The racing season is about to get underway in Europe, with the Blancpain GT Series Sprint and Endurance Cups in rude health. The same goes for British GT, again at capacity with 30+ GT4 and GT3 cars. Beside numbers, the British GT series enjoys the arrival of new cars in both classes, the Lamborghini Huracan in GT3 and the newly unveiled McLaren 570S in GT4. Additionally, the arrival of the Maserati GT MC and the popular Porsche Cayman GT4 are adding diversity to the grid.
Despite busy times, work is going on behind the scenes to prepare the last round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, which is made up of three prestigious GT3 endurance races : the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour followed by the Total 24 Hours of Spa at the end of July and the 12 Hours of Sepang in December.
Minor evolutions will be introduced this year for our December meeting, mainly affecting driver stint/drive times and pairings. GT3 will have three podiums: Pro (3 drivers) Pro/Am & AM (up to 4 drivers). In GTC will benefit from division into two sub-categories: GTC Cup and XtraCup for more powerful machinery such as the Huracan and Audi R8. GTC Cup we will see the Gallardo, Ferrari Challenge, Porsche Carrera Cup etc. A Trophy will also be given to the highest finishing car of each brand. Sports Production & GT4 as per last year will have an overall podium. New for this year is the creation of a dedicated TCR class. And last but not least, Touring Cars will continue as it did last year with Turbo and normally aspirated sub classifications. Please download the 2016 Sepang 12 Hours Overview (below) for further details
The race format will be similar to last year, spread over 4 days only. Scrutineering will be on Wednesday, with Practice and Qualifying on Thursday/Friday. The race starts Saturday 10th December at midday, finishing at midnight. Free Practice will be extended due to the new surfacing currently being laid in Sepang.
Tyre: there will be a sole supplier for all classes, this is to be finalised in the coming weeks.
We will have LIVE TV with the aim to increase TV distribution to more territories, to be confirmed during the season.
In the meantime, don’t hesitate to contact us with any enquiries. Once again, we expect Teams to join us from most parts of the globe, from Europe to Australia and also via the FIA GT World Cup taking place in Macau three weeks before the Sepang 12 hours. Entry Forms are released today, transport details and draft regulations to follow… have a great start to your racing season… and speak soon…