Chevrolet, Ford Join IGTC Manufacturer Lineup

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

Chevrolet and Ford have joined as Intercontinental GT Challenge manufacturers for the upcoming campaign, which will feature the largest number of registered GT3 brands since 2020.

Announced on Wednesday by SRO Motorsports Group, the two iconic American brands will join the existing roster of Ferrari, Mercedes-AMG, Porsche and reigning champion BMW for the 11th season of the globe-trotting GT3 series, which will feature five events on four continents.

Next month’s Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour will kick off the season on Feb. 15, and will also mark the debut of both the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R and Ford Mustang GT3 at Mount Panorama, with entries fielded by JMR Johor Racing and HRT Ford Racing.

It is part of a provisional 36-car entry for the race that will see at least 32 GT3 cars.

“Adding two more of the world’s biggest automotive manufacturers to a resurgent IGTC underlines the series’ significance within GT3’s global environment, whilst also emphasizing the scale of Chevrolet and Ford’s customer racing ambitions around the world,” said IGTC series manager Abi Hay.

“They, just like Intercontinental’s long-established European constructors – BMW, Ferrari, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche – can operate a manufacturer-supported program via multiple regional customer teams at the world’s biggest GT3 events.”

While JMR appears set to contest all IGTC rounds except the Nürburgring 24, Ford will be present in at least four of the races as well, with confirmed N24 and CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa entries from HRT and an expected local GT World Challenge America powered by AWS presence at the season-ending Indianapolis 8 Hours presented by AWS.

The addition of the two American brands comes as a significant boost to the series.

The high-mark of GT3 involvement in IGTC came at the start of the 2020 season when there were nine registered manufacturers, prior to the onset of the COVID pandemic, which SRO founder and CEO Stephane Ratel admitted hit the series the hardest out of all of SRO’s championships.

As was the case last year, all IGTC entries, regardless of class, will be eligible to score points in each event, with only the GT3 brands’ two highest finishers contributing to the manufacturers’ points.

Drivers, meanwhile, are awarded points per IGTC’s top-ten classification, which makes all drivers not with an IGTC manufacturer-registered car invisible.

Also returning for this year is the Independent Cup for FIA Bronze-rated drivers, which will continue to have one drop score over the five events, allowing drivers to skip a round.

This year’s entrants are expected to be revealed next week.

Source: Sports Car 365