Sainteloc Names Drivers for Two-Car Audi Program

Sainteloc Racing has outlined its program for the 2022 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS season with a pair of Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo IIs.

The French squad is running two cars in both the Endurance and Sprint Cups, with Audi factory drivers Christopher Mies and Patric Niederhauser both involved in the setup.

Mies, Niederhauser and Lucas Legeret will drive the No. 25 Pro-class Sainteloc Audi in the long-distance series, sharing the Sainteloc garage with a Silver Cup entry.

The sister No. 26 Audi is due to be driven by the Silver-rated trio of Aurelien Panis, Nicolas Baert and 2020 FFSA French GT champion Cesar Gazeau.

The lineups will be slightly different in Sprint Cup, with Niederhauser and Panis teaming up in the No. 25 car and Baert sharing the No. 26 with touring car regular Gilles Magnus, who was named as a new member of Audi Sport’s factory driver lineup this year.

Mies drove for Attempto Racing in GTWC Europe last season while Niederhauser won the 2021 Indianapolis 8 Hour with Sainteloc as part of the Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli.

Baert and Legeret were the mainstays in Sainteloc’s Silver Cup Audi crew for the IGTC, whereas Panis largely focused on a GTWC Europe Sprint Cup venture with the team.

Sainteloc tested at Magny-Cours last week and is currently at Paul Ricard taking part in the official GTWC Europe pre-season test days.

“In our history, we have often had the desire to help young drivers to progress, and this will clearly be our philosophy with our 2022 crews, especially in the Silver Cup,” said team principal Sebastien Chetail.

“Some of the drivers will be competing for a second year with us and in the Audi R8 LMS GT3 and we hope that they will take the next step in their careers.

“We can always count on the support of Audi Sport, with official drivers who will be able to support our young talent and hopefully make our colors shine.”

Sainteloc ran two Pro-class Audis in the full GTWC Europe last year, while some of its 2021 drivers have moved to different teams for the coming season.

Of note, Audi Sport factory drivers Christopher Haase and Frederic Vervisch are representing Team Tresor by Car Collection and Team WRT respectively, while Finlay Hutchison has joined WRT and Leo Roussel has signed for Lamborghini squad Emil Frey Racing.

Boutsen Ginion Switches to Audi

In other GTWC Europe developments, former BMW team Boutsen Ginion has purchased an Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II for the Endurance Cup season.

According to Endurance-Info, Karim Ojjeh and Benjamin Lessennes are set to drive for the Belgian squad, alongside a third co-driver who is yet to be announced.

Boutsen Ginion has raced BMW machinery in the Endurance Cup since 2015 when it switched to the Munich manufacturer from McLaren.

It campaigned a BMW M6 GT3 each season from 2016 until the end of last year, mainly in the Pro-Am class.

The team ran its new Audi at Paul Ricard on Monday during the official pre-season test.