Record 42-Car Sprint Field at Misano as Bronze Cup Joins

A series record 42-car field will contest this weekend’s Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup round at Misano where the Bronze Cup joins the grid.

The number, which eclipses the 38 cars at Misano in 2016, is two more than what appeared on the full-season entry list in March, with Tresor Attempto Racing adding a third Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II and Herberth Motorsport registering a Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Bronze Cup, which requires one Bronze-rated driver in each pairing, did not feature at the Brands Hatch season opener due to paddock and pit lane space limitations but will be in action at three of the five Sprint Cup rounds this year, starting at Misano in Italy.

The category consists of 13 entries while Pro is the largest class with 15 cars, followed by Silver Cup at 10 and Gold Cup at five.

Bronze includes the Herberth Porsche for Robert Renauer and Ralf Bohn, with the German team also running Pure Rxcing’s Porsche for Ayhancan Guven and Alex Malykhin.

Akkodis ASP, Dinamic GT Huber Racing, Haupt Racing Team, Garage 59, AF Corse and JP Motorsport are adding Bronze Cup cars after running single-car efforts at Brands.

Imperiale Racing, CLRT and Theeba Motorsport are racing for the first time this season, meanwhile.

The additional Silver-class Audi from Tresor Attempto will be driven by DTM competitor Alessio Deledda and Pietro Delli Guanti, who races for the team in Endurance Cup.

There has also been a driver change in Vincenzo Sospiri Racing’s No. 163 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 with Mattia Michelotto, the 2021 Lamborghini Super Trofeo world champion, linking up with Yuki Nemoto in place of Rolf Ineichen.

Additionally, Fidel Castillo replaces Fernando Croce in the GSM Lamborghini.

Attempto Audi drivers Mattia Drudi and Ricardo Feller lead the overall Sprint Cup standings after a second place and a victory at Brands Hatch, with the Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG duo of Raffaele Marciello and Timur Boguslavskiy sitting 6.5 points behind.

Official track action at Misano begins on Friday with Free Practice taking place at 9 a.m. CEST (3 a.m. ET). The 60-minute races are on Saturday and Sunday respectively.