49 Cars Set For World Challenge Europe Pre-Season Test

The 2023 GT World Challenge Europe season will officially launch tomorrow with two days of testing at Circuit Paul Ricard. This year’s gathering will see 49 cars from eight brands (four of which have new cars) take to the French circuit, with 14 hours of track time available to the teams during the event.

The 2023 test days have plenty of talking points attached, with a number of leading squads having changed manufacturers over the winter and four cars new to World Challenge Europe set to make their debuts.

One of the headlines is the sight of Team WRT, for the first time in World Challenge Europe competiton, competing with a brand other than Audi. The Belgian team, which is Hypercar bound, will compete with BMW with its M4 GT3 this season, and this test is the first time we will see this combination at an event in Europe after appearances at Bathurst and Kyalami. WRT is one of three teams running the M4 GT3, as ROWE and Walkenhorst are also present in France.

The Lamborghini contingent, with the new Huracán EVO2, has been bolstered by a team set to compete with it in Hypercar too, as the 2021 24 Hours of Spa winner Iron Lynx, will field a pair of cars and the sister Iron Dames entry at the test.

That trio forms part of the group of nine Huracáns that will be testing. The other teams include K-Pax, GSM AB1 GT3, Barwell Motorsport,Grasser Racing, AGS Events and VSR.

The test days will also see Ferrari teams put the new 296 GT3 through its paces. However of the five Ferraris, only three are the new model, as in addition to the new cars from AF Corse and Emil Frey Racing, there are a pair of older 488 GT3s entered from ST Racing with Rinaldi (livery below) and AF Corse.

All the Porsche teams listed on the other hand, will test with the latest 992-spec 911 GT3 R. There are a couple of notable efforts among the eight Porsche on the list, including partnership between Porsche Cup regular Huber Racing and Dinamic Motorsport, and a Manthey-entered 911. The plans for the Manthey car beyond the test are not yet known.

The upgraded McLaren 720S Evo (below) is also represented by entries from British teams Optimium, Sky Tempesta and Garage 59.

The Honda NSX Evo 22 will take part too, courtesy of Nova Race, which is poised to make its series debut this term.

There is no new equipment for either Audi or Mercedes-AMG, but both German marques are present in numbers. There are eight Audis, including an R8 fielded by motorsport newcomer CSA Racing, which competed in FFSA French GT Championship last year and is slated to compete in the GT4 European Series with Audi this year too.

At Mercedes, nine AMG GT3s will lap the circuit. Of those, one to note is Theeba Motorsport (below), founded by Saudi Arabia’s first female racing driver, Reema Juffali, which competed in the International GT Open last year.

Though the test days line-up offers many hints as to the composition of this year’s grid, it we will have to wait a little longer for the final entry list, which is due to be revealed during the test.

The entry list for the test days can be found HERE >>>

Images courtesy of GT World Challenge, ST Racing, McLaren, Grasser Racing and GT Open