SRO GT Academy goes global with pan-continental young driver competition

SRO GT Academy is going global in its search for the next generation of racing talent by introducing a new prize for the 2026 season.

Four drivers – one each from British GT and the continental GT World Challenge powered by AWS series in America, Asia and Australia – will earn a fully-funded seat at the 2027 CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. The successful quartet will share a Silver Cup entry run by an accomplished professional team, providing them with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to impress at the biggest GT race in the world.

Candidates must be aged under 30 on 31 December 2026 and hold an FIA Silver driver classification for that season. They will be judged using SRO GT Academy's assessment-based criteria, which seeks to reveal each driver’s true ability and potential by eliminating external factors such as co-driver performance, reliability and luck.

Rather than focussing on race results, the process rewards individual attributes such as qualifying pace, average stint times, and a driver’s conduct off the circuit. In tandem, they are penalised for unforced errors and unsporting behaviour. The system also ensures that Silver competitors from a variety of classes can be judged equally.

SRO GT Academy was launched this season within the FFSA French GT Championship where Gaspard Simon emerged as the star performer. The 19-year-old, who collected his trophy at the SRO Awards on Saturday evening in Venice, has received a €150,000 contribution towards a GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup or GT2 European Series powered by Pirelli seat in 2026, as well as support and mentoring as he graduates towards the highest level of GT competition.

The concept will also expand into GT2 Europe next year when the prize on offer is a seat with a Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Team for the following season’s GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup. This particular contest is also supported by Maserati, Ginetta and Pirelli, as well as Mercedes-AMG.

As such, GT2 Europe’s successful graduate and four global standouts will compete against each other at the 2027 CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.

Stéphane Ratel, SRO Motorsports Group Founder & CEO: “I am very pleased to announce the expansion of the SRO GT Academy to include a prize seat at the 2027 CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. Our initial efforts have focussed on European series, so it is fantastic to extend this opportunity to the many Silver drivers competing in GT World Challenge America, Asia and Australia, while also adding British GT to the programme. The prospect of a crew composed of the best young talents from around the globe is extremely exciting and I look forward to watching it take shape over the course of 2026.”