A total of five manufacturers will contest this year’s Intercontinental GT Challenge campaign following confirmation that Ferrari and Porsche have joined Audi Sport, Lamborghini and Mercedes-AMG for Season 7 of SRO Motorsports Group’s globe-trotting GT3 series.
All five manufacturers are expected to nominate their full quota of four entries at the upcoming TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa, which follows IGTC’s season opener at Bathurst in May. The list of selected cars, three of which can feature Pro crews, will be announced early next week before the opening session of the world’s biggest GT race.
Ferrari’s Alessandro Pier Guidi and Come Ledogar are Intercontinental’s reigning drivers’ champions while Porsche scooped the manufacturers’ crown a year earlier. Audi Sport are attempting to defend the same title in 2022.
With the full-season entrants now known, SRO can attribute points based on the results of Bathurst where Mercedes-AMG’s SunEnergy1 line-up of Kenny Habul, Martin Konrad, Luca Stolz and Jules Gounon became the first Pro-Am crew to win a IGTC race outright.
Initially, only manufacturers’ points were due to be awarded at the 12 Hour. However, and following consultation with each brand, this race can now also count towards the overall drivers’ title.
Bathurst’s focus on Pro-Am entries – a consequence of the pandemic, lingering logistical complications and date change – meant factory Pro crews could not compete at Mount Panorama. As such, and to ensure those with limited or no presence in Australia still have an equal chance of winning IGTC’s 2022 titles, SRO has introduced a drop-score system covering both the overall drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships.
These final classifications will only take into account the 24 Hours of Spa result and the best two results achieved at the remaining three events.
At all four races only the two best placed finishers per marque can score points for their manufacturer, while all nominated entries continue to collect drivers’ championship points if they finish inside IGTC’s top-10.
Currently, a one-two finish at Bathurst leaves Mercedes-AMG leading both the manufacturers’ and drivers’ standings.
Meanwhile, all four rounds will still count towards the Pro-Am and Silver class drivers’ championships.