Spa (with GTWC Europe Endurance Cup)
13 September - Suzuka 1000km
10 October - Indianapolis 8 Hour
PHOTO: SRO/JEP
Comments
Post a Comment
Do you have an opinion? Feel free to comment.