Why now?

Well… why not?

Just over two and a half years removed from CREVENTIC introducing its first ‘992’ category, the Dutch promoter is readying itself for the first endurance race dedicated to Porsche’s 992-generation GT3 Cup this weekend: the 992 Endurance Cup.

And why not? Revealed for the first time in December 2020, the 992-generation Porsche GT3 Cup was more powerful than its predecessor, more durable than its predecessor (repair costs dropped while the gaps between services got bigger), was on average three seconds per lap faster than the 991.2 GT3 Cup, was the first one-make Cup racer from Porsche to feature a turbo-spec body (a nod to the broader front axle beneath and the improved road-holding that came with it), and borrowed aerodynamic components from the most advanced 911 GT3 R yet. Porsche itself, upon the model’s unveil, declared the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) to be “stronger, faster, more spectacular” than any 911 Cup car that had come before it. A perfect base then for an unprecedented endurance race, surely.

On top of that, and more than three years after the 992-gen GT3 Cup debuted with CREVENTIC for the first time, the 24H SERIES’ 992 field ballooned to its strongest to-date earlier this year at Spa-Francorchamps – 18 – and made up 40 per cent of the overall field. Not only was the base there, but so too it seems is the interest.

All told then… yeah. Why not!

“The 992 Endurance Cup has been in the works for a few years now, and a big reason behind it was the new GT3 Cup car,” CREVENTIC’s David Vink explains. “The GT3 Cup is already the best-selling race car in the world, and one of the biggest advantages – especially for us – is that the 992 was developed from the beginning for sprint racing and endurance. So customers can buy an ‘endurance kit’ right away, rather than try to make things like a larger fuel tank and more powerful headlamps ‘fit.’ That’s never been an option before, and makes the idea of an endurance race that much easier to realize. 

“It might also be… the most interesting to drive? Look at these 992 cars, and they’re just as quick – even quicker, sometimes – than a GT3 car down the straight, but not as draining to drive. That’s a big incentive for a ‘gentleman’ driver, especially when they’re being pitched a 12-hour race!”

With an idea in place then, the question soon became, ‘how could Dutch promoter CREVENTIC put this into practice?’

Simple. Start by asking its audience…

“CREVENTIC has been organizing the 24H SERIES for almost 20 years now,” David continues, “so the team has a lot of knowledge to lean on about the racing market. About the logistics involved, what connections need to be made, which potential partners and suppliers we could work with efficiently, etc. We also have a lot of clients who understand what they want from endurance racing, and have been with us for many years too. So when we started discussing the 992 Endurance Cup properly… well, let’s just say our paddock was a great place to do some market research!”  

With a customer base already interested, one that, based on Porsche’s projections, will continue to grow, the next step was to approach Porsche itself about hosting a 992-only Endurance Cup. An easy yet simultaneously challenging prospect.

Official one-make Porsche competition after all dates back nearly four decades to the German 944 Turbo Cup and Canadian Rothmans Porsche 944 Challenge genesis of 1986, and thereafter the first Carrera Cup Germany in 1990. 34 years later, the Carrera Cup now spans five continents and 12 regions/nations, and the flagship Supercup is into its 32nd season. 

How then do you pitch a one-make endurance race to a company that basically pioneered the concept?

“Very carefully! It was so important to get Porsche involved from the beginning: if we couldn’t convince the brand that we were serious about this project, why would anybody else take us seriously? But we made a good presentation, we accepted feedback from Porsche, we made some changes, and everyone is very happy with this idea. To have Porsche and Michelin as partners really gives this event legitimacy.” 

On that note, and let’s be very clear about this, the 992 Endurance Cup will not be ‘just’ another 24H SERIES event. 

With crucial support from event partner Michelin, on the ground for the duration of the weekend providing tyres and engineering expertise to all competitors, the 992 Endurance Cup will be a bespoke Porsche event, albeit one organized by CREVENTIC. 

