The long wait is over: the GT Cup Europe is ready to resume racing and, as per tradition, will open the new season in most South Western track of the continent, the Autódromo do Algarve, where the 2025 season-opener is scheduled on 24-27 April.
This will be the seventh edition of the junior series by GT Sport, the ‘younger sister’ of the International GT Open, aimed at cars one step below GT3 and crafted mainly for teams and drivers of the semi-professional and amateur world. The GT Cup Europe is now well-established, as proven by the fact that the first round in Portugal will see a 26-car entry, the highest number so far for a season-opener.
Like in recent years, a duel at the top between Porsches and Ferraris can easily be anticipated, despite the 992 cars being in larger numbers, but Lamborghini is also represented and other brands are set to appear as from round 2.
Six rounds of two races each are on schedule, while on the regulatory side, the main novelty is the creation of a new Silver class, open to Silver pairs or Silver drivers racing alone, which positions itself above the Pro-Am and Am layers, becoming the facto the top class (and thus not having own standings or podiums). As explained by Jesús Pareja, CEO of GT Sport, “This reflects the evolution of the entry numbers and type of drivers. Having Silver drivers in a separate class will allow a fairer competition. We are very happy with the evolution of the GT Cup Europe so far and convinced we are going to have a great season.”
THE NEW SILVER CLASS KICKS OFF WITH GREAT CONTENDERS
From straight, the new Silver class is poised to offer fierce competition. German stalwart Mertel Motorsport, who took the Drivers’ overall title in the 2023-24, is fielding two Ferrari 296, which are new in the series and have undergone a thorough BoP process, entrusted to new-comers Simone Patrinicola-Luca Demarchi, both joining from the Italian GT scene, and Antoine Berberich-Martini driving solo. The German squad will also have a 488 Challenge in the class for young guns Matteo Luvisi, who starred last year, and Davide Larini, the son of former F.1 racer Nicola.
Quadruple Teams’ champions Q1 Trackracing are ready for a new challenge, fielding young guns Lars Zaenen-Gonçalo Fernandes in the class. Other Porsches to watch will be the one of ZRS Motorsport, back to the series with Pietro Armanni-Ludovico Longoni, the one of new entry FAEMS Team for Luca Franca-Ian Rodriguez, and the faithful Volcano Motorsport car of solo driver Evgenii Leonov.
QUALITY FIGHT IN PRO-AM
The now intermediate class will continue to see a high-level attendance. Third last year, Belgian Nico Saelens-Stienes Longin will be a second title bid of Q1 Trackracing, as will be another familiar top pair such as Davide Scannicchio-Fabio Babini in the Tsunami GT top 992.
A new team from Portugal, LMR Motorsport, enters a pair from Brazil, Diego Nunes-Peter Ferter, while also a new entry Burgers Motorsport by HWM, from the Netherlands, where Laura van den Hengel comes back to the series with former single-seater star Paul Meijer.
Mertel Motorsport will be represented in this class by a Ferrari 488 in the hands of Tommaso Luvisi-Mauro Trentin.
Last but not least, long-standing contender SP Racing team fields two cars for Eugenio Pisani-Stefano Zerbi and Luca Attianese-Riccardo Romagnoli.
THE AM CLASS, CORE OF THE GT CUP - The Am class will be the best-attended, with 12 cars, in full compliance with the spirit of the series. Reigning class champions Leandro Martins-Dieter Svepes are back for more glory but with a different team, the mentioned new LMR Motorsport created by the latter.
Among faithful contenders coming back are Q1 Trackracing, with Nico Vandierendonck and Nathan Brauns now associated, Romania’s RO1 Racing with Camil Perian-Florin Tincescu, and Glauco Solieri with his Swisseagle Porsche.
GDL Racing will continue to be a driving force in the series, and the Sanmarinese squad enters no less than four cars, three of which for strong solo drivers, as Brazil’s H.DeMello, Italy’s Giacomo Giubergia and Argentina’s Fran Viel Bugliotti, and one for Danilo Paoletti-Gabriele Lancieri.
Joining the series is one of the Porsche top teams on the racing scene, Ebimotors. The Italian squad enters two cars for Sebastian Fortuna-Cosimo Papi and Gianluca Giorgi-Luigi Peroni.
In the Ferrari camp, ‘Leo Chen’ is also back in one of the 488s of Mertel Motorsport, while Lamborghini will be represented by the Scuderia Villorba Corse car of Luciano Privitelio.
At Portimão, the entertaining race programme includes, as always, the other GT Sport-promoted series, the International GT Open and the Euroformula Open (which debuts with the new Dallara 324 powered by Tom’s), as well as the TCR Europe and the Porsche Sprint Challenge Ibérica.