Spa Thursday Notebook

***The No. 98 ART Grand Prix McLaren that crashed heavily with Alvaro Parente behind the wheel during the Free Practice session this morning is repairable and should return to action during warmup on Saturday. As the car will not qualify for Super Pole tomorrow, it won’t be allowed to run in the one-hour Bronze test, either. Though initial inspection showed severe damage to the car, the carbon tub remained i tact, with the team being able to replace all other damaged components.

***GT Russian Team is looking to enter the GT racing scene on a full time basis in 2015. The new entity was only created in the build to the 24 Hours of Spa as a cooperative effort with the German MRS Molitor Racing of Karsten Molitor at Spa. The project is spearheaded by Alexei Vasiliev, the Russian already having a wealth of experience in GT Racing in ACO and SRO organized series.

***Boutsen Ginion Racing is hoping to return to the Baku World Challenge, the season finale of the Blancpain Sprint Series. If an entry materializes, the Belgian team hopes to field one or two McLarens, both with a competitive lineup. The team could also race at penultimate round of the series at Circuit Zolder to acclimatize to the sprint racing format. A participation in the Gulf 12 Hours in Abu Dhabi and the 24 Hours of Dubai are also under investigation.

***The Belgian Audi Club Team WRT is offering the possibility to design the livery of one of its car for the BSS race at Zolder. Team sponsor GrafiWrap is organizing the competition.

***A spotter guide for this weekend’s 24 Hours of Spa is available, via the Blancpain Endurance Series website. The PDF is available to print or to watch it on a mobile device. Check it out here.