Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA announces new schedule, format for 2018

As the Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA enters its 12th year of competition in 2018, series organizer Competent Motorsport is thrilled to not only unveil next year's schedule, but also announce an exciting new format.

The 2018 season will see the Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA stage stand-alone weekends in which the series will stage each event. The new format not only allows for additional track time for competitors, but also a more consistent schedule from race weekend to race weekend with sessions taking place at ideal times throughout the day.

In addition, the GT3 and GT4 classes will be run as separate races. The GT3 Class, which features the 2010-2013 iteration of Porsche 911 GT3 Cup machines and the 2014-2016 generation Porsche 911 GT3 Cup machines, will welcome the latest 2017 specification starting in 2018 and will run as its own stand-alone class. The GT4 Class will feature the Porsche Cayman ClubSport GT4 as the competition platform.

The 2017 season saw the highest car-counts to date for the Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA series and the two separate races will better accommodate the larger fields.

"We were pleased to have a car count of 33-plus Porsche GT3 and GT4 Cup cars at our eight events during the 2017 season," said Competent Motorsport President Greg Franz. "Having our GT3 Cup race group of 991.2, 991.1 and 997.2 and our GT4 Cup race group of Cayman Clubsport with the 2017 Trophy Kit and the Cayman MRs running 'as delivered' for 2018 should make for some very exciting racing for everyone."

Several classic circuits around the country will return to the 2018 schedule including visits to Road America, Thunderhill Raceway Park, Circuit of the Americas, Sonoma Raceway, and two trips to Utah Motorsports Campus.

The series will also host a pre-season test at the Thermal Club in February.

The 2018 Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA schedule is as follows, with two venues yet to be named.

"We have announced six of our eight events for 2018 and expect to be able to announce the other two within the next 60 days," said Franz. "We look forward to announcing those additions soon."