Valencia Weekend Notebook

***Dennis Marschall’s pole position for Race 1 on Saturday marks the second time this season that a Bronze Cup entry led qualifying overall at a Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS qualifying event. Matteo Cairoli became the first driver to do so earlier this year when he took a surprise pole for Huber Motorsport at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.

***The grid for the penultimate Sprint Cup round of the season is down to 39 cars with the withdrawal of the No. 112 JP Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, which had been entered for Patryck Krupinski and Norbert Siedler. Krupinski is unable to compete due to injury.

***The grid at Valencia is significantly larger than a year ago. 26 cars took part in 2022 when the grid consisted of Pro, Pro-Am and Silver Cup cars. This weekend features four classes, with Pro and Silver joined by the Gold and Bronze Cups.

***Circuit Ricardo Tormo hosted the Sprint Cup season finale in both 2021 and 2022, but has lost that spot to Zandvoort for this year.

***Three teams have taken overall victories at Valencia since it joined the Sprint Cup calendar in 2021. Toksport WRT duo Maro Engel and Luca Stolz swept the weekend two years ago, while AF Corse and Team WRT shared the spoils last year.

**Alain Valente has remained part of the lineup for the No. 77 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. Valente was a late replacement for Frank Bird at Hockenheim after Bird’s father passed away. Valente and co-driver Jordan Love took the Silver Cup class victory during Race 1 and finished second in Race 2.

***GSM AB1 GT3 Team is entering this weekend’s event with its fourth different lineup in four events. South African junior single seater racer Jarrod Waberski is joined by James Kell, who drives for Walkenhorst Motorsport’s Bronze Cup squad in Endurance Cup.

***AF Corse, meanwhile, has opted for a father-and-son lineup for the No. 52 Ferrari 296 GT3 as Jef Machiels replaces Andrea Bertolini to team up with father Louis.

***Maximilian Paul replaced Rolf Ineichen aboard the No. 163 VSR Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 because of family reasons for the Swiss driver, according to team boss Vincenzo Sospiri. “Family is more important to him,” Sospiri told Sportscar365.

***Sospiri added that it was a conscious decision to keep mileage to a minimum during the wet Free Practice session on Friday, which saw VSR’s three Lamborghinis complete a total of just eleven laps. “It wasn’t planned to run in the wet because we knew that Saturday and Sunday will not be wet,” he said. “So we just bedded in brakes and pads and that’s it. We didn’t want to do anything more than that.”

***The Valencia circuit has been resurfaced in preparation for the MotoGP event in November, with new kerbs also installed at Turns 1 and 14.

***”For sure, the grip surface is higher compared to last year,” Team WRT’s Dries Vanthoor told Sportscar365. “I did not drive in full wet conditions [on Friday morning] because when our session started it was already drying up, but as well on the wet conditions it’s more grippy, I would guess. There was a significant difference in feel of the grip level.”

***Vanthoor is expecting an uphill battle for the Belgian squad at Valencia. “Considering the Mercedes is always quite strong here,” Vanthoor said. “Also the Audis, knowing what the strong areas are from them. But the Mercedes is always there so to [beat] them will be difficult. I’ll never say it’s impossible. I think if we do a good weekend and we can find some more pace, we never know. But looking at it from now I would be very happy with a podium.”

***Marciello and Boguslavskiy have the overall Fanatec GT Europe drivers’ title within reach. Should the No. 88 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo outscore the No. 40 Tresor Orange 1 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Mattia Drudi and Ricardo Feller by 5,5 points or more, they will be crowned champions.

***Miguel Ramos can win his third consecutive Sprint Cup championship this weekend, as he and co-driver Henrique Chaves lead the Bronze Cup going into the class’ final weekend of the season. Ramos and Chaves, who claimed the Pro-Am title together in 2021, hold a lead of just half a point over Pure Rxcing’s Alex Malykhin.

***Emil Frey Racing’s Albert Costa is the sole Spanish driver on the Fanatec GT grid this weekend. Costa, who shares the No. 69 Ferrari 296 GT3 with Thierry Vermeulen, was born in Barcelona.

***Alex Frassineti makes his first Fanatec GT start since the 2018 24 Hours of Spa, where he took the Silver Cup class win in an Ombra Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo.

*** The Herberth Motorsport squad, as well as drivers Ralf Bohn and Robert Renauer, are pulling double duty between their Sprint Cup duties and participation in the Hankook 24H Barcelona. Renauer told Sportscar365 that the duo plans to drive to Barcelona shortly after the conclusion of Saturday’s Sprint Cup race and complete their drive time during the night hours before returning to Valencia.

***Two drivers present in the Valencia paddock this weekend have taken wins at the circuit on two wheels in the past. Team WRT’s Valentino Rossi won the MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix twice (2003, 2004) while Dani Pedrosa, who races a KTM X-Bow GT2 in the Fanatec GT2 European Series, stood on the top step at Circuit Ricardo Tormo no fewer than seven times.

***Coincidentally, both drivers also bowed out of their respective full-time MotoGP careers at the circuit. Pedrosa stepped away in 2018, while Rossi drove his last race here in 2021. He went on to test with Team WRT at the same venue a month later before signing with the Vincent Vosse-led squad for the 2022 season.

***In addition to the track action, fans at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo can enjoy entertainment in the fan zone hosted by the Volrace organization, featuring drift demonstrations, a car show and a live DJ performance by Brian Cross on Saturday evening.

***Both of this weekend’s Sprint Cup races are scheduled to start at 2 p.m. CEST (8 a.m. EDT), with one race on Saturday and one on Sunday. Both will be shown live on the GT World YouTube channel with English, French, German and Italian commentary options available.