48 Entries for Nürburgring Endurance Cup Round

GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup resumes this weekend with a six-hour race at the Nürburgring marking round two of the 2020 season.

A total of 48 cars are on the provisional entry list for Sunday’s contest, which is the last race before the Total 24 Hours of Spa centerpiece event on October 24-25.

The car count has risen by two from the 3 Hours of Imola following the addition of five entries and the withdrawal of three that took part in the season-opener.

The Ema/59 Racing Pro-class McLaren 720S GT3 has dropped off the list, leaving Optimum Motorsport as the British marque’s only representative this time around.

The re-introduction of lockdown measures in Australia’s Victoria state has prevented key Melbourne-based personnel from the 59 Racing team from traveling to Germany.

Imperiale Racing’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo and Dinamic Motorsport’s Pro-Am No. 67 Porsche 911 GT3 R are also absent.

These losses have been offset by the addition of four Porsches, including two in the Pro category, and a single Mercedes-AMG GT3 from GT Open squad JP Motorsport.

ROWE Racing has doubuled its Porsche entry with a car for Timo Bernhard, Simona de Silvestro and Jeroen Bleekemolen, while Nürburgring Langstrecken Serie outfit KCMG will field a 911 GT3 R for Josh Burdon, Alexandre Imperatori and Edoardo Liberati.

Furthermore, ADAC GT Masters front-runner Herberth Motorsport has two Porsches that will bolster the Pro-Am grid.

There have also been plenty of driver lineup adjustments including a change in the No. 31 Team WRT Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo that won at Imola.

Rolf Ineichen, who missed the season-opener, is back in the lineup alongside Kelvin van der Linde and Mirko Bortolotti after being temporarily replaced by Matthieu Vaxiviere.

Alex Buncombe has been drafted into the No. 9 K-PAX Racing Bentley Continental GT3 lineup to sub for Alvaro Parente who is contesting the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship six-hour at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

A clash with the FIA Formula 2 series means Louis Deletraz is absent from the Pro-class GPX Racing Porsche and will be replaced by reigning Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli champion Dennis Olsen.

The CMR Bentley squad has shuffled its lineup, with Petru Umbrarescu moving across to the No. 108 Pro-Am car and relinquishing his seat in the team’s Pro machine to Nelson Panciatici. The No. 108 Bentley previously competed in Am Cup.

There are two TBA slots in the Silver-class Orange 1 FFF Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo that was driven at Imola by Florian Latorre, Andrea Amici and Baptiste Moulin.

Amici is on Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America duty this weekend, while Latorre is set to be engaged in Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup which is racing at Monza on the F1 bill.

Jens Klingmann returns to Boutsen Ginion Racing’s BMW M6 GT3 after missing the previous round due to his recovery from a wrist injury in the off-season.

The German driver, who is teamed with Gilles Vannelet and Karim Ojjeh, was replaced by Nick Yelloly at Imola.

Joel Camathias has replaced Finlay Hutchison in Haupt Racing Team’s Silver Cup Mercedes, while Romain Monti joins Silver Cup Mercedes competitor Madpanda Motorsport.

The cars that ran at Imola with two drivers have all expanded to three-driver crews for the Nürburgring.

ADAC GT Masters regular Elia Erhart will drive for FFF in Pro-Am, James Pull joins Garage 59 in Silver Cup and Martin Konrad is named in RAM Racing’s Pro-Am Mercedes.

Additionally, Pierre Yves-Paque is set to drive Sainteloc Racing’s No. 26 Audi which has since moved from Pro-Am to Am Cup.

This will be the only Am contestant, while a total of 23 cars are entered in Pro. Silver Cup carries an 11-car grid and there are 13 Pro-Am runners listed.

Track action begins with a set of paid tests on Thursday, while the official sessions get underway on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s race starting at 11:45 p.m. CEST (5:45 a.m. EST).