A standalone five-hour GT4 race will take place at Spa-Francorchamps in July instead of previously-planned endurance races within the GT4 European Series schedule.

The event, named the Spa GT4 Endurance Cup, will form part of the SRO Motorsports Group’s Speedweek event on the weekend before the Total 24 Hours of Spa.

It effectively replaces plans to add a pair of three-hour endurance races to the GT4 European Series schedule next season, which was announced in July.

It will run separate to any championship on July 20-21, sharing the weekend with the Blancpain GT Sports Club and British GT Championship.

The GT4 European Series, meanwhile, is set to remain with a pair of 60-minute sprint races next year, on six weekends as supports for Blancpain GT Series events.

GT4 performance levels are set to increase in 2019, and so the SRO has added a Coupe de France category to its France-based FFSA GT4 France Championship, aimed at older cars with slower lap times.

New Weekend Format for Sports Club

A new format for the Blancpain GT Sports Club has also been announced by SRO founder and CEO Stephane Ratel, featuring equal-length races for the gentleman-only series.

The series will have five rounds, including one at the Speedweek and the other four as Blancpain GT Series supports, with two races each weekend.

Both races will be the same length, between 30 and 45 minutes depending on the event, replacing the current format of Qualifying Race and Main Race.

Competitors will also be allowed additional track time by running in the Blancpain GT Series’ Bronze Test.

Races will remain with a single-driver format but teams will be able to enter different drivers for each race.

2019 SRO Schedules