Belgian Audi Club Team WRT
Vincent Vosse’s squad will field four Pro class Audi R8 LMS cars in the Sprint Cup this season as they seek to extend their dominance of the team’s title to a sixth successive year. They will also defend the drivers’ championship, which was clinched in dramatic fashion last season by Stuart Leonard and Robin Frijns.
Both Leonard and Frijns return in 2018, with their car once again carrying their lucky #17. The Dutchman is undertaking a dual programme with Audi this term by also competing in DTM, meaning Frederic Vervisch will deputise alongside Leonard at clashing events.
The #1 machine pairs Team WRT stalwart Christopher Mies with newcomer Alex Riberas. The 24-year-old Spaniard is new to the Blancpain GT Series but possesses considerable experience in GT racing, having competed extensively in Europe, the U.S. and Asia during this short career.
He will have the ideal teammate to learn from in Mies, whose relationship with Team WRT stretches back to the inaugural Blancpain Endurance Series campaign in 2011.
The #2 car will see returning WRT drivers Will Stevens and Dries Vanthoor sharing once again, reprising a partnership that was first formed at the Total 24 Hours of Spa in 2016. Both are race-winners in the series and will tackle their third year as part of the WRT outfit.
The driver line-up for Team WRT’s final Sprint Cup entry, the #3 Audi R8 LMS, will be announced ahead of the season-opening event at Zolder (6-8 April).
The Baudour-based squad has elected to run a pair of Endurance Cup cars this year, placing a number of Team WRT drivers in contention for the overall Blancpain GT Series title.
In the #1 machine, Sprint Cup teammates Mies and Riberas will be joined by Vanthoor, while Leonard and Frijns will share their #17 with newcomer Sheldon van der Linde.
At just 18 years old Van der Linde will be the youngest member of the WRT squad this term. The South African makes his GT3 debut in 2018 having cut his teeth in Audi’s single-make series.
Team Black Falcon
Team Black Falcon have confirmed their 2018 Blancpain GT Series driver line-up for a trio of entries in the Endurance Cup this year.
The team’s #4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 will consist of an all-pro line-up, with Maro Engel, Yelmer Buurman and Luca Stolz set to launch an assault on the premier class.
Engel and Buurman know the team well, while Stolz switches from the rival Grasser Racing Lamborghini outfit for 2018.
The team’s #5 machine features a newly-formed crew, with Kriton Lendoudis, Saud Al Faisal and Rui Aguas preparing to tackle the Pro-Am class with the German outfit.
Finally, a third Mercedes-AMG GT3 entry will compete for Silver Cup honours. The #6 machine comprises a trio of drivers familiar to the Black Falcon squad, with Hubert Haupt, Abdulaziz Al Faisal and Gabriele Piana set to pilot the car at all five events.
The same crew united for last year’s Total 24 Hours of Spa and will now expand their commitments to contest the full Endurance campaign.
The team will begin their campaign at the opening Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup round, which takes place at Monza on 20-22 April.
AKKA ASP
The Endurance line-up will be led by a trio of highly accomplished drivers aboard the team’s #88 Mercedes-AMG GT3, with Raffaele Marciello, Daniel Juncadella and Tristan Vautier confirmed for the five-round series
All three are familiar to AKKA. Mercedes-AMG works drivers Marciello and Juncadella both contested the full 2017 campaign for the team, while Vautier has made several appearances during recent seasons.
The AKKA team will also field a pair of Endurance Cup cars in the Pro-Am class. The #87 Mercedes-AMG will see familiar faces Jean-Luc Beaubelique and Mauro Ricci joined by young Frenchman Nico Jamin, who has spent recent seasons successfully racing single-seaters in the U.S.
The #89 entry will see AKKA regulars Philippe Giauque and Eric Debard once again link up with the squad, Fabien Barthez is now confirmed as the third driver for this car, the ex French national team goalkeeper moving over from his open Pants Barthez LMP team in the ELMS.
The team will also enter the Silver Cup this year, with Nico Bastin returning to the AKKA fold alongside a pair of young chargers in Jack Manchester and Jules Szymkowiak. The latter is a familiar Blancpain GT Series competitor who won the Silver Cup title in the Sprint category last season.
The team’s five-car Endurance roster is completed by the already-announced #35 machine, which will compete under the SMP Racing banner in the PRO category for the Russian duo of Vitaly Petrov and Denis Bulatov, joined by Michael Meadows.
On the Sprint Cup side, Marciello will remain aboard the #88 car, placing the young Italian in contention for the overall Blancpain GT Series title this term. He will be supported by British racer Michael Meadows, with whom he shared during the full 2017 season.
A second Pro car will see Jamin compete in the top class alongside a yet-to-be-announced teammate, giving the Frenchman a chance to compete for outright honours.
Finally, Bastian and Manchester will link up aboard the #90 Mercedes-AMG GT3 to compete for the Silver Cup title.
