HubAuto Confirms 24H Spa Lineup; Kobayashi Joins

HubAuto Racing has confirmed its driver lineup for next month’s Total 24 Hours of Spa including the signing of Toyota Gazoo Racing LMP1 star Kamui Kobayashi.

The Taiwanese team’s Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020, which is an Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli entry, will also be driven by Tom Blomqvist and Marcos Gomes.

Kobayashi is set for his first race in a Ferrari since the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship when the Japanese driver was a member of the AF Corse GTE-Pro squad.

After two seasons returning to single-seaters Kobayashi came back to the WEC full-time in 2016 with the Toyota LMP1 squad that he has driven for ever since.

He has contested the 24 Hours of Spa once before, in 2017 with Mercedes-AMG outfit Goodsmile Racing, and also won the WEC Total 6 Hours of Spa this year with Toyota.

Blomqvist and Gomes were part of HubAuto’s driver lineup for the 24 Hours of Le Mans last weekend, sharing the No. 72 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo with team owner Morris Chen.

Kobayashi clinched the overall pole at Le Mans in the No. 7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid before finishing third in the race with Jose Maria Lopez and Mike Conway.

“HubAuto are delighted to have Kamui join Tom and Marcos for the Total 24 Hours of Spa,” said Chen of the team’s 2020 crew.

“Kamui brings a wealth of endurance racing experience. Combined with the enduro experience of Tom and Marcos we have a very confident driver line up.”

HubAuto entered Spa last year with Nick Cassidy, Nick Foster and Daniel Serra, who put the Ferrari fifth on the grid, but the car retired after 25 laps due to an accident.

The team’s 2020 Spa Ferrari, which is the same machine that won the 2019-20 Asian Le Mans Series title, has been shipped to Europe and arrived at Le Mans last weekend.