Incredible as it may seem, since the inaugural Championship of the Continents was held in 2017, no GT team has taken the overall title more than once.

Perennial series frontrunner Herberth Motorsport got the ball rolling in 2017 with four wins from seven outings, PROsport Performance emulating its German contemporary the following year. New GTX Teams’ champion Leipert Motorsport secured outright ‘Continents’ honours in 2019, while a turbulent 2020 season was brought to a stirring conclusion by Team Avia Sorg Rennsport netting its first 24H SERIES championship in a close fight with Herberth. Ironically, the inaugural ‘Continents’ GT champion was pipped for the second year in a row in 2021 as well, with ST Racing signing off an impressive maiden campaign with outright Championship of the Continents glory. Of those five teams, only Leipert Motorsort (#710) remains in contention for the GT Continents Trophy heading into the 2022 season finale.

Alternatively, should current standings leader CP Racing (#85) take the GT Continents Trophy instead in 2022, the American team would become the SIXTH different team to do so since 2017. It would also be the second team that Charles Putman, Charles Espenlaub and Joe Foster will have ushered to ‘Continents’ title glory in the 24H SERIES, the trio having won the Overall GT Drivers’ ‘Continents’ championship with PROsport Performance in 2018.

Make no mistake about it, this championship fight is far from over.

Newly-crowned GT3-AM Teams’ European champion CP Racing (#85) holds the GT top spot heading into Kuwait by just five points over 992-class runner, HRT Performance. Just one point further back, reigning GTX Teams’ European champion Leipert Motorsport (#710) currently sits on 50 points, while Willi Motorsport by Ebimotors (#955) is only two points further back on 48. 

Yes, you did read that correctly. The top four in the GT rankings are split by just eight points! 

Across in TCE meanwhile, season-long rivals BBR (#159), AC Motorsport (#188) and Wolf-Power Racing (#116) are set to do battle one last time in 2022 for the division’s Continents Trophy. Thailand’s BBR can heave only the tiniest sigh of relief, boasting as it does a far-from-comfortable six-point cushion over AC Motorsport. Wolf-Power Racing meanwhile is seven points further back from there. 

History has proven though that underdog title wins are possible in the 24H SERIES’ TCE division. In 2017 for example, Britain’s Synchro Motorsport overcame a seemingly unassailable 22-point disadvantage to take overall TCE honours when each of its main rivals stumbled at that year’s season finale at Spa-Francorchamps.

Let’s take a moment to break this one down.

Despite hitting the ground running in 2017 with Herberth Motorsport, Porsche has ‘just’ one Continents Trophy to its name so far in the 24H SERIES. As does Mercedes-AMG, courtesy of PROsport Performance’s title win in 2018, and Lamborghini, which took the spoils with Leipert Motorsport in 2019. Given that all three brands are represented in the overall top four in the GT standings – Leipert once again fields its Lamborghini Hurácan Super Trofeo EVO in Kuwait and CP Racing its Mercedes-AMG GT3, while HRT Performance and Willi Motorsport by Ebimotors will both run Porsche GT3 Cup cars – one of the three brands is sure to claim its second Continents Trophy in 2022.

Across in TCE though, it’s an entirely different matter, with either CUPRA (represented by current standings leader BBR) or Audi (AC Motorsport and Wolf-Power Racing) set to take their first respective Continents Trophy in 2022. Team Altran after all ran its Peugeot 308 Racing Cup to victory in 2017, while Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport took category honours with a BMW M235i Racing Cup in 2018. Volkswagen’s Golf GTi meanwhile was victorious from 2019 to 2021. 

Added fun fact, with neither a BMW nor a Volkswagen in contention for a Continents Trophy, 2022 will mark the first time that neither manufacturer has secured a ‘Continents’ title since 2017!

Should Wolf-Power Racing (#116) emerge victorious in Kuwait, it would be a well-deserved fairytale ending to, what has been, a ‘character-building’ season for the German team: potential TCR wins were cruelly denied in both Dubai and Barcelona by  gearbox problems, while on-track collisions caused massive headaches at Spa-Francorchamps and Hockenheim, meaning the team has yet to better its 3rd-place finishes at Mugello and Portimão so far this season. 

If however BBR (#159) can round out an incredibly successful year in the 24H SERIES with the TCE Continents Trophy (and maybe even its sixth category win of 2022), it would mark the first time in three years that Wolf-Power Racing has not taken Championship of the Continents honours, Adrian Wolf’s eponymous outfit having done so, in collaboration with Autorama Motorsport, in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Okay, this one DEFINITELY needs some explanation. 

