Let it race, let it race, let it race…

Traditionally, the racing world goes into a bit of a hibernation during the winter months. This year, however, SRO Motorsports America has a different plan in mind. With an understanding that the passion for motorsports never stops, regardless of cold weather and holiday seasons, the organization will keep teams on the track and engines fired up with the first ever SRO Winter Invitational series at The Thermal Club in Southern California. The new series was announced in October at the SRO 2019 Awards Night in Las Vegas by SRO Motorsports Group founder and CEO Stephane Ratel.

The winter endurance series, set to take place December 13 – 15, is open to TC America Series, GT4 America Series and GT Sports Club cars. This includes GT2 and GT3 cars, current evolution and older GT3 cars, such as the Ferrari 458, Porsche 911, Audi Ultra, McLaren, Aston Martin Vantage, Porsche Cup, Lamborghini Super Trofeo and Ferrari Challenge cars.

The SRO Winter Invitational series includes two additional race weekends for fans to get excited about scheduled for January 17 – 19 and February 7 – 9. Each weekend race event will feature two 20-minute qualifying sessions, three 30-minute practice sessions and two 40-minute races. Teams competing in the series will run on Pirelli P Zero DHD2 tires like those run during the 2019 SRO America regular season.

While the series will race all three weekends at the 5.1-mile private circuit in the Palm Desert, teams will test their skills and equipment on three different track configurations, including a four-mile layout for the season finale in February. This creates a number of opportunities for teams to evaluate their equipment, including chassis, suspension and brakes set ups, as well as camber and pressure settings on the Pirelli P Zero tires.

The SRO Winter Invitational series is designed to give Bronze-rated or Bronze-level drivers the opportunity to have additional seat time to polish their racing skills and keep their equipment in top performance condition in advance of the 2020 SRO America Series.

Once the inaugural SRO Winter Invitational is complete, race fans will have just a few short weeks to catch their breath. The 2020 SRO America Series is set to kick off in March at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, followed by visits to five of North America's most prestigious racetracks, including Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Virginia International Raceway, Sonoma Raceway, Road America and Watkins Glen International. Teams competing in the series can also participate in a voluntary postseason race at the world-famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway as part of the Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli.

For the 2020 season, teams competing in all three GT World Challenge series will run on the new Pirelli P Zero DHE tire.