Photo: Dirk Bogaerts/SRO
A total of 26 cars are set to do battle in the opening round of Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup action next weekend at Brands Hatch, featuring representation from six GT3 brands.
The pair of 60-minute races will mark the second overall round of the season following the Endurance Cup season-opener at Imola earlier this month, which was won by Team WRT.
The Belgian squad will again be out in force in Sprint Cup competition with four Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II entries, including one for two-time and defending Sprint Cup champions Charles Weerts and Dries Vanthoor.
Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer and Christopher Mies will share the No. 33 Audi, while Valentino Rossi will make his Sprint Cup debut alongside Frederic Vervisch in the No. 46 entry.
An additional four Audi entries will compete for the overall win, including two from Tresor by Car Collection, which is entering Sprint Cup for the first time.
The Santeloc Junior Team will also have an Audi in the Pro class for Patric Niederhauser and Aurelien Panis, while Attempto Racing will field Dennis Marschall alongside series returnee Pieter Schothorst.
Akkodis ASP, meanwhile, will field a total of four Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos between the Pro and Silver Cup classes, led by the No. 88 entry of Jules Gounon and Jim Pla.
Despite some initial uncertainty, former series champion Timur Boguslavskiy will be racing under the neutral flag this season in the No. 89 Mercedes alongside Raffaele Marciello, also in Pro.
Entries from JOTA Sport (McLaren 720S GT3) and Dinamic Motorsport (Porsche 911 GT3 R) complete the Pro grid, with Rob Bell and Ollie Wilkinson returning to the British squad and the pairings of Christian Engelhart/Adrien De Leener and Giorgio Roda/Klaus Bachler at Dinamic.
AF Corse will be on the grid in both Silver Cup and Pro-Am, led by its returning duo of Pierre-Alexandre Jean and Ulysse De Pauw.
Other notable contenders include Barwell Motorsport’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo (Pro-Am) with Ben Barker and Alex Malykhin, the No. 30 WRT Audi of Benjamin Goethe and Thomas Neubauer (Silver) and the No. 26 Sainteloc Junior Team pairing of Nicolas Baert and Gilles Magnus (Silver).
Only two Lamborghinis are entered for Brands Hatch — neither in the Pro category — with series newcomer GSM Novamarine fielding Gerhard Tweraser and Isaac Tutumlu Lopez in the Silver Cup.
Reigning Pro-Am champion Miguel Ramos, meanwhile, will make his debut in the No. 188 Garage 59 McLaren alongside Dean MacDonald, who makes the step up from the GT4 European Series competition.
A second Pro-Am class McLaren comes from JP Motorsport, which pairs team owner Patryk Krupinski with Christian Klien.
Sky Tempesta Racing, meanwhile, returns with the pairing of Chris Froggatt and Eddie Cheever III in its new Mercedes entry.
Of note, the new-for-2022 BMW M4 GT3 will not represented at Brands, with no Sprint Cup participation currently planned by any of its customer squads.
As was the case in previous years, the two-day event kicks off on Saturday, April 30 with practice and qualifying with both races slated for Sunday.
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