The entry for the inaugural Laguna Seca Intercontinental GT Challenge fixture later this month will easily break the organiser’s 20-car target.
The California 8 Hours on October 15, which joins the Bathurst, Spa and Sepang GT3 enduros on the IGTC schedule this year, is on course to surpass the objective by some margin.
Pirelli World Challenge boss Greg Gill, whose organisation is putting on the event as part of a double-header with the PWC, told Autosport: “We thought 18 to 20 would be a good point to start at, but are going to easily surpass that.
“We’re surprised and pleased at the entries we are getting, particularly the mix between North American and European teams, which is looking pretty much 50-50 at the moment.”
Gill would not reveal the final number of cars ahead of the expected release of the entry list for the event later this week.
Nissan is understood to have agreed to take part in the race with a pair of GT-R NISMO GT3s run by the factory-supported RJN Academy team.
The Japanese manufacturer’s global motorsport boss, Mike Cacarmo, said: “We are working on it, and we have no doubts that it will be a great race.”
IGTS manufacturers’ points leader Audi will be represented by two factory-supported teams.
Land Motorsport, winner of this year’s Nurburgring 24 Hours, and IMSA SportsCar Championship regular Magnus Racing will each field solo Audi R8 LMS.
Bothwill be driven by a roster of factory drivers: Connor De Phillippi, Christopher Mies and Christopher Haase will drive the Land entry; and Markus Winkelhock, Pierre Kaffer and Kelvin van der Linde the Magnus entry.
A seventh Audi factory driver in Robin Frijns will line up in a WRT-run R8 with fellow team regulars Jake Dennis and Stuart Leonard.
Honda brand Acura has also confirmed two-car team of NSX GT3s for the race with its PWC partner RealTime Racing.
Dane Cameron, who has signed to drive Penske’s new Acura Daytona Prototype international in next year’s IMSA series, will drive one car together with Ryan Eversley and Tom Dyer
Peter Kox and Mark Wilkins will be joined in the second car by Jules Gounon, winner of the Spa 24 Hours in July with Audi.
The K-PAX Mclaren team has confirmed a 650S GT3 for Alvaro Parente, Ben Barnicoat and Bryan Sellers.
The California 8 Hours is also open to GT4 machinery.