CLRT Enters Pro Porsche in Sprint Cup Finale

CLRT will field a Pro-class Porsche for the final round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup at Zandvoort for DTM teammates Ayhancan Guven and Laurin Heinrich.

Confirmed as part of a 30-car entry for the event, the French squad’s No. 44 Porsche 911 GT3 R will move up from the Bronze Cup to battle for overall victory at the Dutch circuit.

The Bronze Cup season wrapped up at the previous round at Valencia, where Steven Palette teamed up with Stephane Denoual.

Heinrich will be making his Sprint Cup debut at the event, while Guven helped Alex Malykhin secure the Bronze Cup title at Valencia last month. The two drivers are teammates in DTM, where they compete with KÜS Team Bernhard.

“It’s quite special, because it’s my very first Sprint Cup race, and also because I can do it with my DTM teammate Ayhancan Guven,” Heinrich told Sportscar365.

“Come Ledogar [team boss] contacted us to do a Pro car in Sprint, and I think it’s a great opportunity for the team. They want to show what they are capable of.

“They usually race in the Bronze Cup, and they want to show where they are in the overall classification, where they belong.

“We are all really determined and super motivated. They practice pit stops every day. For me, Sprint Cup is new. But I know the GT World Challenge from Endurance Cup.

“I know Zandvoort from DTM, so I think this is one of the reasons why Come Ledogar opted for Guven and me, because there is not so much running time before qualifying.

“We already have experience with the car on this track. I think we have a good pairing. It’s no secret that we try to win.

“I’m really motivated for this: I think it’s a great chance, not only for the team, but for us drivers.”

VSR, meanwhile, has retained Andrea Caldarelli and Marco Mapelli for its No. 60 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 lineup after Valencia.

The 2019 Sprint Cup champions replaced Jordan Pepper and Franck Perera for the penultimate round at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in order to allow Perera to focus on his DTM campaign with SSR Performance.

Additionally, both Pepper and Perera have been called up to compete with Iron Lynx at Motul Petit Le Mans. The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship finale falls on the same weekend as the Zandvoort Sprint Cup event.

Notably, the Silver Cup-entered No. 119 VSR Lamborghini will not compete at Zandvoort, while JP Motorsport’s No. 112 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo returns after it was withdrawn in Spain due to injury for Patryk Krupinski.

After a two-round absence for personal reasons, Frank Bird rejoins Jordan Love in the No. 77 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, while Diego di Fabio retakes his place aboard the No. 68 Nova Race Honda NSX GT3 Evo22 alongside Erwin Zanotti.

Daniel Lloyd contributed to this report