2022 TotalEnergies Spa 24 Hours: Race Preview, Part 1 Pro Cup

A 66 Car, an all-GT3 grid is set to contest the 2022 TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa this weekend, the 98th anniversary of the first race in 1924 and the 74th running of a race that has welcomed a GT-only field for 22 years, and a principally GT3 field since 2011.

The entry is split into five classes, Pro Cup, Silver Cup, Pro-Am Cup, Gold Cup and Bronze Cup, the line-ups are defined by the FIA grading (and/ or SRO decision on those gradings):

Pro Cup: No restriction on ranking.
Silver Cup: All Silver Ranked line-up.
Pro-Am Cup: Two Bronzes teaming up with a professional driver going forward.
Gold Cup: one Platinum or Gold, one Silver and one Bronze.
Bronze Cup: All Bronze-ranked line-up (3 driver crews) One Silver plus three Bronzes (4 driver crews).

The race counts too for points both in the GT World Challenge Europe and the Intercontinental GT Challenge.

Pro Cup, 23 Cars

#2 AMG Team GetSpeed – Maximilian GÖTZ, Steijn SCHOTHORST, Luca STOLZ – Mercedes-AMG GT3
#6 Orange1 KPAX Racing – Jordan PEPPER, Andrea CALDARELLI, Marco MAPELLI – Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo
#12 Audi Sport Team Tresor – Christopher HAASE, Mattia DRUDI, Luca GHIOTTO – Audi R8 LMS evo II GT3
#19 Emil Frey Racing – Arthur ROUGIER, Leo ROUSSEL, Giacomo ALTOE – Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo
#23 Heart of Racing with TF Sport – Alex RIBERAS, Ross GUNN, Charlie EASTWOOD – Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3
#25 Audi Sport Team Sainteloc – Lucas LEGERET, Patric NIEDERHAUSER, Christopher MIES – Audi R8 LMS evo II GT3
#32 Audi Sport Team WRT – Dries VANTHOOR, Kelvin VAN DER LINDE, Charles WEERTS – Audi R8 LMS evo II GT3
#38 Jota – Rob BELL, Oliver WILKINSON, Marvin KIRCHHÖFER – McLaren 720 S GT3
#46 Audi Sport Team WRT – Frédéric VERVISCH, Nico MÜLLER, Valentino ROSSI – Audi R8 LMS evo II GT3
#47 KCMG – Dennis OLSEN, Nick TANDY, Laurens VANTHOOR – Porsche 911 GT3-R (991.II)
#50 Rowe Racing – Neil VERHAGEN, Max HESSE, Daniel HARPER – BMW M4 GT3
#51 Iron Lynx – Miguel MOLINA, Nicklas NIELSEN, James CALADO – Ferrari 488 GT3
#54 Dinamic Motorsport – Klaus BACHLER, Come LEDOGAR, Thomas PREINING – Porsche 911 GT3-R (991.II)
#55 AMG Team GruppeM Racing – Maro ENGEL, Mikael GRENIER, Maximilian BUHK – Mercedes-AMG GT3
#63 Emil Frey Racing – Jack AITKEN, Albert COSTA, Mirko BORTOLOTTI – Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo
#66 Audi Sport Team Attempto – Ricardo FELLER, Markus WINKELHOCK, Dennis MARSCHALL – Audi R8 LMS evo II GT3
#71 Iron Lynx – Davide RIGON, Daniel SERRA, Antonio FUOCO – Ferrari 488 GT3
#74 EMA Motorsport – Matt CAMPBELL, Mathieu JAMINET, Felipe NASR – Porsche 911 GT3-R (991.II)
#88 AMG Team AKKODIS ASP – Raffaele MARCIELLO, Daniel JUNCADELLA, Jules GOUNON – Mercedes-AMG GT3
#95 Beechdean AMR – Maxime MARTIN, Marco SORENSEN, Nicki THIIM – Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3
#98 Rowe Racing – Augusto FARFUS, Nicholas YELLOLY, Nicky CATSBURG – BMW M4 GT3
#100 Toksport WRT – Julien ANDLAUER, Marvin DIENST, Sven MÜLLER – Porsche 911 GT3-R (991.II)
#221 GPX Martini Racing – Kevin ESTRE, Michael CHRISTENSEN, Richard LIETZ – Porsche 911 GT3-R (991.II)

Of the 66, more than third, 23 cars, populate the Pro class, the majority featuring factory drivers from many of the world’s leading GT racing brands.

Eight different GT3 marques are represented and five of them, Audi, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercedes AMG and Porsche, are also contesting the Manufacturer’s Championship in the Intercontinental GT Challenge (Aston Martin, McLaren and BMW also have representative teams in the class).

Aston Martin has two representatives in the class, the #23 Heart of Racing with TF Sport effort sees regular IMSA GTD Pro pairing Alex Riberas and Ross Gunn joined by Charlie Eastwood.

The second car is the #95 of Beechdean AMR, an effective factory car with ‘local lad’ and 2016 winner Maxime Martin joined by fellow factory talents Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen who will be looking to make it four Danish winners in the past four years! Martin will be trying to score a second win in a race that already features his father and his uncle as multiple winners!

Audi brings five cars to the top class with factory support for Team Tresor, Sainteloc, Attempto and WRT (x2)

All five have high-quality line-ups, stacked with Audi Sport Customer Racing talent as the marque looks to secure a fifth overall win.

