- Ten Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the 72-car field
- Focus on the overall win and points in the various classifications
The 71st running of the Total 24 Hours of Spa has officially started with the traditional parade of the participants through the city centre of Spa. In hot summer weather, the ten Mercedes-AMG GT3s taking part in the legendary endurance racing classic presented themselves as well. Four of them – AKKA ASP, BLACK FALCON, GruppeM Racing and Strakka Racing – will be racing with extended works support from Mercedes-AMG. Next to the prestigious overall win, valuable points for several classes and championships are at stake at Spa as well.
For Mercedes-AMG, the challenge could hardly be bigger than in this year’s Spa 24-hour race: at the seven kilometres long track, a total of 72 cars with high-class driver line-ups will be competing for victory this weekend. In the world’s biggest GT3 race, points for the various categories of the Blancpain GT Series and the Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC) are at stake as well.
Here, several teams and drivers of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 cars have excellent title chances: in the Blancpain GT Series drivers’ classifications, Maro Engel and Luca Stolz (both GER), are jointly in second place. At Spa, the duo is sharing driving duties in the #4 Mercedes-AMG Team BLACK FALCON car with Yelmer Buurman (NED). In the teams’ classification, BLACK FALCON is currently in second place, AKKA ASP is third. French outfit AKKA ASP is running the #88 Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Vincent Abril (MON), Raffaele Marciello (ITA) and Fabian Schiller (GER) in the race at Spa.
For Marciello, Spa is also decisive in terms of the IGTC. Here, the Italian is leading together with Maximilian Buhk and Maximilian Götz (both GER). Buhk/Götz are racing the #999 car of Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing and are supported by ex-DTM driver Lucas Auer (AUT), the latter making his debut in the Spa 24-hour race. Next to BLACK FALCON (#4), AKKA ASP (#88) and GruppeM Racing (#999), Mercedes-AMG is entering another works-supported car with Strakka Racing’s #44 car. Its drivers are Gary Paffett (GBR), Tristan Vautier (FRA) and Lewis Williamson (GBR). All four GT3 with extended support from Affalterbach are eligible to score points in the IGTC, in which Mercedes-AMG is currently in the lead of the manufacturers’ standings.
Among the Customer Racing cars, one of the focus points is the Blancpain GT Series Silver Cup. Here, the AKKA ASP team is on top in the teams’ standings and is leading the drivers’ standings with Nico Bastian (GER) and Timur Boguslavskiy (RUS) as well. At Spa, Bastian/Boguslavskiy are sharing the #90 car with Felipe Fraga (BRA). As a Silver trio, they are also leading the endurance standings with Patrick Assenheimer, Hubert Haupt (both GER) and Gabriele Piana (ITA) following closely. At Spa, the three are racing together with Abdulaziz Al Faisal (KSA) in the #6 BLACK FALCON car. In the Pro-Am class, the Mercedes-AMG GT3s of Strakka Racing (#43), RAM Racing (#74) and Scuderia Villorba Corse (#133) have good chances.
For all ten Mercedes-AMG GT3s in the field, on-track action gets underway on Thursday with several practice and qualifying sessions. Here, it is about securing a place for the Super Pole shootout on Friday evening. The start f the race is on Saturday at 16.30 hrs.
Maro Engel, Mercedes-AMG Team BLACK FALCON #4: “Once again, the atmosphere during the parade was overwhelming. That really whets your appetite for the weekend. The race will be a real festival with 72 GT3 cars. But we are well prepared and we are eager for the action to start. The track will be different to drive with conditions being so hot. During testing, it was cooler, but we are not letting this affect us.”
Raffaele Marciello, Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP #88: “With such a strong field like here at Spa, making predictions is always difficult. The weather is hard to predict, too. Now, it is still hot, but thunderstorms have been forecast for the weekend. We will take it as it comes and we will focus on our strengths. Our goal is to win the race and I am also envisaging IGTC points.”
Gary Paffett, Mercedes-AMG Team Strakka Racing #44: “This is my third 24-hour race here at Spa, and for the third time with a different team. From that perspective, some things are new and different again. Strakka Racing is a very experienced crew and with Tristan Vautier and Lewis Williamson, we have a strong line-up. There is no doubt that it will be tough: with 71 cars around you, you don’t have much space. But I am confident that we will be able to rack up a good result here.”
Lucas Auer, Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing #999: “All of this is really cool. My first 24-hour race! And at Spa on top of that, which is probably the favourite track for 80 percent of the drivers. GruppeM is a great team and we had a good test. Let’s see what our performance in the race will be. In any case, I am really looking forward to it!”
Adam Christodoulou, Goodsmile Racing & Type Moon #00: “I will be racing with entirely new teammates in this 24-hour race. That will be exciting. Our tests went well. Of course, there is always something to improve and to learn. We are taking it step by step and see how things are going. After all, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 is renowned for its reliability and its good speed. I see no reason why we wouldn’t be able to achieve a good result.”
Nico Bastian, AKKA ASP #90: “Spa is simply cool. The world’s biggest GT3 race. The level is crazily high. That goes for the battle for the overall win but equally for the duels in the classes. For us in the Silver Cup, winning won’t be easy. We will have to push quite hard. At the same time, we can’t be taking too many risks. First and foremost, you have to make it through the 24 hours without any mistakes. That is the only way to be able to win.”
Patrick Assenheimer, BLACK FALCON #6: “During the parade, our GT3 with anime design was a real eye-catcher. We hope that it will be bringing us luck out on the track as well. We have reinforced our regular team of Hubert Haupt, Gabriele Piana and myself with Abdulaziz Al Faisal. Our goal is to win the Silver class. We came to Spa in second place of the championship standings and we want to leave as the leaders.”
Tom Onslow-Cole, RAM Racing #74: “This will be a thrilling weekend. For us, it is the biggest race of the year and gradually, things are starting to get serious. We are second in the Pro-Am standings, only three points down on the leaders. We can score many points here and that is our focus, especially also with the interim classifications in the race. Of course, victory at Spa would be great, as would be the title at the end of the season.”
Mauro Calamia, Scuderia Villorba Corse #133: “Being here is super. Our participation at Spa was a relatively last-minute affair and now we are all the happier that it worked out. In such a race, you can only have high goals. According to me, a top five result in Pro-Am should be possible, even though everyone in our class is participating in the Spa 24 Hours for the first time.”
The Mercedes-AMG press kit for the Total 24 Hours of Spa can be downloaded here: bit.ly/32KEDZ9