Heading into Kuwait, Red Camel-Jordans.nl (#909) currently leads HRT Performance (#928) in the 992 Teams’ ‘Continents’ standings by just two points. And, remember: to be eligible for the Continents Trophy, a team and/or driver needs to have raced at both the season-opening Hankook 24H DUBAI and the Hankook 12H KUWAIT, and only their best score from the European events will be counted.

Now, so far in 2022, Red Camel-Jordans.nl has taken two class wins with its Porsche 992 GT3 Cup. Neither of these results however currently count towards the Dutch team’s ‘Continents’ points haul, given that the 25 points Red Camel scored for 3rd place at the Hankook 24H PORTIMAO outscores the 19 points the #909 Porsche earned with its 12-hour wins in Mugello and Hockenheim. A solid run in Dubai meanwhile secured Red Camel 3rd in-class.

Similarly, although HRT Performance did take victory in Mugello earlier this year, the German team did so in the GTX class, meaning that score does not count towards its ‘992’ total. The #928 Porsche’s best European result consequently is its 2nd place finish in Barcelona, for which the German team earned 24 points. An early collision though ultimately meant the #928 entry was the seventh 992 runner to collect the chequered flag in Dubai.

Ironically then, should either team take the 992-class victory in Kuwait, they would do so with, technically, their first ‘Continents’ win of the season. 

See? Simple…[cough]…

Celebrating brand-new outright winners in the 24H SERIES isn’t overly rare. Indeed, since CREVENTIC started hosting multiple events in 2008, only one season – 2017 – has failed to include at least one brand-new outright GT winner.  

Herberth Motorsport made an immediate impact in 2015 with its first win on only its second attempt, Ram Racing and HP Racing following suit by taking their own maiden outright victories later that year at Paul Ricard and Barcelona respectively. Belgian Club Audi WRT took a major scalp with victory at the 2016 Hankook 24H DUBAI, V8 Racing taking its own first win just one round later at Mugello. With former winners Herberth, Scuderia Praha and Car Collection Motorsport sweeping the board in 2017, the series had to wait until 2018 when its next maiden winner – ROFGO Racing – took outright GT honours at Silverstone. One year later, Barwell Motorsport fended off Herberth Motorsport for its first overall win at Barcelona.

A Covid-affected 2020 saw Bas Koeten Racing and GPX Racing take their first respective outright wins at Hockenheim and Sicily, the former the very first to do so as a ‘991’ class entrant. Both Haegeli by T2 Racing and Rutronik Racing dutifully emulated the pair with their first overall victories in 2021 at Hockenheim and Sebring respectively, while, so far in 2022, ST Racing took its first outright win at Mugello, series stalwart CP Racing was on top in Portimão, and WTM Racing flung the proverbial monkey from its back in Barcelona. 

Incredibly then, if Team GP-Elite (#32) or ARC Bratislava (#44) – both former winners in the 991 and GTX classes, respectively – can pull off the victory in Kuwait, they would become the FOURTH different team to take a maiden outright GT win in a single 24H SERIES season. A feat the likes of which we haven’t seen since 2014, when Stadler Motorsport (Dubai), AF Corse (Mugello), Car Collection Motorsport (Zandvoort), SPS automotive performance (Hungary), and Scuderia Praha (Barcelona) each secured an overall GT win in the 24H SERIES for the first time.

The potential of a record-breaking win isn’t just consigned to GT3 either, with an already unpredictable season in GTX capable of throwing one last surprise in Kuwait. 

Over the first five events of 2022 for instance, FIVE different teams, representing THREE different manufacturers, took GTX honours. PK Carsport got the ball rolling in Dubai with its GT2-spec Audi R8, with HRT Performance, 9und11 Racung and E2P Racing – each of whom ran a Porsche 911 – dutifully taking GTX honours at Mugello, Spa-Francorchamps and Hockenheim respectively. 

GTX European Champion-elect Leipert Motorsport, after a trying year, finally got its win tally off the ground at Portimão, the #710 Lamborghini Hurácan Super Trofeo doing so again at the following event in Barcelona. With momentum on its side, the German team will no doubt be hoping for a hattrick to secure its championship win of the season. 

However, should former GTX Teams’ champion Vortex V8 (#701) or the returning razoon-more than racing (#714) get the jump on Leipert in Kuwait, one or the other would become the sixth different GTX winner from seven races in 2022, an achievement we haven’t seen since Tsunami R.T. (Dubai), Speed Lover (Silverstone), VDS Racing Adventures (Navarra and Spa), GDL Racing (Imola), Manthey Racing (Portimão), and, fittingly, Leipert Motorsport (Barcelona) took category honours in 2018. In doing so, the Vortex V8 or razoon’s KTM X-BOW GTX would also join Audi, Porsche and Lamborghini as a record-breaking FOURTH different winning constructor in GTX across a single season, besting the three (Porsche, Lamborghini and MARC) that won rounds in 2018.