| Category | Grand tourer Endurance racing |
|---|---|
| Country | Europe |
| Inaugural season | 2011 |
| Tyre suppliers | Michelin (2011–2012) Pirelli (2013–present) |
| Drivers' champion |  Alessandro Pier GuidiAlessio Rovera |
| Teams' champion | AF Corse - Francorchamps Motors |
| Official website | gt-world-challenge-europe.com |
 Current season | |
TheGT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, formerly for sponsorship reasons theBlancpain Endurance Series from 2011 to 2015 andBlancpain GT Series Endurance Cup from 2016 to 2019, is asports car racing series developed bySRO Motorsports Group and theRoyal Automobile Club of Belgium (RACB) with approval from theFédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It featuresgrand tourer racing cars modified from production road cars complying with the FIA's GT3 regulations. The series's goal is to be anendurance racing championship for GT3 cars, similar to theFIA World Endurance Championship which were using GTE cars and Le Mans Prototypes (now GT3 and Le Mans Hypercars). The series was primarily sponsored by Swiss watchmakerBlancpain, and the company's Lamborghini Super Trofeo series serve as support races.In 2019, SRO announced that their sponsorship deal with Blancpain had been discontinued and the series was renamed the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup for the 2020 season.
The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup reestablishes several elements of the formerFIA GT Championship, with three hour endurance races held on European circuits such asMonza andSilverstone, as well as a continuation of theSpa 24 Hours. The races feature five classes derived from the FIA's GT3, GT4, and Supersport regulations, with the GT3 cars divided into a class for professional driver line-ups (GT3 Pro), a class for a mixed team of professional and amateurs (GT3 Pro-Am), and a class for gentleman drivers who use cars at least one year old (GT3 Am). The FIA's ranking system for drivers is utilized in determining what class each entry is eligible for. The GT4 category remained its own class.[1]
For the 2012 season, the GT4 and Supersport category were dropped and the GT3 Citation class was modified into the Gentlemen class.[2] In 2013, grids have reached 60 cars for regular races.
The series uses extensive performance balancing and handicap weights to equalise the cars' performance.
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