#IntercontGTC – Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli – Entries now open for 2019 Suzuka 10 Hours

The entry process for this season’s Suzuka 10 Hours – Asia’s only Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli round – is now officially open.

FIA GT3, GT300 and ST-X specification GT cars are all once again eligible to compete at the 48th Summer Endurance Race, which made its Intercontinental GT Challenge debut last year.

2019’s event takes place on August 23-25 following Intercontinental GT Challenge rounds at the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, Laguna Seca Raceway California 8 Hours and Total 24 Hours of Spa. The campaign concludes with the revived Kyalami 9 Hour in late November.

Teams and drivers from Asia, Europe, America and Australia are all expected to attend Japan’s most prestigious GT race, which last season featured 35 cars. Intercontinental GT Challenge organiser, SRO Motorsports Group; Suzuka’s management company, Mobilityland Corporation; and Super GT organiser, GT Association, will again work closely to assemble a truly international entry list.

Balance of Performance parameters will be implemented and regulated by SRO, and all cars will run on Pirelli tyres, just as they did in 2018.

Prize money totalling 100-million Yen is again up for grabs across all classes, while a GT3 parade into downtown Suzuka is also scheduled to take place.

Several changes to this year’s format will be announced shortly.

The 48th Summer Endurance Race builds on the legacy of Suzuka’s previous 1000-kilometre event. Although best known previously as Super GT’s blue riband round, the race has also featured on the FIA GT Championship, BPR Series, World Sportscar Championship and All-Japan Sports Prototype Championship schedules since its establishment in 1966.

GruppeM Racing’s Raffaele Marciello, Maro Engel and 2018 Overall Drivers’ champion Tristan Vautier helped Mercedes-AMG claim a one-two finish at Suzuka last season.

2019 kicks off with the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour next weekend (February 1-3).

————–

INTERCONTINENTAL GT CHALLENGE POWERED BY PIRELLI
SRO’s global GT championship celebrates its fourth season in 2019 by reviving a historic race in a fifth region.

The series’ purpose couldn’t be simpler: reward the manufacturer and drivers who achieve the best collective results in the world’s greatest endurance events.

The proliferation of GT3, built on a decade of manufacturer involvement and SRO’s Balance of Performance stability, has resulted in it becoming the de facto senior class for all of the world’s most prestigious GT races. This, as well as using the same Pirelli tyres, offers manufacturers an incentive to compete in all such events by employing regional customer teams without the expense of freighting cars around the world.

The season begins with the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour in Australia before Laguna Seca welcomes the US leg two months later. The Total 24 Hours of Spa plays host to the world’s biggest GT3 event in July followed by Asia’s round at the iconic, figure-of-eight Suzuka in Japan. Kyalami in South Africa then brings the curtain down on 2019 following the resurrection of its historic nine-hour race that was last staged in 1982.

The championship’s first season in 2016 comprised three rounds but has now expanded to include five of the world’s biggest GT3 events on as many continents. Intercontinental GT Challenge thus represents the highest echelon of long-distance GT racing globally.

_____

PIRELLI – OFFICIAL TYRE SUPPLIER
Pirelli is a tyre manufacturer and world leader in the automotive industry. It has an exclusive relationship with over 50 racing series worldwide, including Formula One.

Pirelli has a long and illustrious history in endurance racing, and has also claimed a huge variety of class wins in GT racing all over the world. The design of the new Pirelli GT tyres meets the needs of GT racing while maintaining the performance characteristics that endurance drivers have appreciated in the past. The slick tyres used for GT racing are branded Zero: just like the slicks that have become a central feature of Formula One. The name P Zero is used in the highest categories of motorsport such as GT racing.

_____

SRO MOTORSPORTS GROUP – THE GLOBAL LEADER IN GT RACING
With more than 25 years’ experience at the forefront of a continuously evolving industry, SRO Motorsports Group is the established international leader in GT racing.

Best known for the development and implementation of the GT3 and GT4 regulations, SRO promotes and organises championships that embrace professional and amateur competitors. Its portfolio of highly regarded series spans Europe, America and Asia, while its flagship Intercontinental GT Challenge features events on five different continents.

The 2019 season will see more than 100 races run under the SRO Motorsports Group banner, highlighted by the prestigious Total 24 Hours of Spa. In addition to promotion and organisation, the company operates SRO Race Centre by MMC – a high-level technical centre at Circuit Paul Ricard – and provides the ultimate driving opportunities at world-renowned facilities through Curbstone Track Events.

SRO Motorsports Group is chaired by company founder and CEO Stephane Ratel. With offices in London, Paris, Liège and Hong Kong, its work is facilitated by a dedicated global team of full-time and freelance staff.

Combining a passion for performance with industry-leading experience, SRO is ready to play a key role in shaping the future of international GT racing.