The GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup, officially known as Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS for sponsorship reasons, formerly the FIA GT Series, is a

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...

series organized by the

Stéphane Ratel Organisation SRO Motorsports Group (formerly the Stéphane Ratel Organisation) is an international sporting organisation best known for promoting and running a variety of racing events and series, including the Total 24 Hours of Spa, Intercontinental GT Chal ...

(SRO) with the approval of the

Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; en, International Automobile Federation) is an association established on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users. It is the governing body for ...

(FIA). It was sponsored by

Blancpain Blancpain SA () is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer, headquartered in Paudex/Le Brassus, Switzerland. It designs, manufactures, distributes, and sells prestige and luxury mechanical watches. Founded by Jehan-Jacques Blancpain in Villeret, Switz ...

from 2014 to 2019, when it was variously branded as the Blancpain Sprint Series in 2014 and 2015, the Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup in 2016 to 2018, and the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe in 2019. In 2020, AWS was named 'Official Presenter' and the series was branded as "GT World Challenge Powered by AWS". Fanatec later joined as title sponsor in 2021, giving the series its current name. The championship now exclusively races in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, but had in previous years visited other continents, including

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

. The series continues the sprint format for GT-cars carried out by the defunct

FIA GT1 World Championship The FIA GT1 World Championship was a world championship sports car racing series, developed by the SRO Group and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), that was held from 2010 to 2012. It featured multiple grand ...

Regulations

The GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup is contested with GT3-spec cars. Each event consists of two races over a weekend with two drivers per car and a mandatory pit stop.

Races

The schedule of the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup consists of races in Europe.

History

In 2013, the FIA GT Series was created after the demise of the

and the

FIA GT3 European Championship The FIA GT3 European Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It was a championship derived from the international FIA ...

. The series was supposed to form the ''FIA GT World Series'' in conjunction with the GT Endurance Series. This plan was abandoned before the start of the 2013 season. The name of the FIA GT Series resembles the

FIA GT Championship The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...

(1997-2009) that was known for its endurance races all over the world. Except for the mandatory driver changes, the two championships differ highly in sporting and technical regulations. In 2014, the competition changed the name to the Sprint Series. in 2016 the SRO announced both the Sprint and Endurance Series integrated into the GT Series, putting the emphasis on the overall drivers' and manufacturers' titles causing the Sprint Series name to change from Sprint Series to GT Series Sprint Cup. On 25 May 2018, the SRO acquired promotional rights to the

GT World Challenge America The GT World Challenge America is a North American auto racing series launched in 1990 by the Sports Car Club of America. It has been managed by the Stephane Ratel Organisation since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club si ...

, a North American GT series sanctioned by the

United States Auto Club The United States Auto Club (USAC) is one of the sanctioning bodies of auto racing in the United States. From 1956 to 1979, USAC sanctioned the United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the organization sanctioned the Indianapol ...

. On 29 September 2018, the SRO changed the names of the GT Asia and Sprint Cup, to adopt the World Challenge name used in North America. The three series together will be known as the GT World Challenge, with each series adding their region to the series name (America, Asia, Europe). In 2019, SRO announced that sponsorship by

had come to an end. For 2020, the GT World Challenge Europe was renamed the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup, with the GT Series and GT Series Endurance Cup being renamed the GT World Challenge Europe and GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup respectively. In 2020, SRO named AWS as the "official presenter" of the series, and the series was branded as "GT World Challenge Powered by AWS". In 2021, Fanatec became the title sponsor of the series. Giving the series its current name of "Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS".

Regulations

Races

History

Champions

Drivers

Teams

See also

References

External links