The GT World Challenge Europe season resumes this weekend when the Sprint Cup tackles its third round of the campaign at Hockenheim.
The trip to southwest Germany comes three weeks after the centenary CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, with 33 cars entered for the pair of 60-minute races on the 4.6km circuit.
A field of 33 cars will tackle the event, with eight brands represented across four highly competitive classes.
Team WRT dominated the most recent Sprint Cup contest at Misano back in May, sweeping both races with its pair of BMW entries. The #32 crew of Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts top the standings, a familiar scenario for the three-time series champions. The question now is whether they can be caught this weekend in Germany.
Their most consistent rival thus far has been the #48 Winward Racing Team Mann-Filter crew. Misano was a challenging event for the Mercedes-AMG contingent, but Lucas Auer and Maro Engel finished fifth in Race 1 and runner-up in Race 2 to stay well within striking distance at the top of the standings.
Ferrari squad Emil Frey Racing has also made a fine start to the season with both of its Pro cars, notching up three podiums and currently sitting third in the teams’ standings. Such has been the parity of performance, the #14 crew of Ben Green and Konsta Lappalainen is just half a point ahead of the sister #69 of Giacomo Altoè and Thierry Vermeulen.
Across the classes, in addition to the 10 cars in Pro, there are six Gold, eight Silver and nine Bronze entries set to take part in the weekend. And there are a few changes to note.
The #88 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi moves to the Gold Cup from Pro with the all-Italian pairing of Lorenzo Patrese and Lorenzo Ferrari, after Christopher Haase partnered with Ferrari at Brands Hatch and Misano.
In Silver, the #25 Sainteloc Racing Audi sees Ukrainian driver Ivan Klymenko share the R8 with a third teammate in three meetings. Out is Gilles Stadsbader who travelled to Misano, in is Norweigan Marcus Påverud.
And Eurodent GSM Team is yet to finalise the line-up for its #18 Lamborghini.
The Bronze Cup also sees a driver change. Garage 59 will field the #188 McLaren with Miguel Ramos named for his first Sprint Cup appearance of the season alongside Louis Prette. United Autosports FIA WEC LMGT3 driver James Cottingham drove in the #188 last time out.
Free Practice and Qualifying are scheduled for today, before Qualifying 1 and Race 1 tomorrow and Qualifying 2 and Race 2 on Sunday. Both Qualifying sessions will start at 09:50 local time, and both races will begin at 14:15.
