Endurance races for cars are long-lasting competitions, even up to 24 hours, which require drivers to have a particular stamina. They are raced aboard Touring, Gran Turismo, Sport or prototype cars. In some cases, these are competitions that have made the history of motoring, such as the Mille Miglia or the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Usually, the first association that comes to mind when talking about car racing is speed . Racing cars that devour the asphalt at over 300 km / h, drivers who attack the curves as if they never want to brake, single-seaters that whiz under the stands so fast that they are almost invisible. These are the images that the word motoring evokes to mind. Yet, there are competitions in which speed is not the most important variable , but where resistance counts, the ability to push beyond one’s limits and stay behind the wheel for hours and hours, grinding kilometers after kilometers. It’s the crazy world of endurance racing .

What is endurance in sport and motoring

In reality, the term endurance is not a peculiarity of motorsport . There are endurance specialties in many sports, such as cycling, running or horse riding. The English word, in fact, translates into Italian as “ resistance ” and is used to define all those races that have a particularly long duration and which therefore require athletes to make a notable effort over time.

Find out more about regularity races

How endurance car races work and how long they last

Currently, in motor racing, endurance races are held exclusively on tracks , inside racetracks that guarantee high levels of safety. A single endurance race of this type can last up to 24 hours . In the past, in addition to track races, endurance road competitions were also planned, held in streets open to traffic. Their high danger, however, has led to their progressive cancellation or transformation into track races. The heirs of those old road endurance competitions are the current rallies , which however have very different rules and methods of execution (and are not included in the endurance races).

Endurance machines

Obviously, to be able to face such particular competitions, suitable machines are needed. From an aesthetic point of view, endurance cars wink at Formula 1 single-seaters . They are light (up to 850 kg), equipped with powerful engines (even higher than 1000 horsepower) and therefore capable of exceeding 200 km / h. Generally speaking, endurance cars can be divided into four categories :

• Touring , designed and built in series for road use and adapted to racing;
• Gran Turismo , designed and built in limited numbers and adapted to racing;
• Sport
• Prototypes

The most important endurance races for cars

Among the endurance competitions of the past, there are some that have truly made the history of motor racing, such as the Mille Miglia (which now exists only in the form of a historical re-enactment) or the Targa Florio (the oldest, today become a rally). Among the races that are still held, however, we cannot fail to mention the 24 Hours of Le Mans , which is also a stage of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) . The latter is today the international competition par excellence in the sector. Since 2012, it has been managed by the FIA and includes 6 races (which also include the 6 Hours of Monza and the famous 6 Hours of Spa ), open to Sports Prototype cars (LMP1 and LMP2) and Gran Turismo cars (GTE-Pro and GTE-Am), to which the very powerful Hypercars have been added since 2021. Other internationally renowned endurance races include the Nurburgring 24 Hours in Germany, the Bathurst 12 Hours in Australia, the Daytona 24 Hours and the Petit Le Mans in the United States .

Buy tickets for the 6 Hours of Monza