The 24 Hours of Spa is the major iconic event on the international GT3 racing calendar. This year, the race will be held from 30 to 31 July. Audi is now going to meet with fierce competition again and is represented by more customer racing teams than ever before. The brand with the four rings has won three of the past five editions and clinched the ‘Coupe du Roi’ manufacturers’ cup in 2014 and 2015.
The origins of the race date back to 1924, since 1964, it has been held regularly and today it is the endurance race with the largest number of GT3 race cars in the world. “65 race cars from eleven marques on a track which is an absolute dream. This is a first-class challenge,” says Chris Reinke, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. “For the many Audi fans in Belgium, the worldwide GT community as well as our customer teams and the drivers, the 24 Hours of Spa is again the season’s pinnacle event this year.” Four teams will be fielding a total of eleven Audi GT3 race cars and 36 drivers will be taking turns in the cockpits.
The four race teams have been using Audi race cars for years. Belgian Audi Club Team WRT will be contesting its home round with five race cars in total, Audi Sport Team Phoenix will be competing with one Audi R8 LMS. Both squads have previously won the race at Spa. Team I.S.R. Racing from the Czech Republic is fielding two Audi R8 LMS cars and Saintéloc Racing from France is traveling to the Ardennes with three race cars.
On the fringe of the Spa 24 hours, Audi Sport customer racing will be handing over the 200th R8 LMS to a customer as well. Since 2009, GT3 racing has been a mainstay of Audi’s motorsport program. By now, teams in Europe, Asia, Australia, South and North America are using the two generations of the production-based GT sports car with the four rings.
