72 Cars on Record 24H Spa Entry List

Photo: Kevin Pecks/SRO

A record total of 72 cars will take part in the Total 24 Hours of Spa later this month for the centerpiece of the Blancpain GT Series and Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli seasons.

The entry list was released on Tuesday during the expanded two-day test at the Belgian circuit.

The all-GT3 field is made up of almost 50 full-season Blancpain GT Endurance Cup entrants, along with additional IGTC cars and entrants from Asia and North America.

It’s an increase of nine cars over last year’s field, which included 61 GT3 entries and a pair of Group National cup cars.

Eleven manufacturers are represented, including large entries from Audi, Mercedes-AMG, Lamborghini, Porsche and Ferrari.

Last year’s winner Walkenhorst Motorsport returns with its Pro class BMW M6 GT3, although only one of the winning lineup will be back to defend his victory, with Christian Krognes sharing with full-season IGTC teammates Mikkel Jensen and Nicky Catsburg. Philipp Eng and Tom Blomqvist aren’t on the entry list.

2017 winners Markus Winkelhock and Christopher Haase are back in the same Audi Sport Team Sainteloc entry, joined by Fred Vervisch.

Vervisch recently won the Nürburgring 24, along with Dries Vanthoor and Frank Stippler (both in the No. 2 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT car for Spa) and Pierre Kaffer.

On-track action at Spa gets underway with the Bronze Test on Tuesday, July 23, with the race kicking off at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 27.

Pre-race testing continues this week, with another session this afternoon and a further eight hours of track time tomorrow, ending at 6 p.m. local time (12 p.m. EDT).

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.