Optimum McLaren
Optimum Motorsport has announced its Bronze Cup squad for the upcoming Fanatec GT Europe campaign.
The British team will field a McLaren in the five-round Endurance Cup, reuniting the trio of Mark Radcliffe, Ollie Millroy, and Rob Bell. This same crew claimed two podiums during the recently completed Asian Le Mans Series campaign, plus a Pro-Am win at the 2023 Gulf 12 Hours.
Radcliffe is set to make his Fanatec GT Europe debut following last year’s British GT assault with Optimum. This also saw him share a car with Bell, who returns to the championship that he won outright in 2016. The Brit was more recently part of JOTA’s top-class Fanatec GT Europe programme in 2021 and 2022.
Millroy resumes his association with the series, having previously won what is now the Bronze class in 2022 with an Optimum-run McLaren. Notably the Brit made his debut back in 2012 but did not return for a decade. The trio will pilot the #27 McLaren with a striking papaya, black and blue livery.
“It’s great to be back in Fanatec GT World Challenge, it’s a championship that I know really well, so I’m looking forward to tackling some of the best tracks in Europe,” said Bell.
“Mark, Ollie and I had a great run over the winter, collecting podiums and race wins, so it’s great to continue the partnership with them in a car that we all know so well.”
Imperiale Lamborghini
Imperiale Racing will field Dmitry Gvazava and Ugo de Wilde in this year’s Fanatec GT Europe Sprint Cup. The Italian outfit has made occasional appearances in recent seasons and will step up to contest the full five-round championship in the Bronze class with a Lamborghini Huracán.
Gvazava has already earned success with Imperiale Racing, winning last year’s Italian GT Sprint Championship in the Pro-Am class. An experienced competitor, he has previously driven in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo, the Fanatec GT2 European Series Powered by Pirelli and Championnat de France FFSA GT. He made his Fanatec GT Europe debut last term in a one-off appearance for Imperiale Racing at Misano (pictured below).
He will be joined by rising star De Wilde. The 21-year-old Belgian is also a former Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe racer and has competed in LMP2 and LMP3 prototypes. Prior to this, he worked his way up the single-seater ladder, winning races in French F4 and Formula Renault Eurocup.
“I would like to thank Imperiale Racing for giving me this opportunity,” said Gvazava. “It is hard to find the right words to express how much I appreciate it. In 2009, I started following this championship, and for all this time, I dreamed of participating, and today the dream has come true!”
De Wilde adds: “I am extremely happy to join Imperiale Racing for the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS Sprint Cup: I cannot wait to start the season and discover the Lamborghini Huracàn GT3 EVO2. There has been a great connection with Imperiale Racing: thanks to my partners, the team and Lamborghini for their help in making this project a reality.”
Grasser Lamborghini
Grasser Racing will return to the Pro class for the first time since 2019, fielding a Lamborghini for Christian Engelhart, Franck Perera and Marco Mapelli.
Engelhart returns to the team and manufacturer with which he won the 2017 Endurance Cup and overall titles following four seasons at the wheel of Porsche machinery. Perera and Mapelli are also familiar faces in the Grasser garage: both drove for the team at the 2018 CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa and have since represented the Austrian outfit in a variety of other series.
Grasser has also revealed the crew for its #19 Lamborghini, which will defend the Endurance Silver class title that it won last term with an entirely new line-up of Mateo Llarena, Hugo Cook and Haytham Qarajouli. All three are series newcomers and, appropriately enough, have an average age of 19.
Sky Tempesta Ferrari
Sky Tempesta Racing has announced its GT World Challenge line-up for 2024.
The British squad has made a habit of changing brands since joining Fanatec GT Europe in 2019, competing with Ferrari (2019-2021) Mercedes-AMG (2022) and McLaren (2023) before returning to the Maranello marque this year with a new Ferrari 296 GT3.
While the machinery has changed, the team has retained a steady driver line-up of Chris Froggatt, Jon Hui and Eddie Cheever III, all of whom return this season. Sky Tempesta will contest the full 10-round championship in the Bronze Cup class, looking to add to the Endurance title it captured last term.
Rinaldi Ferrari
Rinaldi Racing has announced the driver line-up for its #333 Ferrari 296, which will enter this season’s Endurance Cup in the Bronze class.
A championship regular between 2014 and 2021, the German squad was absent in 2022 and contested the 2023 season in partnership with ST Racing, scoring a victory in the finale at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. It will go it alone once again this year, with two of its three of its drivers having previously represented Rinaldi in Fanatec GT Europe.
Christian Hook returns to the championship following a three-year absence, the German having made his debut in 2016 at the wheel of a Ferrari 458. More recently, he won the 2021 Asian Le Mans Series with the team.
