The Blancpain

Blancpain

Blancpain is a luxury Swiss watch manufacturer, founded in 1735 by Jehan-Jaques Blancpain. Blancpain went into bankruptcy and stopped production for a long period but was saved by Jean-Claude Biver, an executive with Omega. Blancpain is owned by the Swatch Group. Since 2002, Marc Hayek, the...

 Endurance Series is a sports car racing

Sports car racing

Sports car racing is a form of circuit auto racing with automobiles that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built or related to road-going sports cars....

 series developed by the SRO Group

Stéphane Ratel Organisation

The Stéphane Ratel Organisation is a motorsports organization founded by French driver Stéphane Ratel in 1995. Currently based out of London, the company is involved in the promotion, support, and organization of various national and international auto racing series around the world...

 and the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium (RACB) with approval from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile

Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile

The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile is a non-profit association established as the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users...

 (FIA). It will feature grand tourer

Grand tourer

A grand tourer is a high-performance luxury automobile designed for long-distance driving. The most common format is a two-door coupé with either a two-seat or a 2+2 arrangement....

 racing cars modified from production road cars and complying with the FIA's GT3, GT4, and Supersport regulations.

Format

The Blancpain Endurance Series will restablish several elements of the former FIA GT Championship

FIA GT Championship

The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout the years has visited other continents including Asia and South...

, with three hour endurance races held on European circuits such at Monza

Autodromo Nazionale Monza

The Autodromo Nazionale Monza is a race track located near the town of Monza, north of Milan, in Italy. The circuit's biggest event is the Formula One Italian Grand Prix, which has been hosted there since the sport's inception....

 and Silverstone

Silverstone Circuit

Silverstone Circuit is an English motor racing circuit next to the Northamptonshire villages of Silverstone and Whittlebury. The circuit straddles the Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire border, with the current main circuit entry on the Buckinghamshire side...

, as well as a continuation of the Spa 24 Hours

Spa 24 Hours

The Total 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event held annually in Belgium at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. Conceived by Jules de Their and Henri Langlois Van Ophem just one year after the first 24 Hours of Le Mans, the race was run under the auspices of the Royal Automobile Club Belgium...

. The races will feature five classes derived from the FIA's GT3, GT4, and Supersport regulations, with the GT3 cars divided into a class for professional driver line-ups (GT3 Pro), a class for a mixed team of professional and amateurs (GT3 Pro-Am), and a class for amateur drivers (GT3 Citation). The FIA's ranking system for drivers will be utilized in determining what class each entry is eligible for. The GT4 and Supersport categories will remain their own classes, although they will also be limited on the ranking of drivers allowed.

The series uses extensive performance balancing and handicap weights to make cars artificially more equal.