LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The recently announced GT Celebration Race Series, a 12-race, six-weekend GT3 sports car tour featuring bronze-rated and below drivers with “retired” FIA GT3 race cars, revealed its new sporting and technical regulations.
The new regulations are now available from www.gtcelebration.com.
GT Celebration CEO and founder Rob Morgan earlier announced his new 2020 racing campaign will feature a two-tiered racing series which features a RED designation (for newer-model cars, i.e. Porsche 991) and YELLOW designation (for older-model cars, i.e. Porsche 997).
Each race weekend will consist of two 40-minute sprint races on Saturday and Sunday.
The GT Celebration racing weekends will include three 30-minute practice sessions on Friday. The Saturday and Sunday schedule consists of a 30-minute practice, 20-minute qualifying, and 40-minute race. All 2020 GT Celebration events will be contested in conjunction with the popular Porsche Trophy West series.
The series opens with a testing session on March 18 at Thunderhill Raceway Park, with the opening series event set for Thunderhill on April 15-17.
“Working with several of our key officials such as Todd Snyder (director of competition), Kelly Collins (sporting director and driver advisor) and Chris Doyle (chief scrutineer), we have formulated the overall regulations that will be our primary working outlines for our inaugural season. We have an outstanding and experienced staff for the GT Celebration Race Series. We want it to be professional, yet fun for the competitors and crews.
“We know there are many teams and drivers that have access to GT3 cars, but they are not interested in racing at the IMSA or SRO level. And they want to race against cars just like theirs. We believe we found a way to bridge this gap. Our series gives you a no-pressure environment to hone your driving skills and enjoy friendly competition in some of the world’s most capable machinery at some of the best racetracks in the country.”
A special series hospitality area will be an important meeting place for the series officials, competitors and sponsors to communicate “on-track” and “off-track” objectives that would include potential “business to business” relationships.
“Our intentions for the 2020 series are to have a highly-competitive professional racing series with a unique social and business interaction throughout the three-day racing weekend,” said Snyder, the veteran competitor and race official. “We understand that our paddock area will have drivers with lesser experience at the wheel of high-powered sports cars. And we want to help them with the competition and enjoyment of the racing experience. We know these GT3 cars are fast and fun to drive.”
The social aspect of the new GT Celebration Race Series will be a key element in the six-weekend circuit, but the “on-track” action will be the central theme to the new GT Celebration Race Series.
“I would like to say to everyone with these beautiful GT3 racecars that we are excited to provide a safe, fun racing environment to compete in,” said Collins, the former sports car champion and veteran stunt driver. “With that said, we will be very fair policing, educating and keeping it all safe.
“We will frown very hard on any “car-to-car” contact. We will, in turn, praise good race craft and smart driving. Emphasis is on fun driving and comradery with all GT CelebrationRace Series customers. I look forward to working with all of the competitors this season.”
The schedule:
March 18, Thunderhill Raceway Park, Willows, Calif.; April 15-17, Thunderhill Raceway Park; May 15-17, Sonoma Raceway, Sonoma, Calif.; May 29-31, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif.; Aug. 19-23, Utah Motorsports Campus, Grantsville, Utah; Oct. 2-4, Circuit of The Americas, Austin, Texas.