Eight manufacturers challenging five time champion

SRO

Apr 3

Written By Car Racing Reporter

Nine manufacturers will compete for the global Manufacturers' Fanatec GT World Challenge Powered by AWS.

Mercedes-AMG goes in pursuit of a sixth successive global crown;
BMW, Porsche and Audi will, again, challenge them with their race-winning machinery;
Ferrari, Lamborghini and McLaren also continue their bid for supremacy;
Two manufacturers are joining the club:
- Aston Martin joins the fray for the first time with its next-gen Vantage AMR GT3.;
- Ford becomes the first American manufacturer to enter Fanatec GT World Challenge Powered by AWS with the new Mustang GT3.

Let’s review the PRO entries per manufacturer for the FANATEC GT WORLD CHALLENGE EUROPE POWERED BY AWS

Mercedes-AMG

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Spa-Francorchamps 2023. Team GetSpeed #2 and Haupt Racing Team #77 Mercedes-AMG GT3

2023 Champion Akkodis ASP Team will not participate to this season but Mercedes-AMG welcomes a new structure with the arrival of Team Boutsen VDS.

Among the 10 Mercedes AMG GT3 entries in Endurance Cup, 4 will fight for the win in the overall classification:

Team GetSpeed #2 : Jules Gounon-Fabian Schiller-Luca Stolz,
Team Boutsen VDS #9 entry driven by Thomas Drouet-Adam Christodoulou-Maximilian Götz
MANN-FILTER #48 with Lucas Auer-Maro Engel-Daniel Morad
Haupt Racing Team #77 driven by Michele Beretta-Arjun Maini-Jusuf Owega

Aston Martin

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Lone Star Le mans 2020. The “Dane Train” of Nicky Thiim and Marco Soerensen who won the FIA WEC Endurance World Championship in the GTE Pro class with Aston Martin in 2016 and 2020

Aston Martin Racing joins the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe with two new teams: Comtoyou Racing and Walkenhorst Motorsport. With 4 Vantage AMR GT3 EVO, Comtoyou Racing has one PRO entry with #7 driven by a trio of official AMR drivers: last year's champion in the Sprint Cup of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Mattia Drudi (new AMR official driver) will join the “Dane Train” of Nicky Thiim and Marco Soerensen who won the FIA WEC Endurance World Championship in the GTE Pro class with Aston Martin in 2016 and 2020. This team will be aiming to give Aston Martin a second victory in the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. (The first was in 1948 with St. John Horsfall and Leslie Johnson in an Aston Martin 2-Litre Sports).

📷 © Swoosh Motorsport Communications; courtesy of Walkenhorst Motorsport

Three Aston Martin factory drivers David Pittard, Henrique Chaves and Ross Gunn will lead three Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 entries by Walkenhorst Motorsport with #34. In recent weeks, WMS has completed an intensive test programme to gain as much experience as possible with the car, including the Circuit Paul Ricard. The three Aston Martin aces will fight for overall victory in the Pro class. Romain Leroux, Lorcan Hanafin and Maxime Robin (#35, Silver Cup) as well as Tim Creswick, Mex Jansen and Ben Green (#36, Bronze Cup) complete the line-up of the team. Source: Walkenhorst Motorsport.

Audi

The Audi R8 LMS has quite an impressive success in the GT World Challenge by winning

the GT World Challenge Europe and the GT World Challenge Australia with its customer teams in 2021,
six championship titles for Audi Sport through five customer racing teams and 18 top-3 championship positions and seven race wins in 2022,
three championship titles in 2023. Boutsen VDS in Teams and drivers Niklas Krütten-Calan Williams, Comtoyou Racing in Teams and drivers Nicolas Baert-Maxime Soulet, Tresor Attempto Racing in Teams and Drivers Alex Aka-Lorenzo Patrese.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Monza 2023. Alex Aka and Lorenzo Patrese won the FANATEC GT WORLD CHALLENGE EUROPE POWERED BY AWS Silver Teams and Drivers with #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II

Out of the 5 teams representing Audi in 2022, two remain faithful this season: Sainteloc Racing with 2 Audis and Tresor Attempto Racing with four.

Two Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO will participate in the PRO category with #99 Tresor Attempto Racing driven by Ricardo FELLER, Christopher HAASE and Alex AKA and #33 Sainteloc Racing with a lineup still not known today.

