SAINTELOC RACING DRIVER HUTCHISON ADDS GT WORLD CHALLENGE SPRINT CUP RACES TO 2021 SCHEDULE

Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli is the unexpected destination for Scottish racing driver Finlay Hutchison this weekend, after he agreed an eleventh hour deal with Audi team Sainteloc Racing to add the rest of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Powered by AWS Sprint Cup to his 2021 programme.

Dundee’s Hutchison, who races for Sainteloc in the sister Endurance Cup and also the upcoming Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli, will now add the final three Sprint Cup rounds of the year to his schedule as well – starting with the races this Saturday, 3rd July, and Sunday, 4th July.

Teaming with Audi Sport factory driver Markus Winkelhock, who also competes with Hutchison in the longer format Endurance Cup races, the duo will share the No.27 Audi R8 LMS GT3 which brings Sainteloc’s entry into the Sprint Cup up to three cars.

“I’m really looking forward to racing at Misano again, it’s great to be back there and I’m obviously really thankful to my sponsors Hutchison Technologies, Evoson and In-Home Displays for making it happen”, said the 21-year-old, “The deal has all come together pretty quickly, so it’s been a bit of a hectic few days getting everything sorted out.

“Sharing the car with Winki [Winkelhock] is going to be fantastic, we’ve been working really well together in the Endurance Cup this year and I think we’ve got a great opportunity to fight for a couple of good results this weekend. Misano is a great track and the Sainteloc guys always do an amazing job with the car, so I’m feeling quietly confident.”

Hutchison is, of course, no stranger to the shorter one-hour Sprint Cup races as he raced full-time in the championship back in 2019 – achieving a season-best result of fifth place with Frederic Vervisch at, you guessed it, Misano!

With the addition of Hutchison and Winkelhock to the grid for this weekend’s action in Italy, the entry has expanded to a very impressive 30 cars which will be the largest field in the Sprint Cup since 2017. Alongside Audi, other manufacturers taking part include Lamborghini, Mercedes-AMG, Ferrari, Porsche, McLaren and Aston Martin.

Following free practice and pre-qualifying at Misano tomorrow, Friday, 2nd July, qualifying for race one of the weekend will get underway at 08.40 (UK time) on Saturday, 3rd July, with the 60-minute encounter beginning at 14.00 (UK time).

On Sunday, 4th July, race two qualifying starts at 08.00 (UK time) with the second one-hour race scheduled to begin at 13.00 (UK time).

Source. Marc Orme/Photo. SRO Motorsports Group