Mercedes-AMG has confirmed its full line-up of GT3 cars and drivers for the 75th running of the Spa 24 Hours on July 1st-2nd.
The German brand will be represented by 15 customer cars for its title defence, as part of the 72-car entry for this year’s event and will travel to Belgium fresh from a 1-2 finish in the World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup 1000km race at Paul Ricard.
In the Pro Cup category, featuring teams competing for the overall victory, four of the 15 Mercedes-AMG GT3s will compete. Three teams will receive works support from Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing.
In the #87 Mercedes-AMG Team AKKODIS ASP example, Maximilian Götz will share driving duties with Thomas Drouet and Lorenzo Ferrari.
Mercedes-AMG Team AlManar meanwhile, will run its #777 for Lucas Auer, Fabian Schiller and Luca Stolz. Maro Engel, who finished second at Ricard with Stolz and Schiller will compete in the #999 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM with Mikaël Grenier and Daniel Juncadella.
AKKODIS ASP Team has a second AMG entered in the Pro cup, its #88 IGTC-entered car without the ‘Mercedes Team’ banner. Paul Ricard winners Raffaele Marciello, Jules Gounon and Timur Boguslavskiy are all confirmed. The AKKODIS ASP’s #88 was last year’s Spa 24 winning car, with Gounon and Juncadella from the winning line-up returning to drive it this year.
In the other classes, five cars will compete in the Bronze Cup entered by Theeba Motorsport, AKKODIS ASP, GetSpeed, Haupt Racing and SunEnergy1 Racing.
Across those entries, Saudi Arabian female racing driver Reema Juffali will attempt to defend her Bronze Cup victory with Theeba. She will race alngside and Mercedes-AMG Junior Driver Ralf Aron, Yannick Mettler and Alain Valente.
Haupt Racing’s #79 line-up also features significant names, with Mercedes Juniors Jordan Love and Arjun Maini who impressed at the N24 this year listed.
A single Mercedes-AMG GT3 has been entered in the Silver Cup: Madpanda Motorsport with driver and team principal Ezequiel Perez Companc. Perez Companc will race with Magnus Gustavsen, Alexey Nesov and Jesse Salmenautio.
In the Gold Cup, Winward Racing is running the two Mercedes-AMG GT3s that have been entered.
Philip Ellis will support Indy Dontje and Russell Ward in the #57 car, Mercedes-AMG Junior Driver David Schumacher is sharing the #157 car with Miklas Born and Marius Zug.
A further trio of Mercedes-AMG GT3s run by GetSpeed, CrowdStrike Racing by Riley and Haupt Racing Team will race in the Pro-Am Cup.
Five of the 15 Mercedes-AMG GT3s will also be competing for championship points in the Intercontinental GT Challenge. (The cars entered by AlManar and GruppeM, Winward Racing’s #57, SunEnergy1 Racing’s #75 and AKKODIS ASP Team’s #88).
“After the 1-2s last year and in the 6-hour race at Paul Ricard, we feel excellently prepared and hope for a successful running of the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa again for us this year,” said Stefan Wendl, head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing.
“We are aware that, given the strong opposition, this will not be an easy task. However, we are meticulously preparing for this race and four consecutive pole positions are impressive proof of the speed the Mercedes-AMG GT3 has at Spa-Francorchamps. We have a large contingent and we are entering an impressive line-up of drivers and teams for the race. Therefore, we are optimistic, but also have the necessary bit of humility as we head to Belgium.”
The liveries for all 15 cars have been revealed too, and can be found below:
#2 GetSpeed (Pro-Am Cup)
Lance Bergstein, Andrzej Lewandowski, Aaron Walker, Lewis Williamson
#3 GetSpeed (Bronze Cup)
Patrick Assenheimer, Kenneth Heyer, Alex Peroni, Florian Scholze
#4 Crowdstrike Racing by Riley (Pro-Am Cup)
Colin Braun, Felipe Fraga, Ian James, George Kurtz
#57 Winward Racing (Gold Cup/IGTC)
Indy Dontje, Philip Ellis, Russell Ward
#64 Haupt Racing Team (Pro-Am Cup)
Matt Bell, Frank Bird, James Cottingham, Naveen Rao
#75 SunEnergy1 Racng (Bronze Cup/IGTC)
Nick Catsburg, Kenny Habul, Martin Konrad, Chaz Mostert
#79 Haupt Racing Team (Bronze Cup)
Sébastien Baud, Hubert Haupt, Jordan Love, Arjun Maini
#18 Theeba Motorsport (Bronze Cup, rendered as #18)
Ralf Aron, Reema Juffali, Yannick Mettler, Alain Valente
#87 Mercedes AMG Team AKKODIS ASP (Pro Cup)
Thomas Drouet, Lorenzo Ferrari, Maximilian Götz
#88 AKKODIS ASP Team (Pro Cup/IGTC)
Timur Boguslavskiy, Jules Gounon, Raffaele Marciello
#89 AKKODIS ASP Team (Bronze Cup)
Adalberto Baptista, Bruno Baptista, Rodrigo Baptista
#90 Madpanda Motorsport (Silver Cup)
Magnus Gustavsen, Alexey Nesov, Ezequiel Perez Companc, Jesse Salmenautio
#157 Winward Racing (Gold Cup)
Miklas Born, David Schumacher, Marius Zug
#777 Mercedes-AMG Team AlManar (Pro Cup/IGTC)
Lucas Auer, Fabian Schiller, Luca Stolz
#999 Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM (Pro Cup/IGTC)
Maro Engel, Mikaël Grenier, Daniel Juncadella
Images courtesy of Mercedes-AMG
