Preview: Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Supported by AWS Endurance Cup – Monza

The 2021 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Supported by AWS The season kicks off this weekend with a field of 44 cars with nine brands competing in a three-hour Endurance Cup race at the Theater of Speed. Monza National Circuit.

The historic Monza is celebrating its 10th anniversary in the Endurance Cup and will mix its idyllic backdrop with the wild sound of GT3 cars on the 5.8 km long track.

A total of

Thanks to a victory in the decisive race at Circuit Paul RicardFerrari won the Endurance Cup title last year. This year the brand will be represented by the new Iron Lynx team. Alessandro Pier Guidi will defend the crown of his drivers in car no. 51 and is supported by Nicklas Nielsen and Como Ledogar. The list of sister No. 71 is led by a Ferrari expert Davide Rigonaccompanied by fast youngsters Antonio Fuoco and Ferrari F1 Reserve driver Callum Ilott.

BMW has returned to the battle for overall honors. It’s also the final year for the M6 ​​GT3 before the M4 model arrives next year. Walkenhorst MotorsportSee two cars Marco Wittman and Sheldon van der Linde to join David Pittard in machine no. 34 while Timo Glock, Martin Tomczyk and Thomas Neubauer share the # 35.

Audi will be best represented with its contingent of two strong crews Saintéloc Racing. Christopher Haase anchors the # 25 next to the French duo Alexandre Cougnaud and Adrien Tambaywhile Finlay Hutchison will have the advantage of having the skilled pairing of Frédéric Vervisch and Markus Winkelhock with him in # 26. Team WRT will entrust their machine no Dries Vanthoor, Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weertswhile the very experienced Chris Mies switch teams to join Mattia Drudi and Kim Luis Schramm at the Attempto Racing.

Orange1 FFF Racing have Endurance Cup title on their sites after failing to keep it last year. You will have an Italian super team of Andrea Caldarelli, Mirko Bortolotti and Marco Mapelli to give them a boost with their Swiss outfit Emil Frey Racing will set up established stars Albert Costa, Giacomo Altoè and Norbert Siedler in his # 163 Huracán. The second car still combines an F1 reserve in Jack Aitken with other young guns Konsta Lappalainen and Arthur Rougier.

Photo credit: SRO Motorsports Group

A couple of impressive ones Mercedes-AMG The crews will fight for overall victory this season. In the # 88 AKKA ASP Entry, established team leader Raffaele Marciello is accompanied by returnees Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella to form an impressive trio. HRT has named an unchanged line-up Maro Engel, Luca pride and Vincent Abril also to be clearly marked on the front.

Incredibly, the very successful Porsche is still looking for its first Endurance Cup title. GPX racing will be one of the enteries trying to correct this by deploying an ace crew of Earl Bamber, Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet. The car is also draped in Martini’s brand and colors and continues the GPX of epic liveries. Dynamic motorsport has two 911 GT3-R entries. The # 54 features Christian Engelhart, Klaus Bachler and Matteo Cairoliwhile Romain Dumas, Andrea Rizzoli and Mikkel O. Pedersen will handle the # 56.

Although McLaren will put up a single car, it’s with the prestigious WHOMthe newcomer to series will operate factory drivers Rob Bell, Ben Barnicoat and Oliver Wilkinson. They’re graduating from a pro contingent, among the strongest ever seen on the series, promising to put on a spectacular show in Monza.

Pro-Am and Silver Cup

Overall victory isn’t the only source of entertainment this season. The Silver Cup will include 13 cars, six of which represent Mercedes-AMG. This includes last year’s overall winner of the 24-hour spa class, HRT, which also includes other German squads Toksport WRT and SPS automotive performance. AKKA ASP and Ezequiel Perez Companc‘s Madpanda Motorsport will also have high hopes of adding an endurance crown for the brand this year while American outfit Winward Racing prepares for its maiden campaign.

Garage 59 is sure to be a strong contender for the Silver Cup, especially after finishing second last year. However, this year they added the reigning class master Alex MacDowall for his # 159 Aston Martin. Ferrari squad Rinaldi Racing has proven to be the winner Patrick Kujala next to the Chilean rising star Benjamin Hites, which is switching to the 488 GT3 for its second season in the series.

Photo credit: SRO Motorsports Group

Audi will be represented with three entries, two from Team WRT and one more from Attempto Racing. For Lamborghini, Grasser Racing returns with a line-up that includes Squadra Corsa Juniors Kikko Galbiati and Tim Zimmermann, while Emil Frey Racing completes the Silver Grid.

The Pro-Am class will have 14 cars ready to cope with the season opener. Garage 59 will defend its title in 2021 with an unchanged crew of Alexander West, Chris Goodwin and Jonny AdamThat makes the Aston Martin squad favorites last season to keep their crown.

Your competition will be led by a quartet of Ferrari entries. AF Corse will compete in previous serial champions Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin in # 53 while two-time title winner Louis Machiels Pilots the # 52.S.ky Storm Racing which probably only dominated to miss the endurance crown last season, and will start among the favorites in 2021 while Kessel Racing makes a welcome return to the series in 2021.

Barwell Motorsport hopes to take its first Pro-Am title with its # 78 Lamborghini, while Orange1 FFF Racing also relies on the Italian machine. French outfit CMR is changing his Bentley Continental GT3 to the Pro-Am this season Boutsen Ginion Racing will continue with his BMW M6 GT3.

Mercedes-AMG is represented by RAM Racing, GetSpeed and SPS Automotive Performance while Inception Racing will use a McLaren for series newcomers Brendan Iribe and Ollie Millroy. The grid is completed by Allied racingwho will be fielding a Porsche 911 GT3-R this season. The German squad won last season’s GT4 European Series title in the Pro-Am class and will now try to be more successful at AWS’s Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe.

Photo credit: SRO Motorsports Group

The new Fanatec Esports GT Pro series will also be presented this season. The series is organized by the SRO Motorsports Group in collaboration with Fanatec, Assetto Corsa Competizione and AK Informatica and will host one-hour races at each Endurance Cup event.

Teams entering a professional or silver car in the endurance campaign must choose one of their racing drivers to take part in the competitions. The top 3 overall and silver finishers receive points. At the end of the season, the points collected in the virtual series will be added to the results from the Endurance Cup and the Sprint Cup to determine the overall and silver titles for 2021.