BMW

As last year, BMW M Motorsport will be represented by ROWE Racing and Team WRT In the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS

ROWE Racing

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Spa-Francorchamps 2023. Philipp Eng, Marco Wittmann, and Nick Yelloly victory at the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in 2023

Philipp Eng, Marco Wittmann, and Nick Yelloly aim to defend their jointly achieved victory at the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in 2023. They will share the cockpit of #98 BMW M4 GT3 in four races of the Fanatec GT Endurance Cup. Due to a schedule clash between the event at Monza (ITA) in September and the IMSA Indianapolis (USA) race, Eng and Yelloly cannot compete together with Wittmann that weekend. The driver line-up for that race will be announced at a later date.

Dan Harper and Max Hesse will once again drive the #998 BMW M4 GT3. Augusto Farfus (BRA) joins as the third driver. He first raced with the squad in 2022 and in 2023, he competed for the team at the Nürburgring and in Macau (CHN). Farfus reunites with Hesse and Harper, with whom he previously shared the cockpit as a mentor of the BMW Junior Team on the Nordschleife. Source: BMW

Team WRT

In the Endurance Cup, three cars will be entered. In the Pro class, Sheldon Van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts will continue to drive car #32, while in car #46 Maxime Martin and Valentino Rossi will be joined by Raffaele Marciello. Car #30, a Bronze class entry, will have an entirely new crew, with Ahmad Al Harthy joining Sam De Haan, the reigning GT Open Champion, and Jens Klingmann, who already shared the win at last year’s Dubai 24 Hours with Team WRT.

Three cars will also be entered in the Sprint Cup. In Pro, Sprint Cup triple champions Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts will again be at the wheel of car #32, while car #30 will race in the Silver class with Sam De Haan and reigning co-champion Calan Williams. Finally, car #31 shall also be entered on a full-season basis, with the line-up to be announced shortly. A fourth car for Valentino Rossi and Maxime Martin, sporting #46, will make guest appearances in the Brands Hatch and Misano rounds. Source: Team WRT

Ferrari

2021 CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa winner Alessandro Pier Guidi will return to a full season role in Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup, driving the #51 AF Corse-Francorchamps Motors Ferrari 296 GT3 with Davide Rigon and Alessio Rovera’s.

The new Ferrari factory driver Thomas Neubauer will lead an entirely new crew of drivers with David Vidales and Vincent Abril driving the #71 AF Corse-Francorchamps Motors Ferrari 296 GT3 in the 2024 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS. French driver Thomas Neubauer became part of the Ferrari factory drivers squad early this year with two Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS titles in Silver Cup, (Sprint Cup and Endurance Cup) as well as a class win in the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa and Hankook 24H Dubai. Source: Ferrari

FORD

Proton Competition align #64 Mustang GT3 in the Endurance Cup championship with Chris Mies, Frederic Vervisch and Dennis Olsen.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Lusail. Same livery as in WEC for the #64 Mustang GT3 in Fanatec GT World Challenge Powered by AWS Endurance Cup.

Christopher Mies (Ford Mustang GT3 #64): “I can’t wait for our first season together with Proton Competition in the GTWC Endurance Cup. We’re facing a challenging task with our new Mustang GT3, as we’re competing against the best teams and drivers in the GT sector without too much preparation. It’ll certainly be a thrill. I’m hoping we can make some considerable progress before the season opener and then secure our first points in this mega championship at Paul Ricard.” Source: Ford

Fanatec GT World Challenge Powered by AWS manufacturers' points allocation

The global competition draws upon established continental series in Europe, Asia, America and Australia. Each continues to run as a standalone championship while also counting towards the Fanatec GT World Challenge Powered by AWS manufacturers' standings. The 2024 calendar comprises 52 races across 30 events;
Sprint and Endurance points:
- Points for Sprint races of up to 90 minutes are based on the standard allocation (25 – 18 – 15 – 12 – 10 – 8 – 6 – 4 – 2 – 1).
- Endurance points
  - The sprint races allocation are doubled for races lasting between three and 12 hours
  - They are multiplied by four for the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.
As such, points are awarded based on the position of each manufacturer’s leading car per category (Overall, Pro-Am, Am etc) in every race.
The points scored per brand are then multiplied by the number of cars competing in that category. Therefore, a win in a category with five cars competing is worth less than one where 20 cars are entered.
No cars are removed from the classification – if the top six cars are from a single brand, the next brand will score points for seventh.
These points are added across the categories and races to give the manufacturers’ global score.