Examples? Well, as part of a new partnership with Caseliner, the 24H SERIES’ traditional refueling station will be absent at Spa in favour of individual refueling rigs provided to each team. The 24H SERIES’ innovative Code 60s have also been ditched for the event in favour of full course yellows and a safety car, as needed. Both more recognizable concepts for Carrera Cup competitors, and, with just one make and model to consider, comparatively less complex concerns for race control to oversee.

Granted, there are a couple of crossovers. Three-tier qualifying for example, introduced in Dubai in 2021, has been carried over to the 992 Endurance Cup. The 55-minute session is split into three, 15-minute runs – one apiece for each team’s designated AM driver, PRO/AM driver, and PRO driver – to bank their hot lap. Each car’s place on the grid is then determined by their aggregate best across all three sessions.

The difference being though, unlike the 24H SERIES, teams are permitted to fit fresh Michelin tyres before each session rather than run one set across the full 55 minutes. A decision specifically designed to keep the competition as close and ‘sprint-like’ as possible.  

And that’s just a few of the notable differences. There’s also more than 90 years of Porsche Motorsport heritage to promote… 

“It is very important to not only make this Porsche event a great experience for the teams and drivers but also for Porsche fans and owners in the Benelux region, in western Germany and northern France. Porsche Club Spa-Francorchamps will be organizing a special Cars and Coffee event for enthusiasts in the region, something we hope will encourage owners to join us. Porsche will also be providing a very impressive display of classic and contemporary road and race cars, which we think will get a lot of interest!

“There will also be some interesting activations in a large ‘convention’ area in the paddock: displays, art on canvas, model cars, memorabilia, etc. We will have a racing simulator too, so family members can experience Spa themselves in a virtual 992 GT3 Cup car. All the garages will be open, and the starting grid will be open to fans on Saturday morning too. We really want to immerse everyone in ‘the brand.’” 

Talk of heritage is particularly fitting, given that the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps was the frontrunner early on to host the inaugural 992 Endurance Cup. Francorchamps’ famous circuit – a once sprawling, near-15km long road course dating back more than a century to 1921 – has been an intermittent staple of CREVENTIC’s calendar since 2017. The much-valued working relationship between the Dutch promoter and circuit management continues growing each year. 

There’s also Porsche’s own illustrious history at Spa-Francorchamps to consider. Site, lest we forget, of the German brand’s eight overall wins (so far) at the Spa 24 Hours, a joint-record 10 wins at the 1000km Spa-Francorchamps (including two for the legendary 917), and the penultimate win for TAG-Heuer’s highly-fruitful relationship with McLaren in 1987. Indeed, few tomes on Porsche’s racing history are complete without images of the epochal 956 and 962, at full chat, through Eau Rouge with luminaries Jacky Ickx, Derek Bell, Jochen Mass, and the late-great Stefan Bellof at the wheel. 

That Spa-Francorchamps is also, routinely among the most-requested circuits by CREVENTIC customers certainly doesn’t hurt either!

“Spa is just one those circuits that everyone loves to watch and would love to experience. When we started asking teams which tracks they’d be interested in, Spa was right at the top of the list!”

Make no mistake then. While the 992 Endurance Cup offers a brand-new challenge for CREVENTIC – why not, eh? – it’s a project that’s not been entered into lightly. Indeed, expectations from Porsche in particular, whose storied crest will fly proudly over the paddock throughout the weekend, remain high. This is the first 12-hour race dedicated specifically to the strongest, fastest, most spectacular 911 GT3 Cup yet, after all.

Alongside Porsche’s expectations, there are plenty behind closed doors at CREVENTIC too. Far from a one-time flash in the pan, plans are already underway for the 922 Endurance Cup to return in 2025 and, potentially, the years that follow… 

“We would love to see this race become an annual event, and we’re already discussing a date for 2025. Porsche would also be interested to see the 992 Endurance Cup become a season highlight for Carrera Cup drivers. We would be very, very proud if we could make that a reality.”