Additional Entries, SCG Presence Among 37-Car Field for Spa

The FIA World Endurance Championship has posted a 37-car entry list for its 2021 season-opener at Spa-Francorchamps on May 1, with the grid bolstered by a handful of extra participants and the confirmation of Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus in Hypercar.

PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports and two G-Drive Racing entries bring the LMP2 car count up to 14, while the addition of a factory Chevrolet Corvette C8.R in GTE-Pro to compete against Porsche and Ferrari was announced earlier this week.

Reigning IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship LMP2 champion Patrick Kelly will make his WEC debut as part of the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports setup.

PR1 is set to contest the 6 Hours of Spa as part of its preparations for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in August. It’s believed the team is planning to receive support from Panis Racing.

European Le Mans Series front-runner G-Drive Racing, which is a triple Spa LMP2 winner, also has two Le Mans berths and will be on the grid in Belgium with both of those cars.

One of its Algarve Pro-operated Aurus 01 Gibsons, which derive from the Oreca 07, will be driven by John Falb, Rui Andrade and Haas Formula 1 reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi.

Roman Rusinov, Franco Colapinto and ex-F1 competitor Roberto Merhi form the other crew. G-Drive arrives onto the WEC grid fresh from winning the Asian Le Mans Series.

Additionally, four Le Mans Hypercars and Alpine Endurance Team’s A480 Gibson LMP1 are set to contest the maiden race for the WEC’s new top prototype category.

Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus had initially opted to skip the season-opening round when it was due to be held at Portimao in early April, citing a need to conduct more testing prior to homologating its non-hybrid SCG 007 LMH. 

Portimao’s postponement to mid-June, which delayed the season start by a month to Spa in April-May, has brought SCG back into the frame to compete in the series from round one.

Toyota will kick off its FIA World Endurance Championship title defense by seeking a fifth straight Spa victory, this time with the GR010 Hybrid, while Alpine will make its LMP1 debut.

There are no additions to the 13-car full-season entry for GTE-Am, although some driver lineups are still yet to be finalized.

The 6 Hours of Spa will be preceded by a two-day Prologue test at the same venue on April 26-27.