GT World Challenge America Absolutely Deserves Your Attention In 2026

-

The new season of the American division of SRO competition kicks off this weekend at Sonoma Raceway in California and if you spare us a minute of your time we'll explain how the entire weekend, highlighted by GT World Challenge America, is absolutely worth your time. 

SRO and their branch of worldwide operations is objectively a great product in the motorsports world, and it's about time we really put the spotlight on what Stéphane Ratel and Co. have put together for the American side of things and what they've built over the last 20 years. A lot of you (I'm sure) already follow and watch the GT World Challenge Europe season and all of the teams, drivers and tracks that come with it. The last handful of years has seen GT World America elevate their game to new heights, and although it is nowhere near what GTWE produces yet at this point in time, it is set for a huge explosion in the 2026 season. 

Let's get into four key aspects of what makes the new season so intriguing - 

1. Top teams and driver talent locked in 

2. New endurance format for the top series

3. Healthy support series' in the fold 

4. EVERYTHING FREE ON YOUTUBE 

Starting at the top - the GTWCA grid, which was originally set at 20 full-season entries and has unfortunately moved down to 18 cars for the opening weekend due to cirumstances, is packed with teams and drivers that you recognize from the IMSA and even the WEC worldwide ranks. 

In no particular order, we have entries from Wright Motorsports, Riley Technologies, AF Corse USA, RS1, Kellymoss, Turner Motorsports, Random Vandals, Archangel Motorsports, JMF Motorsports and Dollahite Racing. Some of the teams have multiple entries; there's five teams in the Pro category and FIA silver and gold-rated drivers up and down the lot; there are names that are immediately recognizable and come in all shapes and racing sizes. Some with their most immediate recent stops in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship, or the FIA World Endurance Championship, and others running dual campaigns in GT World Challenge Europe. 

Stevan McAleer. Will Bamber. Alex Sedgwick. Mikaël Grenier. Lorcan Hanafin. COLIN BRAUN - yes that Colin Braun who currently runs with Meyer Shank Racing in the Acura GTP. Tom Sargant, Jenson Altzman, Jan Heylen, Frederick Scahndorrf - the list goes on and on with either top established GT drivers that have built their craft and resumes across years of racing, as well as a batch of up-and-coming names that will surely be vying for future seats in IMSA and beyond in a few years' time; the Riley Dickinson and Ryan Yardley's of the world. 

The schedule takes the series to obviously Sonoma, then COTA, Sebring, Road Atlanta, Road America, Barber Motorsport Park and finally the season-ender - an 8-hour endurance romp at Indianapolis Motor Speedway that also serves as the final round of the Intercontinental GT World Challenge Season.

Speaking to point No. 2 - SRO America has adopted a new format for GTWCA, scrapping their long-used two-race, 90-minute weekend format in favor of a single three-hour endurance race. SRO polled the teams in the paddock and the change to the format was a welcomed adjustment for those that will now operate in a more condensed, more logistically-sound weekend of prep and racing than before, even if there were some dissenting opinions in their desire to keep the original format.

To point No. 3 - it's not just GTWCA that deserves the shine - there are multiple support series that run through the race weekends covering AM and Pro-AM lineups and still field the same teams and drivers of note. Rafa Racing have expanded their efforts to bring in Maite Cáceres and Westin Workman to the Toyota GR Cup fold; Wright Motorsports, Kellymoss and RS1 each have multiple entries in GT America; SKI Autosports is running an Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II which is absolutely amazing; MISHUMOTORS are running the Callaway Corvette Z06 GT3 in its final year of GT homologation. 

Pirelli GT4 America runs 31-cars deep; RS1 is deploying a tandem of Spencer Pumpelly and Luca Mars; Auto Technic is running almost-the-same tandem as their Michelin Pilot Cup duo in McAleer and Roland Krainz (not Austin). Former SRO champion Eric Filguerias is back in the mix with a Kellymoss entry - again, the recognizable names go on and on and on. For Heaven's Sake - FRANKIE MUNIZ has entered the chat via a Mustang GT4 entry with TechSport Racing as he continues his motorsport career after spending the last two seasons in NASCAR's ARCA Menards Series and Xfinity trucks.

And finally - to point No. 4 - SRO makes ALL of their content free to stream on their GT World YouTube channel - every qualifying session and every race, all free to watch at your leisure with no paywall or subscription needed. 

In closing - if you can set some time aside this weekend to hold you over between IMSA weekends or dealing with the delayed start of the WEC season, do yourself the massive favor of catching some of the action this weekend - with the headline event on Sunday with GT World Challenge America; the green flag is set to wave at 4:45 Eastern. 


(photo via Racer.com)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

End of the Line for Forte Racing In GTD

-
Image
Unfortunately the 2025 IMSA season has concluded, and as we now look towards the short off-season we can forecast which teams will be hitting the grid for 2026, and sadly which other teams will not. The initial entry list of confirmed teams dropped by IMSA before the season finale at Petit Le Mans was missing a handful of teams that were on the grid for 2025, and picking just one of those teams out of the bucket for now is Forte Racing.  The No. 78 had a difficult Petit Le Mans when they were caught up in the opening lap wreck that claimed the lives of four GTD machines right off the rip while making the lives difficult for others with sustained damage. Forte were one of those teams, and although they managed to continue on with the race the damage to the front of the car slowed down their pace and put them multiple laps down from the leaders, and it ultimately resulted in a retirement after 280 laps completed and seven-plus hours of racing. In the aftermath, although no word has ...
Read more

Random Vandals' WeatherTech Debut No Longer Planned For 2026

-
Image
In a reversal from what was previously reported a few months ago, the Random Vandals Racing team will in fact not enter the IMSA WeatherTech Championship series in 2026. SportsCar365.com reported that Vandals team president Paul Sparta has reversed course on his previous ambitions to enter into the GTD Pro class in 2026, while adding that a single-car entry to the Michelin Pilot Challenge is the new focus for a team coming off multiple titles in the 2025 SRO season to the tune of a Pro championship in GT World Challenge America and dual titles in Pirelli GT4 America. Sparta added that the the potential entry into the Michelin Pilot Challenge series with a BMW M4 GT4 could come quite late on in the season, so late in fact that they're currently targeting the season-finale at Petit Le Mans next October. The Vandals will continue their presence in the SRO ranks in 2026 so they aren't going anyplace that we won't be able to see them compete. They came on in a huge way as Kento...
Read more

Korthoff Competition Motors Pull Out of Road America, Remainder of 2025 Campaign

-
Image
After a rocky June and July for Korthoff Competition Motors, all of the ups-and-downs we saw were part of something much larger going on behind the scenes. As teams have loaded into Road America for this weekend's WeatherTech Championship race, it has been confirmed that not only will the No. 32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG not participate in the race, Dailysportscar.com also confirmed  that the team will not race again this season , although no official comment has come from the team to this point. The GTD squad will miss the last races at Road America, VIR, Indy and Petite Le Mans. Things started to turn sideways once Seth Lucas abruptly departed his full-time seat right before the Six Hour's of the Glen in June. Lucas, along with veteran GT talent Kenton Koch, were originally slated to drive the full-season schedule in the car. The new trio of Koch, Daniel Morad and Mikey Taylor managed to secure a P3 finish for the car, yet on July 5 Koch announced that he was d...
Read more