The series began in 2011 under the name Blancpain Endurance Series, created through a partnership between SRO Motorsports Group and the RACB. Swiss watchmaker Blancpain served as the title sponsor from the outset, and the championship ran under Blancpain branding through two distinct naming phases: Blancpain Endurance Series from 2011 to 2015, then Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup from 2016 to 2019. When SRO's sponsorship arrangement with Blancpain ended, the series was rebranded as the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup for the 2020 season.
The series was conceived as a complement to FIA World Endurance Championship-style racing but focused exclusively on GT3 machinery. Unlike the WEC, which used GTE cars and Le Mans Prototypes before transitioning to GT3 and Le Mans Hypercars, the Endurance Cup structured its entire entry list around GT3 regulations applied across several driver-category classes.
Races in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup are three-hour endurance contests held at prominent European venues including Monza and Silverstone, with the Spa 24 Hours remaining the championship's prestige centrepiece event. The multi-class format draws from the FIA's GT3, GT4, and Supersport categories, though the class structure has evolved over the series's history.
The GT3 field is subdivided according to the FIA's driver ranking system. The GT3 Pro class accommodates fully professional driver line-ups, the GT3 Pro-Am class pairs professionals with amateur co-drivers, and the GT3 Am class is reserved for gentleman drivers using cars at least one year old. Performance balancing measures and handicap weights are applied across the entry to equalise competition between different manufacturers' cars.
When the series launched, a GT4 category and a Supersport class also competed. Both were dropped for the 2012 season, when the GT3 field structure was consolidated and the former Citation class was restyled as the Gentlemen class. Grid sizes grew quickly in the early years, reaching sixty cars for regular races by 2013.
Lamborghini's Super Trofeo series has regularly served as a support category at Endurance Cup rounds, adding to the Italian manufacturer's already significant presence in the GT3 class.
The Endurance Cup operates alongside the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup, together forming the two pillars of the GT World Challenge Europe platform. Teams and manufacturers active in both series can accumulate points across the combined standings. Related championships under the SRO umbrella include GT World Challenge Asia and GT World Challenge Australia, as well as the GT4 European Series for lower-tier machinery.
The series shares its philosophical ambitions with the FIA World Endurance Championship while remaining accessible to a wider pool of privateer teams and gentlemen racers. Its reliance on production-derived GT3 cars, rather than bespoke prototypes, keeps costs comparatively controlled and attracts substantial manufacturer and customer team involvement.
The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, across its various naming iterations, established itself as one of Europe's most competitive GT racing platforms. The Spa 24 Hours in particular grew to prominence as one of the most watched GT3 events in the world, attracting factory-backed entries from virtually every major manufacturer with a presence in the class. The series helped cement GT3 regulations as the dominant format for privateer-accessible GT racing globally, influencing the structure of championships on other continents that adopted the same class hierarchy and driver-ranking approach.