Spa Wednesday Notebook

***Seventy-five cars are set to contest this weekend’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, which is the 78th running of the Belgian endurance classic. One car has withdrawn since the provisional entry list was released in April, as the No. 424 Steller Motorsport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R has dropped off the entry.

***Corvette remains represented by two cars for its 24H Spa GT3 debut, with Steller’s remaining Silver Cup car joined by the No. 2 Johor Motorsports JHR entry for Princes Jefri and Abu Bakar Ibrahim, Jordan Love and Corvette factory driver Alexander Sims.

***The No. 76 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, which was originally entered as a Silver Cup car, has moved to Bronze Cup as a result of a lineup change. Reigning British GT champions Ricky and Rob Collard team up with Adam Ali and Bijoy Garg, with Christian Bogle and Wyatt Brichacek replaced. Brichacek remains a part of the lineup for the No. 26 Sainteloc Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II.

***The 24-year-old Indiana native is one of a significant list of drivers to have traveled to Spa off the back of the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen last weekend. That list also includes Mathieu Jaminet, Matt Campbell, Philipp Eng, Dries Vanthoor, Marco Wittmann, Sheldon van der Linde, Colin Braun, George Kurtz, Sebastian Alvarez, Bijoy Garg, Luis Perez Companc, Matias Perez Companc, Neil Verhagen, Connor De Phillippi, Alexander Sims, Nicky Catsburg, Sandy Mitchell, Max Hesse, Dan Harper, Laurin Heinrich, Klaus Bachler, Davide Rigon, Jack Hawksworth, Parker Thompson, Matt Bell, Ross Gunn, Anthony McIntosh, Valentin Hasse-Clot, Alessandro Pier Guidi, Zach Robichon, Ben Tuck, Marco Sorensen, Lorenzo Patrese, Antonio Fuoco, Russell Ward, Philip Ellis, Indy Dontje, Frederik Schandorff, Ollie Millroy, Adam Adelson, Elliott Skeer and Tom Sargent.

***On the European side of things, the 24H Spa is the last of the three consecutive 24-hour races, a streak that began with the 24 Hours of Le Mans followed by the Nürburgring 24. Seven teams at Spa are doing so off the back of last weekend’s Nürburgring 24. Overall winners ROWE Racing are joined by GetSpeed Performance, Dinamic GT, Walkenhorst Motorsport, HRT Ford Performance and Nordique Racing. The latter ran at the Nordschleife under its Ring Racing name.

***Of note, three-quarters of the driver lineup that won last weekend’s N24 are teaming up again driving for the same team as Augusto Farfus, Jesse Krohn and Raffaele Marciello are reunited aboard the No. 98 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO after winning at the Nürburgring just a handful of days ago.

***Daniel Morad will not be taking part in the 24H Spa as part of the lineup for the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. Although the Canadian was added as the fourth driver alongside Ward, Ellis and Dontje on a recent entry list, Sportscar365 understands that this was an error. Ward, Ellis and Dontje will contest the race as a three-driver crew, similarly to the No. 33 Verstappen dot com Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo and No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R that also compete in Gold Cup.

***The traditional pre-event parade to Spa town center and back took place on Wednesday, featuring all GT3 cars entered into the race as well of cars from multiple support series, which included the likes of the GT4 European Series powered by Rafa Racing Club, GT2 European Series powered by Pirelli, McLaren Trophy Europe and Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe.

***Organizers made a change to the final location for the parade this year, with a large number of cars lined up alongside the Parc de Sept Heures instead of at the Place Royale, as was the case in previous years.

***Paradine Competition driver Darren Leung set the fastest time during Tuesday’s Bronze test. The No. 991 BMW recorded a lap of 2:17.001, outpacing the No. 93 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Jonathan Hui by 0.203 seconds. Click Here for the results.

***A number of fines were given out by stewards as a result of penalties during the Bronze Test, the majority of which were for crew members not wearing proper attire in the pits. Meanwhile, QMMF by Sainteloc Racing driver Abdulla Al Khelaifi was handed a fine of €500 ($580 USD) for wearing a helmet camera during the session, which is outlawed in the sporting regulations.

***Goodsmile Racing is receiving support from DTM squad Landgraf Motorsport for its first 24H Spa appearance since 2019. The No. 00 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, driven by Tatsuya Kataoka, Kamui Kobayashi and Nobuteru Taniguchi, is a Landgraf-owned chassis, a Mercedes-AMG spokesperson confirmed to Sportscar365.

***Similarly, CrowdStrike Racing has enlisted support from SPS automotive performance as it chases back-to-back victories in the Pro-Am category.

***Boutsen VDS has revealed a one-off livery for its No. 9 Mercedes-AMG, which matches the BMW Z4 GT3 with which BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS took victory in the 24H Spa ten years ago. The BMW in question took part in the parade and is on display at the circuit this weekend, sat outside the team’s hospitality.

***Lionspeed GP, for its part, has brought a special Art Car livery to the event in collaboration with Berlin-based artist Luis West. West, who specializes in translucent artworks, has tweaked the traditional red and white color scheme on the No. 80 Porsche 911 GT3 R to include dark blue gradient elements in reference to the German squad’s second car in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup.

***Thursday will see the kick-off of official track action with a busy day as 24H Spa teams will have five hours of track time spread between Free Practice, Pre-Qualifying, qualifying and night practice. The opening 90-minute practice session starts at 11:20 a.m. CEST (5:20 a.m. ET).