Less than two weeks until the first Pirelli World Challenge race of the season on the streets of sunny St. Petersburg, Florida. PWC has yet to release an official entry list, but the caliber of drivers and teams taking part is again top-notch.
Callaway Corvette
Callaway Competition USA will be bringing two Callaway Corvette C7 GT3-Rs, with no less than 2013 ADAC GT Masters champion Daniel Keilwitz and reigning PWC Sprint-X champion Michael Cooper set to pilot the cars for the full season.
(Photo from https://twitter.com/CallawayCompUSA)
Bentley
2016 PWC champions K-PAX Racing have traded in their McLaren 650s GT3s on Bentley Continental GT3s for this season. Flying Lizard Motorsports continues to run the cars, and 2016 PWC champion and former McLaren factory ace Alvaro Parente returns to drive the #9 car. Rodrigo Baptista moves from GTS to take the wheel of the #3. A third car is possible.
(Photo from https://twitter.com/BentleyRacing)
Ferrari
R. Ferri Motorsports have announced their return after their 2017 season was shortened by crash damage. They have announced that 2017 Bathurst 12 Hour winner and Ferrari factory driver Toni Vilander will be behind the wheel of their #61 Ferrari 488 GT3. 2017 Standouts TR3 Racing and Daniel Mancinelli appear set to return, it is said that a second car is possible. 2016 GTA champion Martin Fuentes is also returning with a Ferrari 488 GT3 run by Squadra Corsa Garage Italia.
(Photo from PWC, Sportscar365)
Porsche
Alegra Motorsports has announced that they will enter their Porsche 911 GT3-R, with Porsche factory driver Michael Christensen slated to drive for the full season. Pfaff Motorsports will be bringing a Porsche for up-and-comer Scott Hargrove. It looks like other Porsches are possible, but yet to be confirmed.
(Photo from https://twitter.com/Pfaff_Auto)
Audi
2011 PWC champions Truspeed make their return to PWC with two Audi R8 LMS GT3s. Parker Chase has been announced in the #19, the other car is still TBA.
(Image from http://world-challenge.com)
It looks likely that the GT grid will include at least one Mercedes, a Lamborghini and one or two Aston Martins. Other cars are possible.
GTS
GTS looks like it will have huge fields this year, though full season numbers are difficult to estimate because of the addition of Sprint-X to the class. [/SIZE]
Around 30 cars seems to be a reasonable full season estimate, though St. Petersburg does feature an entry cap, which means numbers will probably be slightly lower for rounds 1 & 2.
Flying Lizard switches to Audi, with Mike Hedlund and Adam Merzon driving the R8 GT4s.
GMG and M1GT are also bringing R8 GT4s, with James Sofronas and Jason Bell announced, respectively.
Blackdog Speed Shop's full season remains unchanged with Lawson Aschenbach and Tony Gaples driving the Camaro GT4.Rs.
Ian James returns to Panoz's Avezzano, with a second car now added for Preston Calvert.
Longtime Trans Am team Robinson Racing switches to PWC this year with a pair of Mercedes GT4s for Gar Robinson and Shane Lewis.
KPR and Mark Klenin Return with their McLaren, Ian Lacy Racing will bring three Ginettas, PF Racing has three Mustangs, Racer's Edge at least one SIN, Pfaff a Porsche, Muhliner a Porsche or two, and it looks like there may be a few BMW GT4s as well.
(Photo from https://twitter.com/FlyingLizard_MS)
(Photo from Blackdog Speed Shop)
(Photo from https://panoz.com)
(Image from http://world-challenge.com)
Schedule
Entry List
No official streaming info yet, but here's last year's links:
Live Stream (PWC Site)
Live Stream (Motor Trend On Demand)
Live Timing and Scoring
Track Map
Weather (racecastweather.com)
Weather (National Weather Service)
Tickets
@WCRacing Twitter Account