GT4 European Series

GT4 European Series

Category	Grand Tourer (GT4)
Country	Europe
Inaugural season	2007
Drivers	Simon Knap Alec Udell
Teams	Leipert Motorsport
Tyre suppliers	Pirelli
Official website	GT4 European Series
Current season

The GT4 European Series is a sports car championship created and organised by SRO Motorsports Group. It is a pro/am championship which followed a formula similar to the FIA GT3 European Championship, which was itself derived from the FIA GT Championship which utilized the GT1 and GT2 classes. The GT4 class cars are the least powerful of the four classes, yet are equalised in order to allow driving skill to become key.

History[]

Following the successful introduction of the FIA GT3 European Championship in 2006, the formula was expanded to include usage by other nationally based professional championships such as the British GT Championship, Belcar, Australian GT Championship and German ADAC GT Masters. While the FIA GT3 European Championship continues, the SRO felt that a true amateur championship was needed in order to complement GT3 which allowed a certain level of professional driver to compete. Many national series also adopted the GT4 regulations as a lower class, and the European Cup eventually lacked the competitors needed to continue. During the 2016 24 Hours of Spa, the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) announced that the European Cup would be divided in 2 different series for 2017.^[1] They are called the GT4 European Series Northern Cup and the GT4 European Series Southern Cup. The Northern Cup will be the same as the European Cup, while the Southern Cup will collect forces with the FFSA GT Championship. Since Stéphane Ratel spoke out about his firm belief in this class, many championships and constructors have followed. In 2018 the Southern Cup was renamed FFSA GT - GT4 France, while the Northern Cup became the sole GT4 European Series again.

Vehicles[]

GT4 class cars are mostly what can be referred to as track day cars, which are factory-built race cars available to the public. However, custom-built cars based on production models can also be built by teams. All cars are test driven by the FIA and then modified so that they all have near identical performance levels. Once a car has been approved by the FIA, it cannot be modified by the teams, eliminating continual development costs for constructors. All cars run on regulated Pirelli tires to further equalize performance.

The following cars are currently homologated for GT4:

Nr.	Manufacturer	Model	Since	Expiration	Image	Developer
RACB GT4-001	Ford Motor Company	Ford Mustang FR500C GT4				Multimatic Motorsports
RACB GT4-002	Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc	Aston Martin V8 Vantage (N24)				Aston Martin
RACB GT4-004	BMW AG	BMW Z4 M GT4
RACB GT4-006	Nissan Motor Co.,Ltd	Nissan 350Z RJN
RACB GT4-007	Porsche AG	Porsche 997 GT3 MY06
RACB GT4-009	Ginetta Cars	Ginetta G50 GT4				Ginetta Cars
RACB GT4-010	Chevrolet	Chevrolet Corvette C6 GT4				Callaway Cars[2]
RACB GT4-011	BMW AG	BMW M3 (E92) GT4				BMW Motorsport[3]
RACB GT4-012	Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc	Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4	01-04-2009	31-12-2018		Aston Martin
RACB GT4-013	Maserati S.p.A.	Maserati GranTurismo MC				Maserati
RACB GT4-014	Nissan Motor Co.,Ltd	Nissan NISMO 370Z GT4
RACB GT4-015	Lotus Cars	Lotus Evora Cup GT4	25-07-2011	31-12-2018		Lotus Cars
RACB GT4-016	Chevrolet	Chevrolet Camaro SS GT4				Riley Technologies[4]
RACB GT4-017	Porsche AG	Porsche 997 Cup
RACB GT4-018	Hyundai Motor Company	Genesis Coupé
RACB GT4-019	Ginetta Cars	Ginetta G55 GT4	01-04-2014	31-12-2021		Ginetta Cars
RACB GT4-020	Toyota Motor Corporation	Toyota GT86 GT4
RACB GT4-021	KTM AG	KTM X-Bow	02-12-2016	31-12-2023		Reiter Engineering
RACB GT4-022	SIN Cars	SIN R1 GT4	01-01-2015	31-12-2019
RACB GT4-023	Chevron Racing Cars Ltd.	Chevron GR8 GT4				Chevron
RACB GT4-024	Porsche AG	Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport Manthey-Racing				Manthey-Racing
RACB GT4-025	BMW AG	BMW Ekris M4 GT4
RACB GT4-026	Maserati S.p.A.	Maserati GranTurismo MC GT4	01-04-2016	31-12-2019		Maserati
RACB GT4-027	Ford Motor Company	Ford Mustang GT4	01-03-2017	31-12-2024		Multimatic Motorsports
RACB GT4-028	Porsche AG	Porsche Cayman PRO4
RACB GT4-029	BMW AG	BMW M4 GT4
RACB GT4-030	McLaren Automotive	McLaren 570S GT4	01-01-2017	31-12-2024
RACB GT4-031	Chevrolet	Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R	01-03-2017	31-12-2024		Pratt & Miller[5]
RACB GT4-032	Saleen	S1
RACB GT4-033	Mercedes-AMG GmbH	Mercedes-AMG GT4
RACB GT4-034	Société des Automobiles Alpine SAS	Alpine A110 GT4
RACB GT4-035	Panoz, LLC	Panoz Avezzano GT4				Élan Motorsport Technologies
RACB GT4-036	Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4				Aston Martin
RACB GT4-037	Porsche AG	Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR
RACB GT4-038	Audi AG	Audi R8 LMS GT4				Audi Sport
RACB GT4-039	Toyota Motor Corporation	Toyota GR Supra GT4
RACB GT4-XXX	Audi AG	Audi TT GT4
RACB GT4-XXX	Mazda Motor Corporation	Mazda Miata MX-5 GT4				Jota Sport
RACB GT4-XXX	Lotus Cars	Lotus Exige GT4
RACB GT4-XXX	Maserati S.p.A.	Maserati Trofeo Light GT4
RACB GT4-XXX	Porsche AG	Porsche Cayman S GT4
RACB GT4-xxx	Bufori	Bufori BMS R1
RACB GT4-xxx	Donkervoort Automobielen BV	Donkervoort D8 GT
RACB GT4-xxx	Jaguar	Jaguar F-Type SVR GT4
RACB GT4-xxx	Lotus Cars	Lotus 2-Eleven GT4 Supersport				Lotus Cars
RACB GT4-xxx	Peugeot	Peugeot Spider THP				Peugeot Sport
RACB GT4-xxx	Radical Sportscars	Radical RXC GT4
RACB GT4-xxx	Roding Automobile	Roding R1
RACB GT4-xxx	YES! Beteiligungs und Besitzgesellschaft mbH	YES! Clubsport

