At the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, global GT racing promoter SRO Motorsports Group made a raft of announcements, including the six-round Australian calendar.
It will begin in Victoria at Phillip Island on March 28-29, which has become the customary season-opener.
The series will head to South Australia on May 9-10 to race at The Bend.
Queensland Raceway will host the third round on June 13-14 before heading to the Northern Territory’s Hidden Valley Raceway on July 25-26.
Hidden Valley effectively replaces Sandown on the calendar.
New South Wales’ premier circuit Sydney Motorsport Park hosts the penultimate round on September 19-20 with the season finale currently listed as TBC.
According to GT World Challenge organisers “The sixth and final round of the season is yet to be confirmed and will be announced in the coming months, along with the finalised event details and dates.”
“We are proud of our progress in Australia,” said Stephane Ratel.
“We started a bit like we did in America. We started in a partnership then we run the championship independently and then we made an agreement with the Australian federation (Motorsport Australia) to run the event in conjunction with them.
“Now we have GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS. This is the calendar with one last event to be confirmed.”
Ratel paid tribute to the fledgling Monochrome GT4 Australia, which has attracted bumper fields round on round.
“Our success story is really GT4 in Australia. Two years ago there were thre GT4 cars in Australia, last year there were 16 or 17 and this year we have an almost full grid at 31 cars and I think we’re going to have more than that next year,” said Ratel.
“It’s past of the Shannons SpeedSeries, the series we organise in conjunction with the Australian federation. Ben [McMellan, SRO Motorsports Australia CEO] and Aby [Hay, head of business development & sporting] in Australia are doing a great work to put all of this together.
“Also there we have the support of manufacturers. As part of the package we have the Ferrari Challenge Australia and next year we’ll be welcoming the Mustang Cup Australia, so the whole package is getting bigger and better.”
SRO Motorsports Australia CEO Ben McMellan hailed the landmark move to race at Hidden Valley.
“It’s very exciting to be able to take GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS to Darwin for the first time in its history,” he said.
“Hidden Valley is a fantastic race track and the locals deserve more national level motorsport, so to be able to take some of the best racing categories up there is a big positive for all parties.
“Starting at Phillip Island is slowly becoming a tradition for the Shannons SpeedSeries, GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS and Monochrome GT4 Australia, so it’s great that we kick off the season there next year.”
On the season-finale, McMellan said organisers had not decided on a location.
“At this point, we are still working towards confirming that final round and we have a few options as to where they might be, but I am confident that whatever we end up with be well received by all of our stakeholders,’ said McMellan.
“Releasing the calendar now allows us to get a head start on building the foundations for the season and our major stakeholders to begin their initial preparations for next year.”
2026 Provisional GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS calendar
Test: 17 March – Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Victoria
Round 1: 27-29 March – Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Victoria
Round 2: 8-10 May – Shell V-Power Motorsport Park, South Australia
Round 3: 12-14 June – Queensland Raceway, Queensland
Round 4: 24-26 July – Hidden Valley Raceway, Northern Territory
Round 5: 18-20 September – Sydney Motorsport Park, New South Wales
Round 6: TBC
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