The GT World Challenge Esports series is set to return for 2022, with a new format that brings all three regions together and “pro” driver ratings for 2021’s best racers.
Again, there’ll be a Sprint Series and an Endurance Series, as with the real thing, but while the short, hour-long sprint racers will be contested by players within each of the three regions – Americas, Asia, and Europe – the endurance events will see the different continents united in one series. Appropriately enough, that will be called the Intercontinental GT Challenge.
Each series will run across five races, and the endurance event will once again include the official virtual 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, alongside four other races from 8-12 hours in length.
Also new for 2022 is the Pro and Silver driver classification. For the sprint series, any driver who scored 15 points in any of the six series in 2021 (25 points for drivers in Europe) is automatically classed as a Pro, while the car manufacturers can also nominate a Pro driver.
Pro drivers will pay a higher series entry fee than Silver drivers (€250 per race rather than €100) and have slightly different qualification requirements, but are also eligible for a higher share of the €120,000 total series prize fund.
The IGTC is a little more complicated, and will feature Pro and Silver cars. Again manufacturers will nominate driver line-ups for these cars, with any driver selected by the manufacturer itself classed as a Pro driver; there are also Pro team slots available for esports teams who wish to enter and can qualify.
Pro teams must field a minimum of two Pro drivers per car in every round, while Silver teams can only have a maximum of one Pro, and again the entry fee and prize fund share is higher and the qualification process a little different.
The series will get underway in April, with the European Sprint Series at Misano on 6th April, the Asia Sprint Series at Barcelona on 13th April, the Americas Sprint Series at Zolder on 23rd April, and the Bathurst 12 Hours on 16th April.