Fanatec GT World Challenge Powered by AWS is up and running for 2024 following a busy three-week stretch during which each of its continental series has been in action.
The season launched in February when Fanatec GT Australia raced as part of the Repco Bathurst 12 Hour. Manthey EMA gave Porsche a dream start by triumphing at the iconic Mount Panorama enduro, after which there was a seven-week hiatus before the campaign hit full speed.
The European season began over the weekend of 7/8 April with a bumper 54-car field tackling a three-hour Endurance Cup race at Circuit Paul Ricard. This ensured one of the best points-scoring opportunities of the season and saw four different brands triumph across as many classes.
BMW banked a serious haul in Pro thanks to ROWE Racing, while Ferrari was triumphant in the Bronze Cup courtesy of Kessel Racing. Further wins for Audi (Saintéloc Racing) in the Gold Cup and Mercedes-AMG (Winward Racing) in Silver ensured that both scored well on their home continent.
Fanatec GT America launched on the same weekend at Sonoma Raceway. The Pro-Am class had the most points to offer and CrowdStrike Racing by Riley Motorsports took full advantage, securing a double victory for Mercedes-AMG courtesy of George Kurtz and Colin Braun. Porsche prospered in Pro thanks to Wright Motorsports, while there was a healthy haul for BMW as ST Racing took Pro and Pro-Am runner-up finishes in both outings.
Having opened with a long-distance race at Bathurst, the more familiar sprint format returned for the second instalment of Fanatec GT Australia at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit (12-14 April). This proved to be a very fruitful weekend for Audi, which secured three of the four winner’s trophies. Dayle ITM Team MPC secured a Pro-Am triumph, while Tigani Motorsport and Melbourne Performance Centre shared the victories in Am. Arise Racing prevented an Ingolstadt sweep by taking a Pro-Am win with its Ferrari 296.
Fanatec GT Asia became the final continental series to open its season last weekend (19-21 April). Porsche was the star at Sepang International Circuit where Origine Motorsport swept the board in Silver-Am and earned a Pro-Am victory. Further good work from the likes of AMAC Motorsport and Craft-Bamboo Racing ensured that Porsche scored more than double the points of its closest rival.
It was also a very good weekend for Ferrari, which grabbed wins in Am (Garage 75) and Silver (Harmony Racing). Lamborghini picked up a Pro-Am victory thanks to VSR and added an Am triumph thanks to Spirit of FFF Racing, while Audi was also among the winners thanks to Chinese squad FAW.
With all four series now up and running, the table shows Mercedes-AMG on top with 3,476 points, though an outstanding weekend in Asia has brought Porsche to within striking distance on 3,136. Audi sits third on 2,159, leading a close-fought battle between Ferrari (1,983) and BMW (1,972).
Six of the nine competing brands have earned at least one race win in 2024. Though it trails in the points standings, Porsche has picked up the most victories with seven, followed by Ferrari and Audi with five each. Mercedes-AMG has three – demonstrating that consistency is the key to its success – while Lamborghini has two and BMW has taken one win.
Each continental series will be back in action over the next six weeks as the season heads towards the busy summer period. Fanatec GT Europe travels to Brands Hatch on 4/5 May, while the American championship resumes at Sebring over the same weekend. On 11/12 May Fanatec GT Asia will travel to Chang in Thailand before another European-American double-header at Misano and Circuit of the Americas on 18/19 May. The next Fanatec GT Australia event takes place at The Bend on 1/2 June.
HOW ARE GLOBAL POINTS SCORED?
SRO Motorsports Group must account for varying degrees of manufacturer participation across each continent when calculating global Fanatec GT World Challenge points.
As such, points are awarded based on the position of each manufacturer’s leading car per category (Overall, Pro-Am, Am etc) in every race.
Points for Sprint races of up to 90 minutes are based on the standard allocation (25 – 18 – 15 – 12 – 10 – 8 – 6 – 4 – 2 – 1). This allocation doubles for races lasting between three and 12 hours and is multiplied by four after the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.
The points scored per brand are then multiplied by the number of cars competing in that category. Therefore, a win in a category with five cars competing is worth less than one where 20 cars are entered.
No cars are removed from the classification – if the top six cars are from a single brand, the next brand will score points for seventh. These points are added across the categories and races to give the manufacturers’ global score.