Factory Drivers Bolster Nogaro Blancpain Sprint Grid

Factory drivers from McLaren, BMW, Bentley and Mercedes will bolster the 20-car grid for the opening race of the Blancpain Sprint Series, set to take place at Nogaro next week.

ENTRY LIST: Nogaro

Newcomers Attempto Racing will field a brand new McLaren 650S GT3 for Rob Bell and Kevin Estre, the latter having won the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany back in 2013 with the team.

BMW Team Brasil won’t be able to count on their usual drivers, as Cacà Bueno, Sergio Jimenez, Valdeno Brito and Atila Abreu will all compete in the Brazilian Stock Car championship.

BMW Motorsport has lent Maxime Martin and Dirk Müller to drive the No. 77 car, while twin brothers Ricardo and Rodrigo Sperafico return to the series in the second Z4 GT3, after their debut in the Baku World Challenge last year.

Bentley Team HTP will only have one of their Continental GT3s in the top class, with factory driver Maxi Buhk being joined by 2014 Silver Cup winner Vincent Abril.

The second German Bentley is entered in the Silver Cup for 2011 Le Mans LMP2 winner Olivier Lombard and 19-year-old Dutch driver Jules Szymkowiak, making the switch from the European Formula 3 Championship.

GT Russian Team will field two cars in the Pro-Am Cup, with Alexei Vasiliev and Platinum-rated Marco Asmer continuing their relationship in the No. 70 Mercedes SLS AMG GT3, and Bernd Schneider teaming up with the relatively unknown 30-year-old Russian Alexei Karachev.

The third and final Pro-Am Cup entry comes from Fach Auto Tech, with Martin Ragginger and Marcel Wagner competing in the sole Porsche 997 GT3-R.

Both Reiter Engineering and Attempto Racing still have to confirm the drivers on their second cars, while all other lineups were previously announced.