Say Hello to the GT World Challenge Esports 2022

February 14, 2022
4:15 pm
Rudra Mehta

Say Hello to the GT World Challenge Esports 2022

Endurance racing is an exhilarating spectacle, and to step things up a notch, the major endurance series in Europe, America, and Asia have joined hands to create a global endurance championship. We present to you; The GT World Challenge IGTC Endurance Series.

What’s New for 2022?

There are two significant changes to the structure of the SRO Esports for 2022. The first is that the regional endurance championships have been merged together to create a global endurance series called GT World Challenge IGTC Endurance Series. Not only that, but the GT World Challenge IGTC Endurance Series and each region’s GT World Challenge Sprint Series will have a Pro and Silver category to create a more dynamic and competitive field across the season. In addition, Europe and Asia Sprint races will now take place on Wednesdays.

Silver Class Qualifying

Qualifying for the Silver class in any regionalised GT World Challenge Sprint Series and the GT World Challenge IGTC Endurance Series will be hosted exclusively on SimGrid in collaboration with SRO. In all of the series, the top 24 drivers/teams will qualify for the Silver class of the respective series. There are three championships for the Sprint series and one Global IGTC Endurance Series, and every series’ qualification will be held separately. Each qualifying will require drivers to set hot laps at three different tracks. Fun fact; the three tracks are also three of the five tracks that feature in the respective series!

GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Series

First and foremost, drivers who have scored 25+ points in the 2021 GT World Challenge Esports will be classified as Pro drivers and not be allowed to compete in the Silver class. The Europe Sprint Series Silver Class Qualifying will see participants take to Misano, Monza, and Zandvoort as the selected qualifying tracks in their hopes to qualify for the Silver Class. The hotlap qualifying will begin on Monday 21st February at 12:00 CET, and the hotlap qualifying will end on Sunday 13th March at 23:59 CET.

However, before drivers register, they must first check that they are eligible to enter because drivers who have scored 25+ points in the 2021 GT World Challenge Esports will be classified as Pro drivers and not be allowed to compete in the Silver class.

Once registered, drivers will need to set hotlaps at each of the three tracks. They must use the same car at each track, and drivers must do more than ten valid laps at each track because the drivers’ best ten laps at each track will be averaged, and the average lap time of each track will be added together to get a total time. Drivers will be sorted in the leaderboard by their total time, and the top 24 drivers will qualify for the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Series.

As for the event, the tracks selected for this edition are Misano, Zandvoort, Nurburgring, Hungaroring, and Monza, with the proceedings beginning April 6th, 2022.

GT World Challenge America Sprint Series

The America Sprint Series Silver Class Qualifying will see drivers take to Zolder, Kyalami, and Silverstone as the designated qualifier tracks. The iconic British track is indeed expected to provide some competitive lap times.

However, before drivers register, they must first check that they are eligible to enter because drivers who have scored 15+ points in the 2021 GT World Challenge Esports will be classified as Pro drivers and not be allowed to compete in the Silver class.

The hotlap qualifying will begin on Monday 21st February at 12:00 CET, and the hotlap qualifying will end on Sunday 13th March at 23:59 CET. Lastly, the tracks for the event here include Zolder, Silverstone, Kyalami, Donington Park, and Laguna Seca in a truly around-the-world roster! This series’ proceedings begin April 23rd, 2022.

GT World Challenge Asia Sprint Series

The Asia Sprint Series Silver Class Qualifying will see drivers go to Zolder, Imola, and Barcelona as the qualifying tracks to set their hotlaps.

The hotlap qualifying will begin on Monday 21st February at 12:00 CET, and the hotlap qualifying will end on Sunday 13th March at 23:59 CET. We will see the qualified racers race at Barcelona, Imola, Bathurst, Zolder, and Suzuka for the Asia Sprint Series, with the first race scheduled for April 13th, 2022.

GT World Challenge IGTC Endurance Series

To start things off, a team must have three drivers to enter the Global IGTC Endurance Series Silver Class Qualifying. However, before registering, the team should first check that they are eligible to enter the GT World Challenge IGTC Endurance Series because a team is not eligible for the Silver class if they have more than one Pro driver.

The IGTC Endurance qualifying will also require teams to set hot laps at three different tracks. Each driver will need to use the same car, and the same car must be used at each of the three tracks. The best hotlap from each of the three drivers will be combined to get an average lap time for each track, and then the average lap time for each track will be added together to get a total lap time. Teams will be sorted in the leaderboard by their total lap time, and the top 24 teams will qualify for the GT World Challenge IGTC Endurance Series. The qualifying tracks are Bathurst, Spa and Kyalami, a qualifying track combination that sounds mouthwatering.

The qualifying will start Monday 28th February at 12:00 CET and end on Sunday 20th March at 23:59 CET. As for the actual event, we will see pure racing action with 12hrs of Bathurst, 10hrs of Suzuka, 24hrs of Spa, 8hrs of Laguna Seca, and 9hrs of Kyalami with the Spa-Francorchamps event, the ultimate test of endurance. Races are set to begin on April 16th, 2022.

With a whole new outlook for 2022, The GT World Challenge IGTC Endurance Series is already busy turning heads. The Esports sector of Assetto Corsa Competizione is set to see some crazy action this year soon enough!