He will be joined by fellow Rinaldi stalwart David Perel. The South African won the 2018 CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa with the team in the Pro-Am class and was a full-time Rinaldi driver the following year. Perel also won the Am class at Spa with Kessel Racing in 2017.
The line-up is completed by Felipe Fernández Laser, who secured outright honours at last season’s ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring in a Frikadeli Racing Ferrari. The German has extensive experience of international sports car competition, but this will be his first appearance in Fanatec GT Europe.
Photo copyright Lisa Boo
Boutsen VDS AMG
Mercedes-AMG factory drivers Jules Gounon and Maxi Götz will join Boutsen VDS for the 2024 Fanatec GT Europe Sprint Cup campaign, while the team’s full-season Silver class crew has also been confirmed as Aurélien Panis, Cesar Gazeau and Roee Meyuhas.
The new Pro line-up follows the Belgian squad’s switch from Audi to Mercedes-AMG, which has seen the Affalterbach marque place two of its leading talents with Boutsen VDS to share its #9 machine.
Gounon has won the past two Fanatec GT Europe Endurance Cup titles in Mercedes-AMG machinery run by Akkodis ASP. The French-Andorran’s stacked C.V. also includes two outright victories at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa and three at the REPCO Bathurst 12 Hour. He’ll compete in the Endurance Cup with GetSpeed.
Götz was the Sprint Cup champion in 2014 and has also earned an outright win at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa (2013) and captured the DTM title (2021). This is set to be the German driver’s first full Sprint campaign since he landed the title a decade ago.
In the sister #10 Mercedes-AMG, Boutsen VDS has retained Panis, Gazeau and Meyuhas from its 2023 programme. They will contest the Silver Cup class in both Sprint and Endurance, with the French drivers teaming up for the full campaign and Meyuhas joining for the long-distance races.
Panis has been a Fanatec GT Europe regular since 2019 when he made his debut with the Tech1 Lexus squad. He subsequently drove Audi machinery for Saintéloc Racing and Boutsen VDS and will now get his first taste of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO.
Gazeau was the 2020 FFSA GT Am champion and made his Fanatec GT Europe bow with Saintéloc in 2022. The Frenchman scored a trio of Gold class podiums last term with Boutsen VDS. Meyuhas won the 2022 GT4 European Series Powered by RAFA Racing Club title before and graduating to Fanatec GT Europe with Boutsen VDS.
The team will also field its #9 Mercedes-AMG in the Pro class of the Endurance Cup. Drivers for this programme are set to be announced shortly.
AlManar Racing by GetSpeed and GetSpeed AMGs
AlManar Racing by GetSpeed has announced the driver line-up for its Fanatec GT Europe programme, with Al Faisal Al Zubair, Dominik Baumann and Mikaël Grenier joining forces in the Endurance Cup.
The partnership between Omani squad AlManar and German outfit GetSpeed enters its second season in 2024 and will see the #777 Mercedes-AMG switch to the Gold Cup class.
Al Zubair returns to the championship following a one-year absence. The Omani ran the 2022 Endurance Cup campaign driving an AlManar Mercedes-AMG run by the HRT squad, scoring Silver class victory at Circuit Paul Ricard. His recent experience also includes race-winning stints in the International GT Open and the Asian Le Mans Series.
Baumann will add to his already extensive Fanatec GT Europe résumé, which includes winning the overall series title in 2016. More recently, the Austrian was part of the SPS squad that secured Pro-Am race wins in both Sprint and Endurance and has been a regular at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.
Canadian-born Grenier completes the line-up. He has also been a Fanatec GT Europe regular for several years, initially with Emil Frey Racing and latterly as part of Mercedes-AMG’s factory line-up. His 2023 programme included a full Intercontinental GT Challenge campaign with the German marque.
GetSpeed has firmed up its second line-up for the 2024 Fanatec GT Europe Endurance Cup too. Anthony Bartone, James Kell and Yannick Mettler will share the #3 Mercedes-AMG in the Silver class.
Bartone is new to the series and relatively fresh to GT competition. The son of drag racing legend Tony Bartone, he campaigned GT4 machinery in 2022 before switching to Fanatec GT America last term. The 23-year-old scored a breakthrough Pro-Am podium at Road America and will now embark on a European campaign with GetSpeed after starting 2024 in the Asian Le Mans Series.
Kell made his Fanatec GT Europe debut last term when he drove a BMW for Walkenhorst Motorsport. Prior to this, he spent three seasons competing in the British GT Championship. Kell’s experience of Mercedes-AMG equipment is limited to the GT4 model, though he has wracked up significant GT3 mileage with both BMW and McLaren.
Swiss racer Mettler completes the line-up and adds considerable experience. The 34-year-old has been a regular at the wheel of Mercedes-AMG machinery, including stints in Fanatec GT Europe, and represented his homeland at the 2022 FIA Motorsport Games.
