Grasser Racing Team is set for a busy 2016 season, with the Austrian squad not only providing worldwide customer support of the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 but will also field five entries of its own across two championships.
Team principal Gottfried Grasser has confirmed to Sportscar365 plans to enter the entire Blancpain GT Series with three Huracán GT3s, with an additional two cars slated to compete in ADAC GT Masters.
The ambitious program will see Jeroen Bleekemolen and Lamborghini factory driver Mirko Bortolotti be among the driver lineup in the full ten-round Blancpain GT Series.
“We’ll run in the full [Blancpain] GT series and we’re doing two cars in the ADAC GT Masters championship as well, so it’s quite a busy year,” Grasser told Sportscar365.
“We have some nice drivers. We’re really happy to have Jeroen back with us, and to again work with Mirko. It’s quite a nice lineup.”
Bleekemolen returns to GRT after taking part in the 2014 Blancpain Sprint Series with the team in a Lamborghini Gallardo, scoring four wins with Hari Proczyk. He’s also slated for a full-season program in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with Riley Motorsports.
Bortolotti, meanwhile, took part in the GRT-run factory Lamborghini effort in the Blancpain Endurance Series last year. The team’s full lineup is expected to be announced in the next few weeks.
After a season away from the Sprint Cup, Grasser said he’s pleased to be making a return to the championship.
“Personally, I like Sprint the most,” he said. “Sprint is pure racing and I like it so much because the team has an involvement in the result with the tire changes and everything. It makes a complete package.”
Grasser said they will use a total of four Huracán GT3s across Blancpain GT and GT Masters, which only sees one conflicting weekend this year.
Additional end-of-year races are also under consideration.
“For me, I personally want to bring two cars to Macau this year,” Grasser said. “This is a very nice event and we followed it last year.
“Also from the SRO’s [Intercontinental GT Challenge], there’s some interesting events. We’re working on this but to be honest we’re happy to start with what we have planned.”
Grasser and his core team is also set to provide customer support to Huracán GT3 teams worldwide this year, having already been in the 24-hour races in Dubai and Daytona this month.
He said there’s nearly 70 events on the schedule for his crew this year.
“We have some triple clashes so it will be a really hard year,” Grasser said.
“We’re doing everything from GT Asia to IMSA [and more]. It’s a really nice thing and also nice to enjoy personally.
“To see the different series, it’s also fun to get a lot of intention to come back with our own team, to something like IMSA.
“We’re working already on 2017 and it would be nice to have a car [in IMSA].”