40 cars are set to compete in the second round of the 2026 24H Series Europe, the 12 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, which will be held this weekend.
18 GT3s are entered, with Aston Martin, Audi, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche machinery all present.
Herberth Motorsport, runner-up at Spa last season and second place finishers at Mugello last month, head the Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) EVO entries with its #269 car to be raced by Max Moritz, Alfred Renauer and Klaus Bachler. Fellow Porsche squad Proton Competition fields a four driver line-up of Jörg Dreisow, Constantin Dressler, Manuel Lauck and Robert de Haan.
Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO entries are plentiful with GetSpeed, which claimed pole position during the season opening race in Italy, confirming Dubai 24 Hours-pole sitter Benjamin Paque, Jordan Boisson, Patrick Charlaix and Marvin Klein in the Getspeed Team PCX Racing car. The Getspeed Team JR286 entry, meanwhile, will be piloted by Steve Jans, Tanner Harvey, Patrick Liddy and Adam Osieka.
Ajith RedAnt Racing’s Mercedes-AMG will be raced by the regular quartet of Kobe de Breucker, brothers Yannick and Ayrton Redant, plus Tamil ‘Kollywood’ star Ajith Kumar, while HOFOR Racing will field its familiar line-up of husband and wife Alexander and Chantal Prinz, Torsten Kratz and Chantal’s father Michael Kroll in the #11 AMG GT3 EVO.
Two more Mercedes-AMGs are confirmed with Viper Niza Racing represented by Douglas Khoo, Aaron Lim Say Joon and Dominic Ang, and MP Racing’s siblings Manuela, Corinna and David Gostner will be partnered by their father Thomas, as well as Pepe Massimo.
Ferrari 296 GT3 squad Era Motorsport has entered Dwight Merriman, Oliver Bryant, Ryan Dalziel and Jake Hill, while fellow Ferrari team Pellin Racing will make its first appearance of the season with Lisa Clark, Kyle Marcelli, Jeff Westphal and Andres Latorre sharing the #29 car.
Winners of GT3-AM at Mugello and outright podium finishers, ARC Bratislava, will aim high again with its Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 driven by brothers Adam and Matej Konopka, their father Miro and Gerhard Tweraser. Spa will also mark the first outing of the season for Optimum Motorsport with Morgan Tillbrook, Salman Owega and Freddie Tomlinson in its McLaren GT3.
HAAS RT, which led at Mugello after part one with its #21 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II of father and son Nicolas and Peter Guelinckx, enters two cars for Spa with Simon Balcaen joining the #21 line-up. The #2 Audi will feature Pierre and Mathieu Castelien, and Steven Palette. Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport’s Audi has Vasily Vladykin, Paul Scheuschner and Akhil Agarwal.
Three Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVOs will be on the grid with E2P Racing bringing the regular trio of Pablo Burguera, Antonio Sainero and Oliver Campos. 2024 24 Hours of Spa winner Comtoyou Racing enters two Astons with Jan Jaap van Roon and Tom Coronel driving the #40 car, while the sister #41 will be raced by Xavier Knauf, Gregory Servais and DTM driver Nicolas Baert.
The 13-car entry for the 992 class is headed by Mugello winners Mühlner Motorsport, with Conrad Tox Leveau and Martin Rump partnered in round two by Tim Scheerbarth and Julian Hanses. Chief rivals Red Camel-Jordans.nl, meanwhile, will enter the quartet of brothers Luc and Rik Breukers, their father Ivo, and Fabian Danz in the #909 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992 I).
Three cars come from HRT Performance, with the #928 entry to be shared by Steven Gambrell, Igor Sorokin, Jonathan Kearney and James Kellet. In the QMMF by HRT Performance car will be the 992 AM winning trio from last time out, Qatari drivers Ahmed Al-Emadi, Jassim Al-Thani and Faesal Al Yafei.
Seblajoux Racing challenges at Spa with a pair of Porsches, the #888 to be raced by Louis Perrot, Stephane Perrin, Anthony Vince and team owner Sebastien Lajoux, while the #910 will be driven by Lionel Amrouche, Alessandro Tudisca, Gary Terclavers and a yet to be announced driver.
Fellow 992 front-runners RPM Racing will field Tracy Krohn, Niclas Jönsson and Philip Hamprecht, with Holmgaard Motorsport Porsche making its season bow in the hands of brothers Jonas and Magnus Holmgaard, along with team-mate Martin Vedel Mortensen.
More siblings feature at MM Racing, brothers Tom, Steve and Mick Meurrens teaming-up, while Sebastién Crubile and Pascal Duhamel will partner in the Crubilé Sport Porsche. Pablo Bras Silvero, Pedro Miguel Lourinho Bras and Fernando Gonzalez Gonzalez represent Escuderia Faraon in the squad’s first appearance of the Michelin 24H SERIES European Series this year.
Two more Porsches will also be making a bid in 992, with The Driving Experiences car to be shared by Valerio Presezzi, Francesco Fenici and Ivan Jacoma, and the Chazel Technologie Course entry will see Jean-Paul Dominici, Jean-Mathieu Leandri and Antoni de Barn team-up.
Vortex V8 brings two of its distinctive Vortex 2.0 cars to Spa, with the Mugello-winning #701 to be piloted by Philippe Bonne and Johan Caeldries, while the #702 will be shared by Thierry Chkondali, Michel Sallenbach and Marc Girard. Their competition in the GTX class will come from the Mercedes-AMG GT2 of NM Racing, to be driven by Alberto de Martin and Manel Lao.
One car is entered in the GT4 class, with CWS Engineering’s Ginetta G56 GT4 to be shared by team owner Colin White, Neale Muston and another yet-to-be-named driver.
TCE-TCX regulars asBest Racing have two entries for Spa, with the Mugello-winning SEAT Leon Cup Racer featuring Pia Ohlsson, Jens Wulf, and Steven Teirlinckx. The team is also set to field one of its Cupra TCR DSG cars, the #101 with Lutz Obermann, Junichi Umemoto and Samuel Hsieh.
Their competition comes from Not Only Motorsport’s Ligier JS2 R of Filippo Tornaghi and Gino Rocchio, which was rapid at Mugello, J-Mec Engineering’s BMW M3 (E46) of Kevin Clarke, James Collins, and Oliver Smith, and JW Raceservice’s Audi RS3 LMS DSG of Robert Gielisse, Pieter van Noordenne and Rogier van der Linde.
Practice and qualifying for the 12H Spa-Francorchamps will be held on Friday, 17th April, with the race taking place across two parts, on Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th April.
Images courtesy of Racingpixels
