FIA GT - Spa 24 Hours - G2/ G3 Preview

G2

There are just a trio of cars in the ‘catch-all’ G2 class following the enforced withdrawal of the PMB racing turbo Porsches – A solo Porsche, Moslers and Audi make up the class but between them there are still interesting stories.

The Porsche is a 997 Cup car run by none other than JetAlliance – the team opting to leave its DBR9s in the garage back at home.  Ryan Sharp, homeless this weekend after KplusK’s withdrawal, moves back across to his old team for this one and will inject pace whenever he’s aboard.

The G2 Mosler is fielded by regular Spa contenders G&A Racing have the combined talents of Guino Kenis, Michael Dekeersmaecker, Patrick Smets and Joël Schuybroeck in their #110 car.

G2 though is far from a foregone conclusion.  The sixth car could just be the ace in the hole.  Phoenix Racing bring the first Audi R8 LMS to contend the Spa 24 Hours out to play, and their pre-race publicity makes it very clear that the team, (though apparently not Audi Sport themselves, see this as a significant marker for the potential future for the car.

The car arrives, we believe, in the same form as raced at the Nurburgring 24 Hours.  In that trim the cars raced hard and convincingly throughout the race against restricted GT2 cars.  The stated aim is to measure up the R8 against the 2010 GT1 runners – Marcel Fässler, Henri Moser, Alexandros Margaritis and Marc Basseng are all capable of wringing whatever the Audi has to offer from the package - This could be interesting!

G3

G&A’s hope of being the highest profile MT900R in the race was blown into the weeds with the announcement that the Gravity Racing #118 car would field not only Vincent Radermeker, Ho-Pin Tung and Loris de Sordi but also ex F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve!  We’ll catch up with the baggy overalled one over the weekend to find out what on god’s green earth led to him appearing in this race but for now let’s rejoice in the possibility of a Canadian class win in an Belgian run, American designed car built in Cambridgeshire.

To take the G3 crown though JV and co will need to beat a field with not inconsiderable depth.

The solo Ferrari in the class has some familiar faces aboard to British race fans, the evergreen Michael Cullen and Paddy Shovlin lead the driving squad in the #120 Rosso Corsa car.

Matech Concepts may have opted to leave their GT1 2020 car back at home but they field a pair of Ford GTs in G3 - Thomas Mutsch, Maxime Martin, Peter Wyss and Marc Hennerici are aboard the #121 car and there are race wins aplenty under the belts of that squad in GT23 machinery. The sister #122 car fields a less convincing line up – but can a reliability run bring home the bacon?

There’s a quintet of Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S machines on the entry. A pair of double entries for Muehlner Motorsport and Prospeed and a singleton 997 from local man Christian Kelders, his car featuring ex Le mans 24 Hours winner Eric Helary on the driving squad.

Muehlner’s cars too feature mainly gentlemen drivers so we might be looking to the Prospeed Porsches for pace- The #161 car looks the more likely of the two to provide that with Markus Palttala joined by David Loix and Niki Lanik.

Barwell Motorsport bring the only Aston Martin on the race to the grid, this their regular Belgian GT DBRS9, Jeffrey van Hooydonck, Koen Wauters, ex LMP2 man Julien Schroyen and Eddy Renard bring a blend of speed and Spa knowledge to the effort.

Finally its been a while since Alpina took to the grid of rthe Spa 24 Hours – But with the advent of the new B6 GT3 their time has come once again – Morgan regular Gail Lesoudier leads the #174 car with Ange Barde on the strength of the sister #175 Alpina – They’ll be looking to get a finish here, but are unlikely at this early stage in the car’s development to run with the leading pack.