Kobayashi to Make 24H Spa Return With Goodsmile

Kamui Kobayashi will make his return to the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa with the Japanese Goodsmile Racing & Team Ukyo squad next year, it has been confirmed.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing team principal and Hypercar driver will share the No. 4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo with compatriots Tatsuya Kataoka and Nobuteru Taniguchi during the Belgian endurance classic.

That means Kobayashi will form part of the same lineup that previously tackled the 24H Spa in 2017. The team then went on to make a second appearance in 2019, with Kobayashi replaced by Adam Christodoulou.

Kobayashi himself made one further appearance at the event, sharing a HubAuto Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 with Marcos Gomes and Tom Blomqvist in 2020.

In addition to its 24H Spa return, Goodsmile also plans to contest the Suzuka 1000km with the same lineup of Kobayashi, Kataoka and Taniguchi, while the latter two drivers are also set to continue as part of the SUPER GT GT300 class next year.

However, as the 24H Spa clashes with SUPER GT’s Sepang round, Kataoka and Taniguchi will be replaced in Malaysia by two drivers that will be announced at a later date.