Last March, the Pirelli World Challenge officials announced the alliance with the SRO Motorsports Group and the highly competitive Blancpain GT Series featuring GT3-based sports cars and the series’ double header set for the 2016 PWC season opener.

The alliance is today confirmed with the announcement of the first GT3-only Endurance race in North America, with a six-hour race at the Circuit of The Americas on March 5.

Independent from the Blancpain GT Series in Europe, the race will be part of the planned Intercontinental Challenge, which will bring together the Liqui Moly 12 Hours of Bathurst in Australia, the Total 24 Hours of Spa in Europe and the 12 Hours of Sepang in Asia; all races where GT3 is the overall winning class. The U.S. round will also be open to GTS/GT4 cars.

That affiliation will be expanded in several areas entering the 2016 PWC series with the two sports car racing series utilizing similar technical regulations including the SRO Balance of Performance equations and other selected particulars, such as consultancy on Sport and Development.

“Working with Stephane Ratel and his SRO Motorsports Group has been outstanding, “ said Greg Gill, President and CEO of WC Vision.

“Since joining PWC Marcus Haselgrove has worked closely with their technical department in an open forum with the GT3 regulations and we believe the collection of GT3 cars at the season opener at COTA could be one of the largest in sports car history.

“Fans will now see a global mixture of PWC and SRO GT teams and drivers racing together. It’s a great way to kick off the 2016 season.”

“Extending the SRO-monitored Balance of Performance to the Pirelli World Challenge, in addition to the many series and events which already adopted it around the globe will give manufacturers and teams the assurance of a professional and fair competition which is not based on the relative performance of teams and drivers in a particular series but solely on the cars’ performance, measured across 40 circuits on four continents,” said Ratel, president and CEO of the SRO Motorsport Group.

‘The fact that most of the monitored series and events run on the same Pirelli tire specification will add to the accuracy. Working with Greg Gill and his team on this and other aspects of the series is a great honor for the SRO.

“We are looking forward to a 2016 season which should mark the beginning of an even closer collaboration.”