Scherer Sport PHX Joins 24H Spa with Thiim, Van der Linde

Scherer Sport PHX will contest the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa with a single Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II headlined by Kelvin van der Linde and Nicki Thiim.

The duo, which also competed together during the Nürburgring 24 earlier this year, will share the No. 17 car with Audi factory driver Luca Engstler.

The entry is a late addition to Audi’s presence for the Belgian endurance classic, as it was not listed on the provisional 72-car entry list released back in March.

It bolsters the number of cars for the German manufacturer at the event to 13, headlined by three, factory-supported Audi Sport entries for Comtoyou Racing, Tresor Orange1 and Team Sainteloc.

The lineups for the three squads remain unadjusted compared to previous Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup rounds.

Christopher Haase shares the No. 11 Audi Sport Team Comtoyou car with Gilles Magnus and Frederic Vervisch, while Tresor Orange 1’s driver crew consists of Mattia Drudi, Ricardo Feller and Dennis Marschall.

Sainteloc, which last took overall victory for Audi at the event in 2017, will see its No. 25 car piloted by Simon Gachet, Christopher Mies and Patric Niederhauser.

Audi Reveals Special 24H Spa Liveries

Audi has unveiled a trio of special liveries for the event, referencing the manufacturer’s ‘past, present and future.’

The No. 11 Audi Sport Comtoyou entry’s design references Audi’s Formula 1 project, while also hinting at other cars like the Audi RS Q e-tron Dakar prototype and the S1 e-tron quattro Hoonitron.

The largely silver design on the No. 25 car is a tribute to the era of Auto Union’s streamlined race cars that competed before World War II, while the No. 40 machine features geometric patterns referencing the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II’s debut.

“Following the great enthusiasm for our historic designs for the 40th anniversary of Audi Sport GmbH at the Nürburgring, we have also depicted our racing history over a longer period in line with the long-standing racing tradition here in the Ardennes,” said Chris Reinke, Head of Audi Sport customer racing.

“Our three race cars from Audi Sport customer racing visually cover almost 100 years of motorsport history of the four rings under the guiding principle ‘past – present – future’.

“In sporting terms, the focus for us is obviously on fighting for our fifth success in just twelve years in a top-class environment.”