Sainteloc are the most recent Audi victors back in 2017 but their 2022 line-up in the #25 Audi R8 LMS evo II GT3 features a trio all looking for a first win: Lucas Legeret, Patric Niederhauser and Christopher Mies.

The #12 Team Tresor Audi features 2017 winner Christopher Haase with Mattia Drudi and ex single seater ace Luca Ghiotto.

Team Attempto field double overall winner Markus Winkelhock in the #66 car together with Dennis Marschall and Ricardo Feller in a line-up that blends youth and experience.

WRT meanwhile have a returning top-quality trio in their #32 car: Dries Vanthoor looking for a win on home ground to beg one back on his double overall winner brother, Charles Weerts too will be keen to add his name on the trophy in his home race, and Kelvin van der Linde would love top take the first win for a South African driver.

Finally, the #46 car will be drawing no little attention, not just because of the bright yellow livery, or because of the talents of Fred Vervisch and Nico Muller on board, but because the third driver is, of course, multiple MotoGP Championship-winning legend, Valentino Rossi!

BMW easily tops the all-time winner’s table with 24, three of them garnered in the GT3 era, the most recent in 2018 by Walkenhorst.

That team is represented elsewhere than the Pro class this year but the pair of BMWs in the top class is fielded by ROWE Racing, again overall winner, in 2020, but with Porsche!

They are given the honour of the debut appearance at the Spa 24 Hours for the M4 GT3 chasing a 25th win for the brand in the 50th anniversary season for the BMW ‘M’ brand.

The #98 machine features a trio of factory drivers in Augusto Farfus, Nick Yelloly and Nicky Catsburg, the latter a winner in 2015. The sister #50 car will be driven by BMW junior drivers Daniel Harper, Max Hesse and Neil Verhagen, whose relative inexperience was quickly forgotten during a fine run to fourth last time out at Circuit Paul Ricard, the trio have winning form too in VLN.

Next up, alphabetically at least, are returning Champions Ferrari with Iron Lynx the team representing the Prancing horse in the final factory-supported effort at the Spa 24 for the 488 GT3.

2021 saw the Italian squad’s late race charge end the brand’s 17-year wait for overall victory, and recent form is good too with a one-two finish last time out at Circuit Paul Ricard seeing the team riding high in the points standings too.

Both of its cars feature a full complement of Ferrari Competizione works drivers, though just one of last year’s winners are among them. That man is Nicklas Nielsen, who shares the #51 entry with James Calado and Miguel Molina. Alessandro Pier Guidi focused this season on the FIA WEC and on the development of the brand’s forthcoming Hypercar.

The championship-leading #71 crew features the vastly experienced Davide Rigon joined by young gun Antonio Fuoco and Brazilian ace Daniel Serra.

Lamborghini field three cars in their pursuit of a first win in the race.

This year the charge will be led by a pair of full-season cars from Emil Frey Racing. The #63 crew of Mirko Bortolotti, Albert Costa and Jack Aitken is especially potent, while the sister #19 of Giacomo Altoè, Arthur Rougier and Léo Roussel could provide valuable support too.

Two years after its maiden outing with a Bentley, American squad K-PAX Racing returns to Spa with backing from Orange1 and an outstanding driver line-up. Andrea Caldarelli and Marco Mapelli share a car for the fourth year in succession, joined by the talented South African racer Jordan Pepper.

McLaren is represented by JOTA and the Le Mans LMP2 winning squad’s #38 720S GT3.

The team ran very strongly indeed last year with seventh and with Rob Bell, Marvin Kirchhöfer and Ollie Wilkinson will be looking to build on that form.

Mercedes AMG has three representatives in the Pro class as the marque looks to break a long sequence of ‘so near but so fast, it’s last win, and it’s only win since 1964, coming in 2013.

The #88 AMG Team Akkodis ASP entry has earned back-to-back Super Poles courtesy of Raffaele Marciello, who, alongside fellow factory drivers Jules Gounon and Dani Juncadella forms a very strong squad in 2022.

AMG Team GetSpeed has a revised line-up with regular drivers Luca Stolz and Steijn Schothorst joined in the #2 car by 2013 race winner Maximilian Götz.

AMG Team GruppeM Racing meanwhile is a one-off entry with factory driver Maro Engel, who moves across from the GetSpeed stable to join Mikaël Grenier and another 2013 winner in Maxi Buhk.

Porsche returned to race-winning form at the Spa 24 Hours in 2019, their first win since 2010, and the first of the GT3 era, followed up by a win again the following year.

They bring five crews to the race’s top class this year to try to snatch the title back from their oldest and bitterest rivals Ferrari.

Dinamic Motorsport will field its full-season Fanatec Endurance line-up, which sees reigning winner (with Ferrari) Côme Ledogar links up with Porsche experts Klaus Bachler and DTM race winner Thomas Preining, a late replacement for Matteo Cairoli.

No fewer than four squads will field Porsche machinery on a one-off basis this year.

GPX Martini Racing has reunited the line-up that won in 2019, with Kevin Estre, Michael Christensen and Richard Lietz sharing the stunningly Martini-liveried #221 car.

KCMG also has the potential to be a serious player, with two-time race winner Laurens Vanthoor joined by 2020 winner Nick Tandy and 2019 Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli champion Dennis Olsen.

EMA Motorsport makes its TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa debut this term with an impressive line-up. Experienced factory drivers Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet link up with former grand prix racer and now Porsche GT and LMDh pilot Felipe Nasr.