+ 43 IGTC entries amongst record 75-car grid
+ Two from two leaves BMW, Farfus and Van der Linde out front
+ IGTC entry list: CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa
An incredible month of endurance racing concludes this weekend when a record number of entries contest the world’s biggest GT race: the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.
The dust has barely settled on the ADAC Ravenol 24h Nürburgring where BMW, Augusto Farfus and Kelvin van der Linde notched up their second Intercontinental GT Challenge victories of the season. They now make the short hop across the border into Belgium where 43 of Spa’s 75 cars are eligible to score IGTC points.
Those totals represent the greatest-ever gathering of GT3s for a single race and the largest Intercontinental entry since the globe-trotting GT series was established in 2016.
Of IGTC’s registered manufacturers, Mercedes-AMG enjoys a slight numerical advantage with 12 cars, while BMW and Porsche are also well represented with 11 apiece. Nine Ferraris complete the list of potential points-scorers, 15 of which feature Pro driver line-ups.
ROWE’s victory at the Nordschleife plus WRT’s Bathurst one-two leaves BMW 23 points ahead of its German rivals in the manufacturers’ standings. Its early success is also reflected in the drivers’ table where Farfus and Van der Linde are seven ahead of their factory colleague Raffaele Marciello, who was also a winner last weekend, and another 17 clear of the first non-BMW driver: Ayhancan Güven.
Intercontinental’s list also features three Independent Cup entrants, two of whom happen to be the class’ last two title winners. Reigning champion Antares Au makes his first IGTC appearance of the season with Rutronik and Porsche, while 2023 victor Jonathan Hui drives the Ziggo Sport Tempesta Ferrari. There’s also Independent Cup debutant Ralf Bohn who forms one-quarter of Herberth’s Bronze crew. All will be eager to make up ground on current points’ leader Kenny Habul who, along with Adrian D’Silva, makes his next IGTC start at Suzuka.
As always, manufacturers’ points are only collected by each marque’s two highest finishers, while drivers score on the basis of their final IGTC position. The race as well as Pre-Qualifying, Qualifying, Superpole and Warm-Up are all live, free and unrestricted on youtube.com/gtworld.
BMW | 11x M4 GT3 EVO | 68 POINTS
BMW has made a lightning start to this year’s campaign but now faces arguably its toughest test so far thanks to the depth of IGTC’s entry list. Just like the Nürburgring, no manufacturer has won Spa’s 24-hour race more times, while all three of its previous GT3 models have tasted victory here. The M4 EVO, five of which feature Pro crews, has every chance of becoming the fourth on its maiden appearance.
Picking a favourite is impossible given the breadth of factory talent across WRT and ROWE whose regular GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS line-ups are supplemented by additional entries. One of them features Philipp Eng who could become one of just four drivers to win this race more than three times.
Meanwhile, Van der Linde and Farfus’ successful IGTC partnership is interrupted at Spa where both revert to their regular European entries. The latter is therefore paired with Marciello and Jesse Krohn in ROWE’s #98 car, the same combination – minus Van der Linde – that won last weekend.
Instead, the South African joins reigning IGTC champion Charles Weerts and Ugo de Wilde at WRT. Spa is an especially important event for this trio who lead the Endurance Cup standings.
It wouldn’t be a preview without mentioning Valentino Rossi who makes his fourth Spa start with WRT. The Belgian squad’s two additional entries feature other stars from BMW’s factory roster, including Sheldon van der Linde who won with the team at Bathurst.
MERCEDES-AMG | 12x GT3 | 45 POINTS
Neither of Mercedes-AMG’s factory cars shone at the Nürburgring where a Pro-Am entry scored the bulk of its points. Affalterbach now lies joint second with Porsche in the IGTC standings but trails BMW by 23.
Four Pro line-ups feature amongst its 12 cars at Spa where the manufacturer last won in 2022. And three of them are GT World Challenge Europe regulars. Indeed, Mann-Filter’s Maro Engel, Lucas Auer and Matteo Cairoli arrive fresh from winning the last Endurance Cup round at Monza which moved them up to second in the regional standings.
Luca Stolz, Fabian Schiller and former IGTC champion Jules Gounon will also be amongst the favourites in GetSpeed’s leading contender, while Boutsen VDS’s factory crew features home favourite Maxime Martin who was a mainstay of Marc VDS’s Spa programme with BMW a decade ago.
PORSCHE | 11x 911 GT3 R | 45 POINTS
Second and third in Germany has brought Porsche back into IGTC manufacturers’ contention ahead of Round 3 where four Pro class 911s feature amongst its 11 entries.
Güven is best placed in the drivers’ standings thanks, primarily, to P2 at the Nürburgring. His Schumacher CLRT entry, which also features Laurin Heinrich and Klaus Bachler, is an Endurance Cup regular that should be bang in contention.
Likewise Rutronik Racing’s Sven Müller, Alessio Picariello and Patric Niederhauser. The latter was due to race last weekend until his Porsche suffered irreparable damage in Top Qualifying.
Dinamic GT and Bastian Buus finished third together at the Nürburgring and return for another crack at IGTC glory this weekend. Their entry, which boasts the considerable talents of Intercontinental winners Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet, is entered solely for this race.
There’s also Pure Rxcing, which appears in the Pro class despite Alex Malykhin’s Silver grading. However, and as Kenny Habul has twice proven at Bathurst, that is not necessarily a barrier to victory. One of his co-drivers, Thomas Preining, is joint fifth in IGTC’s standings.
FERRARI | 9x 296 GT3 | 28 POINTS
A strong run for Ferrari’s only representative at the Nürburgring was ultimately curtailed by a late accident in traffic. Maranello will therefore be eager to bounce back immediately with its two Pro cars at Spa where another seven are entered across the other four classes.
AF Corse is an endurance racing powerhouse and perennial GT World Challenge Europe front runner but is yet to win this particular 24-hour classic. Nevertheless, its two factory-backed 296 GT3s have as good a chance as anyone this year. Antonio Fuoco, Arthur Leclerc and Eliseo Donno plus Alessio Rovera, Vincent Abril and Alessandro Pier Guidi should all be near the sharp end of a race that Ferrari has won just once in the GT3 era.
Only the two highest finishers will score Intercontinental points for their manufacturer, so there’s every chance that a class contender might also be a factor. Of those, it’s the Rinaldi Racing entry shared by Nürburgring co-drivers David Perel and Felipe Fernandez Laser as well as Davide Rigon and Christian Hook that possibly has the greatest potential to contribute.