Drivers[]

Like GT3, GT4 drivers have a set of criteria which would automatically eliminate them from competition based on their level of experience. Since GT4 class drivers are meant to be true amateurs, these criteria are tighter than that seen in GT3.

Drivers under the age of 30 are not allowed to have had a top-ten finish in any national or international single-seater championship, nor to have had a distinguishable career in a national or international GT championship. These drivers are known as Silver drivers. Drivers over the age of 30 who did not receive their racing licenses until after turning 30 and having no single-seater experience at all are also allowed in the series, under the term Bronze drivers.

Races[]

Just as in GT3, each event would consist of two races of equal distance, usually held on different days. Teams were not required to have two drivers and could use the same driver for each race.

Championship[]

The championship used the standard FIA point scheme for the top ten finishers: 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1. If a team used different drivers for each race in a single event, both drivers would receive points. A driver and team championship were both held.

If at least five cars of the same make participate in a race, then a manufacturer cup would also be awarded, similar to the style used in GT3.

Champions[]

Drivers[]

Year	GT4	Light	Supersport
	Eric De Doncker	Not awarded	Not awarded
	Eric De Doncker	Christopher Haase
2009	Joe Osborne	Not awarded	Augustin Eder
2010	Paul Meijer		Gianni Giudici
2011	Ricardo van der Ende		Gianni Giudici
Year	Silver Cup	Pro (2013–2016) Pro-Am Cup (2017–)	Am (2013–2016) Am Cup (2017–)
2013	Not awarded	Ricardo van der Ende	Jörg Viehbahn
2014		Bernhard van Oranje Ricardo van der Ende	André Grammatico
2015		Jelle Beelen Marcel Nooren	Daniel Uckermann
2016		Peter Terting Jörg Viebahn	Jérôme Demay
2017	Ricardo van der Ende Max Koebolt	Luc Braams Duncan Huisman	Giuseppe Ghezzi
2018	Milan Dontje Nicolaj Møller Madsen	Markus Lungstrass	Niki Leutwiler
2019	Simon Knap Alec Udell	Marcus Påverud Luca Trefz	Pascal Bachmann Clément Seyler
2020	Valentin Hasse-Clot Theo Nouet	Bastian Buus Jan Kasperlik	Nicolas Gomar Gilles Vannelet

Teams[]

Year	Overall
	Not awarded
	Motorsport98
2009	RJN Motorsport
2010	Rhesus Racing
2011	Ekris BMW/Racing Team Holland by Ekris Motorsport
2013	Ekris Motorsport
2014	Racing Team Holland by Ekris Motorsport
2015	V8 Racing
2016	PROsport Performance
Year	Silver Cup	Pro-Am Cup	Am Cup
2017	Ekris Motorsport	Las Moras Racing	Autorlando Sport
2018	Phoenix Racing	Racing One	TFT Racing
2019	MDM Motorsport	Leipert Motorsport	Street Art Racing
Year	Overall
2018	Racing One
2019	Leipert Motorsport
2020	AGS Events

Similar series[]

Since the introduction of the GT4 European Cup, the GT4 class of cars have been expanded to various national series. The British GT Championship and Belgian GT Championship allow GT4 and Super Sport class cars to compete alongside the GT3 class, while the stand-alone Dutch GT4 Championship ran its first season of competition 2009.^[6] The Spanish GT Cup Open Europe series also allows GT4 cars to compete with one-make cars. A GT4 championship plans to be run in Brazil in 2010.^[7] Norway introduced a national championship called GTF in 2014 featuring GT4 regulated cars. The Super Taikyu Series in Japan also includes a GT4 class called ST-Z.

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to GT4 European Cup.

• GT4 European Series
• GT4 European Cup
• Dutch GT4 Championship