Colin-on-Cars: New players and updated scoring for GT3

Ferrari and Porsche have confirmed their participation in Season 7 of SRO Motorsports Group’s GT3 series alongside Audi Sport, Lamborghini and Mercedes-AMG and are expected to be on the grid for the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa.

All five manufacturers are expected to nominate their full quota of four entries of which three can feature Pro crews.

Reigning

Ferrari’s Alessandro Pier Guidi and Come Ledogar are Intercontinental’s reigning drivers’ champions while Porsche scooped the manufacturers’ crown a year earlier. Audi Sport are attempting to defend the same title in 2022.

With the full-season entrants now known, SRO can attribute points based on the results of Bathurst (held in May) where Mercedes-AMG’s SunEnergy1 line-up of Kenny Habul, Martin Konrad, Luca Stolz and Jules Gounon became the first Pro-Am crew to win a IGTC race outright.

Count

Initially, only manufacturers’ points were due to be awarded at the 12 Hour. However, and following consultation with each brand, this race can now also count towards the overall drivers’ title. 

Bathurst’s focus on Pro-Am entries – a consequence of the pandemic, lingering logistical complications and date change – meant factory Pro crews could not compete at Mount Panorama.

As such, and to ensure those with limited or no presence in Australia still have an equal chance of winning IGTC’s 2022 titles, SRO has introduced a drop-score system covering both the overall drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships.

These final classifications will only take into account the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa result and the best two results achieved at the remaining three events.

Score

At all four races only the two best placed finishers per marque can score points for their manufacturer, while all nominated entries continue to collect drivers’ championship points if they finish inside IGTC’s top-10.

Currently, a one-two finish at Bathurst leaves Mercedes-AMG leading both the manufacturers’ and drivers’ standings.

Meanwhile, all four rounds will still count towards the Pro-Am and Silver class drivers’ championships.

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Three rounds for 2021 GTC series including Kyalami

This year’s Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli campaign will feature three rounds on as many continents following SRO Motorsports Group’s decision not to replace the Suzuka 10 Hours. 

Several new and existing events in the Middle East were considered since the 49th Summer Endurance Race – originally scheduled for August 20-22 – was cancelled by local organisers in mid-March due to Japan’s domestic Covid-19 measures. 

However, and despite evaluating promising opportunities across the region, a combination of calendar clashes, budget implications and general suitability has made a replacement round impossible to stage. 

Instead, the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa kicks off the global GT3 championship’s 2021 campaign on July 29-August 1 before IGTC joins forces with Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS at the Indianapolis 8 Hour on October 15-17. The campaign concludes with the Kyalami 9 Hour on December 2-4. 

Stephane Ratel, SRO Motorsports Group Founder and CEO says: “We invested much time and energy into finding a replacement event that would uphold Intercontinental’s purpose of uniting the world’s great GT endurance races. And although several options would have achieved this aim, each also presented a new set of challenges to overcome. Given the current global situation I believe it is better to focus our energies on IGTC’s three existing rounds. 

“I would like to thank each of the parties and promoters for their positive collaboration and hope to work with them again in the future. Indeed, although Intercontinental won’t be visiting the Middle East this year I remain confident that these discussions will subsequently allow us to explore fresh opportunities.” 

REVISED 2021 CALENDAR

Jul 29-Aug 1 – TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa – Europe
Oct 15-17 – Indianapolis 8 Hour – North America
Dec 2-4 – Kyalami 9 Hour – South Africa