The third season of the Fanatec GT2 European Series was a record-breaking one on a number of fronts, producing the closest qualifying sessions and championship title fights in its short history, not to mention two new world-class brands joining its ranks.
Let’s look back at the 2023 season ‘by the numbers’:
27 entries
27 entries graced the grid for the third season of the Fanatec GT2 European Series, 13 Pro-Am and 14 in Am.
42 drivers
42 drivers competed across both the Pro-Am and Am classes.
11 nations
Those 41 drivers hailed from 11 sporting nations. France was the most represented with 12 drivers, followed by Austria with seven, then Germany and Italy tied on five.
13 teams
Fanatec GT2 welcomed more teams than ever before in 2023, with 13 of Europe’s top sportscar teams joining the ranks across the season.
2 new brands
Two new world-class brands joined the ranks of Fanatec GT2 in 2023. The Mercedes-AMG debuted in Monza with Haupt Racing Team, while Akkodis ASP earned the model’s maiden race win in round two at the Red Bull Ring.
The season finished on a high with the Maserati GT2’s global racing debut at Circuit Paul Ricard, LP Racing earning a maiden pole position and podium.
6 manufacturers
With Mercedes-AMG and Maserati joining the field, the season featured six world-class brands – Audi, KTM, Lamborghini, Maserati, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche.
7 new teams
A raft of elite racing teams made their series debut. Akkodis ASP, Fanatec by HRT, Haupt Racing Team, Iron Lynx, MZR, NM Racing Team and Am champions RTR Projects.
33,500 spectators
Crowd in attendance for the season finale at Circuit Paul Ricard.
6 brands earn pole positions
All six brands earned class pole positions this term, while Audi, KTM, Maserati, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche also earned podium finishes.
0.018
The closest qualifying session in series history played out in Q2 at Valencia. Anthony Beltoise’s LP Racing Audi took pole by a mere 0.018s, ahead of Reinhard Kofler’s MZR KTM. Just 1.003s covered the entire eight-strong Pro-Am field.
Tied on 5
Our 2023 title holders, Pro-Am winners Henry Hassid and Anthony Beltoise, and Am champion Jan Krabec share the highest number of class pole positions earned this season.
11 pole positions
Audi was the most successful brand in qualifying, with 11 Pro-Am pole positions achieved across three of the brand’s entries – LP Racing’s Hassid/Beltoise (five) and Kaffer/Doppelmayr (three), plus PK Carsport’s Guelinckx/Longin (three).
6 Am pole winners
Six different entries claimed Am class pole position honours: Luciano & Donovan Privitelio (Iron Lynx Lamborghini), Thomas Jackermaier & Jens Liebhauser (Fanatec by HRT Mercedes-AMG), Klaus Angerhofer & Sehdi Sarmini (True Racing KTM), Jan Krabec (RTR Projects KTM), Leonardo Gorini (Ebimotors Porsche), Mantas Janavicius & Aurelijus Rusteika (Ebimotors Porsche).
13 wins
KTM was the most successful brand based on class wins, thanks to the three teams fielding the KTM X-BOW GT2. The combined efforts of True Racing, RTR Projects and MZR notched up 13 wins across both classes.
4 victories
PK Carsport’s Peter Guelinckx and Stienes Longin earned the highest tally of Pro-Am wins in the #1 Audi.
1 point
The tiny margin by which Henry Hassid and Anthony Beltoise claimed the 2023 Fanatec GT2 European Series Pro-Am title for LP Racing and Audi. MZR’s Reinhard Kofler finished second, with PK Carsport’s Peter Guelinckx and Stienes Longin third and True Racing’s Stefan Rosina fourth. It was a four-way battle that went down to the final two minutes of the season at Circuit Paul Ricard.
2 titles
In claiming the 2023 Pro-Am crown, Henry Hassid became the first driver in series history to take back-to-back titles across both classes with LP Racing, having won the Am title in 2022.
339 laps
339 racing laps were completed across the year, with the most - 36 - clocked up in race two at Dijon.
1576km
1576 kilometres of racing was clocked up across the six-round, 12-race calendar. The greatest distance completed was in the first race of the season at Monza, with 156.41km covered.
2 new circuits
Two new venues graced the Fanatec GT2 calendar in 2023. The series paid a first visit to Circuit Dijon-Prenois and Portimão for the third and fourth rounds, both of which produced some fantastically close battles.
26 hours
With two hours of free practice, two 20-minute qualifying sessions and two 50-minute races packed into each of the six events, the field completed a minimum of 26 hours of track time. And that’s not including paid testing!
