Comtoyou Racing have formally confirmed the driver line-ups for a four car Aston Martin GT3 effort which will encompass three classes in GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup as the team complete their transition from Audi to Aston Martin for 2024.
As announced at the end of February, Comtoyou Racing’s #007 Pro entry will see FIA WEC World Endurance Champions in GTE Pro with Aston Martin, Danes Nicki Thiim and Marco Sørensen team up with new official Aston Martin driver Mattia Drudi, last year’s champion in the Sprint Cup of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe.
Two cars will enter Silver Cup:
The #12 fields 22 year old Belgian Nicolas Baert. Last year’s Gold Cup champion. He will be partnered with countryman and ex DTM racer. 20 year old Danish single-seater racer Sebastian Øgaard completes the squad after finishing third in Eurocup-3 in 2023.
The second Silver Cup car is the #21 and also includes two Belgians in its trio. Runner-up in the Silver Cup in Endurance, Sam Dejonghe will be working alongside 19-year-old Matisse Lismont, who is making his GT3 debut. This duo will be joined by Briton Charles Clark, last year’s British GT runner-up in GT4.
There’s a surprise in the Bronze Cup, the category combines a professional driver, a Silver-ranked driver and an amateur driver (Bronze). Experienced Bronze one-make Porsche racer John de Wilde is joined by Job Van Uitert, the Dutch racer stepping in for a first full season in GT3 alongside his LMP2 programme with IDEC Sport and aiming to deliver the goods in GT3. The Silver for the crew is already a member of the Comtoyou family via their TCR programmes scoring six wins last season. Kobe Pauwels has also already had a taste of GT3 with Comtoyou Racing at the Nürburgring last yearend steps up to a full season in 2024.
“We are delighted to be entering four Aston Martin Vantage GT3s in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe,” said Team Principal Jean-Michel Baert. “This is the finest championship for GT3 cars. The level is fantastic, the races are hotly contested and we know it is a considerable challenge. But that is also what motivates us! After our good start in GT3 last year, we want to build on that with one car in the Pro class, two in the Silver Cup and one in the Bronze Cup.”
“We put a great deal of work into finalising our crews, as we wanted to bring together four competitive trios in their class,” said François Verbist, the Team Manager. “But I am proud of it! There is a mix of professionals and young drivers with huge appetites. What is more, we will be entering the Bronze Cup for the first time. To be honest, we would have liked to have had a little more preparation time, but the Circuit Paul Ricard is a great place to launch our season and build the confidence of our drivers.”
After this 3-hour endurance race on the Circuit Paul Ricard, the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe will turn to the Sprint Cup at the beginning of May.
The Comtoyou crews for Sprint will be revealed at a later date.
