GT Sport today announced a key development that will strengthen the 2015 International GT Open: a new category, the GT Open Cup, will be created as from the third round of the season (Silverstone), and will be open to Challenge/Cup-type cars.

The novelty was announced today to team managers and drivers by Jesús Pareja, CEO of GT Sport, in a meeting at the Paul Ricard. The move aims at taking into account today’s market conditions and participants’ aspirations, and at creating again a second-tier category in the GT Open.

Jesús Pareja explained: “The International GT Open has always been based on two types of cars, GT2 and GT3 cars. The GT racing market, as we all know, has evolved towards full GT3 grids, which is something that we have implemented as from this year, abandoning the too costly GT2 cars. The need for a lower category with cars only around 3 seconds slower, though, is still there, especially in these times where cost consciousness is essential. With the GT Open Cup, we intend to respond to that demand and stay consistent with the GT Open spirit, which has always included two types of cars. This will make the competition affordable and attractive to a larger base of teams and drivers, strengthening the overall grid.”

The details of the new GT Open Cup will be made public in the forthcoming weeks, together with the list of eligible cars, which will include machines such as the Ferrari F458 Challenge, the Porsche 911 Cup, the Lamborghinis Trofeo, and others of similar performances, together with the relevant BoP. The Cup will be a category in itself within the International GT Open and will run this year over the last five rounds of the 2015 season, starting at Silverstone and continuing with the Red Bull Ring, Spa, Monza and Barcelona events.