It maybe a week until the next Repco Supercars Championship round in Townsville, but many drivers and team personnel have taken a trip to Belgium to contest the legendary 24 Hours of Spa endurance event this weekend.
Around 70 of the best GT teams and drivers will contest the 75th edition of the race forming part of the Intercontinental GT Challenge alongside the Bathurst 12 Hour held earlier this year.
Walkinshaw Andretti United star Chaz Mostert headlines the Supercars contingent as he joins Australian ex-pat businessman Kenny Habul (winner of back-to-back Bathurst 12 Hours), Nicky Catsberg and Martin Konrad in the SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.
Mostert is vastly experienced in GT racing having represented BMW locally and in America some years ago, having won his class at the 24 Hours of Daytona back in 2020 driving an M8 GTE.
A mega effort has been put in by Grove Motorsport as father-son team Stephen and Brenton Grove contest the Belgian classic once again. The duo are regulars at this event now alongside many other international races, but bring with them a strong driver line-up to contest for class honours.
Shell V-Power Racing Team’s Anton De Pasquale, who teams with the duo on a regular basis will feature alongside New Zealand sportscar ace Earl Bamber. A loyal representative of Porsche, Bamber is a dual Le Mans 24 Hour winner among other achievements for the German marque and this season is racing Cadillac’s new LMDh entry in America.
The quartet will contest the Bronze category in a Porsche 911 GT3 R (992).
Australia is well represented within the field as Western Australian Calan Williams races a Team WRT BMW M4 GT3, Ricky Capo joins Lamborghini squad Grasser Racing Team, GetSpeed’s Mercedes includes Alex Peroni as part of its line-up and Jordan Love is part of the German Haupt Racing Team.
For the New Zealanders, Brandon Leitch is driving a Leipert Motorsport Lamborghini.
Eight manufacturers are represented in this weekend’s event from Mercedes, Porsche, Audi, Lamborghini, BMW, McLaren, Aston Martin and Ferrari, which its new 296 GT3 makes its event debut after coming off victory in the Nurburgring 24 Hour.
To watch the event, YouTube Channel GT World will livestream the daytime running from 12:30pm AEST Sunday morning.