Barcelona Saturday Notebook

***The No. 22 Allied-Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R is not at Barcelona, reducing the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup field to 48 cars for the final round of the season. Allied still has a Porsche in Pro-Am after its Silver Cup exit.

***Nicklas Nielsen narrowly beat Daniel Juncadella to win the Fanatec Esports GT Pro Series race on Saturday evening, but the latter driver’s result handed Akkodis ASP the Pro championship. Attempto Racing sealed the Silver Cup esports title, meanwhile, following a dominant drive from Alex Aka. Results

***Juncadella took Akkodis ASP a step closer to the real-world GTWC Europe combined teams’ title by earning an extra four points for his esports podium. The French squad is now 20 points clear of Team WRT. The other scorers were Iron Lynx (5), Emil Frey Racing (3), Tresor by Car Collection (2) and ROWE Racing (1).

***Points for the GTWC Europe combined Silver Cup teams’ championship went to Attempto (5), Team WRT (4), Akkodis ASP (3), Haupt Racing Team (2) and Vincenzo Sospiri Racing (1). WRT now leads Attempto in the combined Silver standings by 22 points.

***Click here for the final Fanatec Esports GT Pro Series standings.

***Juncadella’s esports podium came after the Mercedes-AMG factory driver held a signing of his new Spanish-language book, Guia para Pilotos Simracing or ‘Guide for Simracing Drivers‘, at the track on Saturday.

***JOTA has reverted to the McLaren 720S GT3 that it used for the 3 Hours of Imola, after its new-for-2022 chassis was heavily damaged in a first-lap accident at Hockenheim. The car at Barcelona is the first customer 720S GT3 that McLaren built.

***Mirko Bortolotti set the third-fastest lap time of Free Practice in the No. 63 Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo. The Italian’s co-driver Jack Aitken was shown as the quickest driver in the provisional results, but the final result list displayed the correct name.

***AF Corse was fined €1,000 ($980 USD) for one of its mechanics working on the No. 21 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 while refueling was taking place during Pre-Qualifying.

***Giancarlo Fisichella is racing in an all-professional three-driver Ferrari lineup for the first time since 2017, when he raced in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Le Mans class with Risi Competizione. The Ferrari-contracted driver recently won an Italian GT race alongside fellow Grand Prix alumnus Rubens Barrichello.

***Ryuichiro Tomita is forgoing this weekend’s Super GT race at Autopolis to round off his Endurance Cup campaign with WRT. The Japanese driver normally races a Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 domestically but has been replaced at the GAINER squad by Yusuke Shiotsu.

***Contrary to what was reported in Sportscar365’s Friday notebook, the No. 33 WRT Audi that Tomita shares with Arnold Robin and Maxime Robin will not take a five-position grid drop for Sunday’s race.

***The No. 50 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3, driven by the BMW Junior Team, is the only car to have completed every lap of the Endurance Cup season to date. GTWC Europe debutants Dan Harper, Max Hesse and Neil Verhagen are sixth in the points.

***Lamborghini is set to increase its seven-member factory driver roster as it prepares to expand into prototype racing in 2024. The manufacturer’s global Head of Motorsport Giorgio Sanna told Sportscar365 that a team of 10 to 12 drivers will be needed to cover the various programs, as part of a “reshaping” strategy.

***Additions to the roster, which is expected to be announced at the end of this year, will come from different sources. “There will be some new entries that we see as strategic for the future,” Sanna said. “There are also promotions, because we continue to work on our junior program.”

***Lamborghini Squadra Corse’s current factory roster consists of Giacomo Altoe, Mirko Bortolotti, Andrea Caldarelli, Albert Costa, Marco Mapelli, Sandy Mitchell and Franck Perera.

***Audi Sport is also considering updates to its factory driver roster, considering several drivers will have left the manufacturer by the end of this year. In addition to BMW signing Rene Rast and Peugeot recruit Nico Mueller, Sportscar365 understands that at least three more drivers are set to depart in the off-season.

***Head of Audi Sport customer racing Chris Reinke told Sportscar365 that the departures present a “new, challenging situation” for the manufacturer, adding: “We are prepared for that because this situation has been foreseeable. Therefore, we are preparing around this solid base of Audi Sport factory drivers to find a solid overall driver lineup for next year.”

***Valentino Rossi wants to do some winter sports car races with WRT, but a Gulf 12 Hours return looks unlikely as the team prioritizes testing with its new BMW M4 GT3s. Rossi has done the race twice before in Ferraris. “I want to do the Gulf 12 Hours because I did it in 2019 and 2020 and I enjoyed it a lot,” he told Sportscar365. “But I don’t know if it will be possible.  If not, we have to find another race.”

***Rossi’s expected switch to the BMW for next year’s GTWC Europe campaign will present a significant adjustment after he gained familiarity with the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II this year. Rather than switching teams to keep driving the same car, Rossi has stuck with the group that he now knows well. “I think it’s quite clear that there is a nice and strong link between Vale and WRT,” offered team principal Vincent Vosse.

***Former Audi Sport head of customer racing Romolo Liebchen is on-site to attend the final race of WRT’s Audi association . Liebchen was a key figure in the early days of the R8 GT3 program and liaised with WRT when the Belgian squad came on board in 2009.

***In addition to WRT with its new BMW M4 GT3s, Mercedes-AMG squad Akkodis ASP and Audi outfit Sainteloc Junior Team are taking part in Monday’s post-season test organized by Curbstone Events.

***SPS Automotive Performance will run Team Switzerland and Team Germany in the GT Sprint and GT Cup disciplines at the FIA Motorsport Games. International GT Open duo Yannick Mettler and Dexter Mueller will share the Swiss Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in GT Cup, while Mettler is booked for the single-driver GT Sprint.

***The German entry is headlined by a GT Sprint effort for Mercedes-AMG factory driver Luca Stolz, plus a GT Cup entry for Valentin Pierburg and Lance David Arnold. SPS is mobilizing two cars for the German program and one for Switzerland.

***SPS team principal Stephan Sohn told Sportscar365 that the team is set to enter next year’s Kyalami 9 Hour with two Mercedes-AMGs, including one for Kenny Habul’s SunEnergy1 Racing concern. SPS wanted to contest Kyalami for the second time last year, but the date change affected its plans.

***Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe and the GT4 European Series complete the racing bill at this weekend’s Festival de la Velocidad, which continues to bear the name of the late Formula 1 test driver Maria de Villotta.

***At the time of writing on Saturday evening, the aircraft that will carry Inception Racing’s Brendan Iribe to Barcelona is yet to depart Atlanta, however the American driver has completed his minimum driving time at Motul Petit Le Mans and is due to arrive in Spain early on Sunday morning for the GTWC Europe race.

***The first of three 15-minute qualifying sessions for the Endurance Cup season finale starts at 9 a.m. local time (3 a.m. CEST) on Sunday. The race is due to get underway at 3 p.m. local (9 a.m. ET).