Written by Aaron Carroll, Edited by Sasha Macmillen
The SRO (Stéphane Ratel Organisation) have revealed the entry lists for the GTWC (GT World Challenge) Europe Sprint and Endurance Cup series, headlined by a team run by Max Verstappen. The Endurance Cup attracts 59 entrants from 10 manufacturers, while the Sprint Cup sees 41 cars from nine manufacturers.
Four-time Formula One world champion Max Verstappen has launched his own GT3 entry into the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup. The entry, titled ‘Verstappen.com Racing’ will take part in the gold class of the series in an Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO alongside drivers Thierry Vermeulen, Chris Lulham and Harry King.
The car will sport the number 33, the same as Verstappen had in F1 (before he became world champion), and will be run in collaboration with 2 Seas Motorsport, a squad which has previously won the British GT championship.
Vermeulen joins after two seasons of GTWC experience in the Sprint Cup, where he raced for Emil Frey in a Ferrari, also sporting a Verstappen.com sponsorship due to Vermeulen's father, Raymond, being Verstappen's manager. Harry King joins the team after successful campaigns in various Porsche Cup series and a recent LMP2 campaign in the Asian Le Mans Series (ALMS)
Interestingly, Chris Lulham makes the jump to real life GT3 racing after being handpicked by Verstappen himself from his sim racing team, Team Redline. The 21 year-old British driver will complete his first GT3 race for the team at Paul Ricard in April. Vermeulen and Lulham will also compete in the Sprint Cup with Emil Frey racing in a Ferrari 296 GT3, sporting the Verstappen.com livery.
Elsewhere on the grid, 10 manufacturers are represented; Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Corvette, Ferrari, Ford, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes, and Porsche. For the first time since 2014, Corvette will take to the series, with a pair of bronze entries from Stellar Motorsports.
Audi, despite pulling out of sportscar racing to focus on its Formula One venture, has a total of four full season entries (endurance and sprint cups), with a fifth car in the sprint cup. Two full season entries will be run by 2023 sprint cup champions Tresor Attempto Racing, with last year's Gold Cup champions Sainteloc Racing having two full season entries and a third running only in the Sprint Cup.
Aston Martin will be represented by the aforementioned Verstappen.com Racing in gold, but will also be represented by reigning Spa 24 Hour champions Comtoyou Racing in the pro and silver classes, with Walkenhorst Motorsport also running a pro and silver entry.
Porsche will retain its lineups from 2024, with Rutronik Racing, Schumacher CLRT and Pure Racing, as will Mercedes with Boutsen VDS, GetSpeed and Winward Racing. AF Corse and HRT will fly the flags for Ferrari and Ford respectively, with Garage 59 returning to run a trio of McLarens joined by CSA Racing running two 720s’.
BMW will see two pro entries from Team WRT and ROWE Racing in the endurance cup, but will see six other entries from WRT, Paradine Competition, Century Motorsport and BMW Italia Ceccato Racing. Finally Lamborghini will see entries from VSR, GRT, Barwell, and Paul Racing.
With 35 full season entries and two massive grids for both the Sprint and Endurance Cups, GTWC Europe in 2025 is shaping up to be a fiercely contested season. The season begins on the 11th of April in Paul Ricard with a six hour race to open up the Endurance Cup, with the Sprint Cup beginning in Brands Hatch on the 3rd of May.
However, we will see all of the new and returning entries together on track for the first time in the traditional prologue in Paul Ricard on the 10th of March, giving all endurance fans something to look forward to in the near future.
