SPORTSCAR

The two best-placed Porsche customer teams take up the 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps tomorrow from positions nine and 20. In the Super Pole session on Friday evening, Porsche works driver Mathieu Jaminet turned the ninth fastest lap with GPX Racing’s 911 GT3 R. In the 20-minute shootout, the top 20 vehicles from Thursday’s qualifying competed against each other in individual time trials. The fastest time of two laps was counted. The 26-year-old Frenchman achieved a lap time of 2:18.729 minutes. For the race, Jaminet shares the cockpit with Earl Bamber from New Zealand and the Australian Matt Campbell.

The TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa got underway with a good first practice for Mercedes-AMG. In the 90-minute session, the teams with the Mercedes-AMG GT3 were able to run through their programme as planned in preparation for the season highlight. Four cars from Affalterbach ended up in the top ten. In the upcoming days, a total of 13 Mercedes-AMG GT3s will be competing for victory in the overall classification as well as for success in the classes. As a result, Mercedes-AMG has the largest car contingent of all the manufacturers. Next to the on-track activities, the performance and sports car brand is also attracting attention with a vehicle display at the occasion of the race: on display are the Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.8 AMG that won its class and finished second overall 50 years ago as well as a car representing the special edition “50 Years Legend of Spa” consisting of three GT3 cars.

With ten customer teams, twelve 911 GT3 R and a total of 40 racing drivers, seven of which are works drivers, Porsche is represented by an impressive line-up at the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race. Hardly any other manufacturer will have more racing cars on the grid of the endurance classic this coming weekend. The legendary event on the 7.004-kilometre “Ardennes rollercoaster” is considered one of the most important GT3 events in the world and counts towards two of this season’s championships: the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup and the Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC). Porsche is aiming for a hat trick on the Belgian Grand Prix circuit. In 2019, works drivers Michael Christensen (Denmark), Kévin Estre (France) and Richard Lietz (Austria) claimed outright victory in the 911 GT3 R fielded by GPX Racing. Last year, another factory driver trio, Nick Tandy (Great Britain), Earl Bamber (New Zealand) and Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium), won the highlight of the GT3 season, that time with the Rowe Racing squad.

Audi Sport customer racing will be showcasing four one-off designs at the Spa 24 Hours from July 29 to August 1. The individual designs of the Audi R8 LMS pay homage to a major anniversary on the famous Ardennes circuit whose racing history began in 1921.