SRO Motorsports Group will celebrate its 30th anniversary in style at this year’s TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa (28-31 July) with a historic GT event organised by Peter Auto raising the curtain ahead of season’s marquee race. Two one-hour races called GT Anniversary 2022 and a parade in the city will be part of the festivities!
A brief history
Stephane Ratel organised his first race in June 1992 at the Le Mans Bugatti Circuit. In doing so he launched the Gentleman Drivers Trophy, a one-make series using production models from French manufacturer Venturi. By this time Patrick Peter had been running the Grand Prix de l’Age d’Or in Montlhéry for several years and had recently revived the Tour Auto.
In August 1993 the two men joined forces to stage a GT race at Circuit Paul Ricard, which led to an even greater adventure in 1994 when they added Jürgen Barth to their group and founded the BPR Global GT Series. The new championship was a smash hit and instigated a worldwide renaissance in GT racing that has since taken the discipline back to the forefront of international motorsport. While Peter subsequently returned to his first love, historic racing, Ratel continued to focus his efforts on modern competition.
The success of the BPR concept led Ratel to organise the FIA GT Championship, while SRO Motorsports Group began its involvement with the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa in 2001, ushering in a new era of GT racing. Today it is among the most prestigious events in the sport and represents the marquee round for Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS and Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli.
GT Anniversary 2022
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of SRO Motorsports Group, Stephane Ratel turned to his long-time friend Patrick Peter who will bring together a field of historic machinery called GT Anniversary 2022. A pair of 60-minute contests are scheduled to run, with the second representing the final track action before the Belgian endurance classic begins its 74th edition. A field of historic machinery will be assembled, with the eligible cars ranging from the Venturi 400 that began it all to recent GT3 favourites such as the Audi R8 LMS, Mercedes SLS AMG and Bentley Continental. In between, the list also features the Ferrari F40, McLaren F1-GTR, Porsche 911 GT1, Chrysler Viper GTS-R, Ferrari F550 Prodrive, Maserati MC12 GT1, Aston Martin DBR9, Lamborghini Murcielago GT1, Nissan GTR GT1, and many more. What’s more, fans can also see the cars up close as part of the traditional parade to Spa town centre. They will join the full 2022 grid in the parade, which makes a welcome comeback in 2022 as part of this year’s off-track entertainment.
Open to GTs having entered in the following events:
- 12 Heures de Sebring (1994-2010)
- 24 Heures de Daytona (1994-2010)
- 24 Heures du Mans (1994-2010)
- American Le Mans Series (1999-2010)
- BPR Global GT Series (1994-1996)
- FIA GT (1997-2009)
- FIA GT3 European Championship (2006-2010)
- Le Mans Series (2006-2010)
- LMES (2001, 2003-2005)
