Full 70-Car Spa 24H Entry Revealed; New Qualifying Format

A 70-car entry list has been revealed for this year’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, representing an additional 11 cars compared to the regular GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup powered by AWS field, while a new qualifying format has also been announced.

There will be 18 crews in the top Pro class, while there will be nine Gold Cup entries, 16 in the Silver Cup, 19 Bronze crews and eight in the Pro-Am division in this year’s lineup.

Among the extra crews joining for the June 27-28 contest is a Schumacher CLRT Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo that will be crewed entirely by Porsche factory drivers, Ayhancan Guven, Matt Campbell and Laurin Heinrich being announced at the wheel.

A third entry from the 2 Seas Motorsport stable is another addition with the No. 33 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo due to be piloted by Lewis Williamson, Scott Noble – who moves across from GetSpeed – Jason Hart and Aaron Walker.

GetSpeed will also enter an extra Mercedes with the No. 999 machine being driven by Benjamin Paque, Marvin Klein, Jordan Boisson and Patrick Charlaix.

AF Corse is another with an expanded contingent, fielding a fifth Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo with factory driver Miguel Molina, Mathieu Vaxiviere, Custodio Toledo and TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette FIA World Endurance Championship driver Peter Dempsey at the wheel.

The HAAS RT squad that is a regular in the Creventic 24H Series has also entered an Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II for 2020 GTWC Europe Sprint Cup Silver champion Steven Palette, team regulars Pierre and Mathieu Castelein and Simon Balcaen, while fellow Audi team Sainteloc Racing also has an extra entry.

Porsche is the best represented manufacturer with 16 cars on the list and four squads fielding the German cars are joining the fray for Spa with High Class Racing fielding a car for Anders Fjordbach, Kerong Li, Bo Yuan and Hongli Ye, and Tsunami RT running one for Nico Menzel, 2001 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner Fabio Babini, Johannes Zelger and Daniel Gaunt.

Then Car Collection Motorsport has also entered with McKenzie Beecroft, Nicolo Rosi, Niccolo Schiro and Joel Sturm, while Era Motorsport is fielding 2024 British Touring Car champion Jake Hill and Kyle Tilley among its lineup.

Rutronik Racing is expanding to enter an extra Porsche alongside its regular 911 GT3 R Evo and its Lamborghini Temerario GT3, with the extra German machine being driven by Michelle Gatting, Sven Mueller and Martin Rump.

Successful single-seater squad Motopark is fielding a Mercedes-AMG as it expands its presence in the GT racing world with Christian Mansell, Rui Andrade, Levente Revesz and Yannick Mettler at the wheel.

A second Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R is also among the lineup with the Johor Motorsports Racing JMR squad entering the Bronze class with a lineup headed by Ben Green and also featuring H.H.Prince Jefri Ibrahim, Prince Abu Bakar Ibrahim and Mohamad Afiq Yazid.

As well as the additional cars, a host of the regular entries have also revealed fourth drivers for the Spa event, with Genesis Magma Racing WEC driver Mathieu Jaminet back to racing a Porsche after being added to the No. 91 Herberth Motorsport machine’s lineup in the Bronze Cup division.

Fellow Genesis driver Mathys Jaubert has also secured a GT berth, joining the No. 74 Kessel Racing Ferrari crew.

The Paradine Competition squad has revealed a pair of additions to its driver roster, with 2022 Ginetta Junior champion Josh Rowledge joining Christian Hahn and a yet-to-be-confirmed driver at the wheel of its No. 992 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, while 2024 Spa 24H Silver class podium finisher Jop Rappange has been added to the lineup for the sister No. 991 machine.

Fellow BMW squad Century Motorsport has rising star Pedro Ebrahim as the fourth driver for its No. 42 Oman Racing entry.

The 70-strong entry represents a slight reduction compared with the 76 cars that tackled last year’s edition of the race.

New Qualifying Format Revealed

As well as the entry list, race organizer SRO also revealed that a new qualifying format will be adopted for this year’s contest.

The Thursday evening regular qualifying session will be split into the usual three groups depending on FIA driver grading, with each getting 10 minutes on track.

A knockout Superpole session will then be held on Friday afternoon featuring the 32 quickest crews based on their average time from Thursday.

The slowest 16 will be eliminated after 10 minutes with the rest spending a further seven minutes on track.

The fastest eight will progress to the next seven-minute stage, with the top-four then getting a single lap each in a final shootout to determine the front two rows of the grid.