The GT Cup Open Europe is ready to take the track for its fourth season with 5 events at Paul Ricard, Spa- Francorchamps, Red Bull Ring, Monza and Barcelona), each including two 50-minute races.
The series is open to a wide array of cars (mainly of GT4 and mono-brand cup type) and is designed for Pro-Am and Am drivers only.
First stop in 2022 is at the Circuit Paul Ricard with 14 cars in the grid for the first round, but with more to come from the next round in Spa, as some of the teams have already confirmed that they will extend their entry and new contenders are confirmed.
The Ricard entry sees a good balance between the Pro-Am and Am classes, and two teams fielding a four car entry.
Q1 Trackracing from Belgium took the Teams’ title and 6 race wins last year, and is racing Porsche 992s. Two will be in the hands of solo drivers: Jan Lauryssen , the reigning GT Cup Open Championship runner-up, will race in Pro-Am, while John De Wilde, back to the series after a 2-year hiatus, will contest Am. The two other cars will be assigned a class as soon as the driver line-ups are confirmed, knowing that Q1 regulars Nico Vandierendonck and Dirk Schouten have been joined by two new recruits, Laurent Vandervelde and Frenchman Lukas Valkre.
The other squad aligning four Porsches is GDL Racing, another well-known squad that has raced in the series in the past and will also have two solo drivers in Mario Cordoni and Roberto Rayneri, the latter in a 991.2. They will compete in Am alongside the father-and-son pair composed of Samuele and Roberto Bosio. The San Marino-based team’s car in Pro-Am is entrusted to Canada’s Bashar Mardini and Austrian Christopher Zöchling.
Three Porsches will come from Italy. GT Cup Open faithful SP Racing, the team built around Eugenio Pisani and the Siliprandi family, enters in Pro-Am a 991.2 for Stefano Zaini and Pisani himself, while a 991.1 will race in Am in the hands of Stefano Zerbi and Fabio Fabiani.
Ghinzani Arco Motorsport fields a first 992, which should be joined by another one as from Spa, the car entrusted to a popular face in the series, Glauco Solieri, the Am Championship runner-up last year.
Debuting in the series and at international level is RO1 Racing, who comes the long way from Romania for a full campaign with its 992.2 and the national GT champions, Camil Perian- Florin Tincescu.
Aston Martin will be represented thanks to Belgian squad Street Art Racing, a former European GT4 champion which also races in the International GT Open: the squad, based near Charleroi fields a French Pro-Am pair, with Jahid Fazal-Karim and young gun Julien Darras.
Last but not least, a Toyota Supra GR brings the Japanese brand to the series for the first time, thanks to Austrian team SVC Sport Management, technically assisted by Villorba corse, and the Pro-Am pair composed of Patrick Zamparini, from Italy, and Antoni Chodzen from Poland.
