Round four of the Competition102 GT4 European Series will take place at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. A total of 29 cars have been entered for the two-hour race on July 9 and with another 15 GT4 cars entered in the British GT Championship, Spa will see a record-breaking GT4 grid of 44 cars. Back in 2009 37 GT4 cars took part in the fourth round of the GT4 European Cup.
PROsport Performance dominated the third round of the season last month with its Porsche Cayman PRO4 GT4, scoring a 1-2 in the three-hour Silverstone 500 race. This result elevated Andreas Patzelt and Nicolaj Møller Madsen into the lead of the championship, while teammates Jörg Viebahn and Peter Terting are now just 7.5 points behind in second place. V8 Racing drivers Duncan Huisman and Luc Braams are a further 1.5 points behind in third.
Jan Kasperlik and Dietmar Lackinger are leading the AM division of the Competition102 GT4 European Series. They have a 39-point lead over Alessandro Fogliani and Patrick Zamparini, who have not entered this round and 41.5 points over Autorlando Sport drivers Alessandro Giovanelli and Giuseppe Ghezzi.
New teams and cars in the series
PROsport Performance will enter a fourth car this weekend as it adds a Porsche Cayman Clubsport GT4 to its line-up at Spa. Pall-Ex Slidesport Motorsport, Rodrigues and eSKY INVENTO Racing Team will each run a Maserati GranTurismo MC GT4, while Belgian Delahaye Racing Team is set to compete with a Porsche. Tim Coronel and Pieter Christiaan van Oranje are back in action at Spa, driving the #111 Sin Cars Sin R1 GT4.
Fire forces V8 Racing to change cars
The familiar sound of the two V8 Racing Chevrolet Camaros will be missing at Spa this weekend. Both cars, as well as the Las Moras Racing Team BMW M3 GT4 of Liesette Braams, were damaged beyond repair in a large fire at V8 Racing’s workshop in just over two weeks ago. The Dutch team refused to give up and will be at Spa with a pair of Mathol Racing-owned Aston Martin Vantage GT4s.
Reiter Young Stars return
Spa-Francorchamps also sees the return of the KTM X-BOW GT4s to the series. Eight cars and 16 drivers have been entered for round three of the Reiter Young Stars Cup 2016. Thomas Krebs currently leads the male driver championship, with Australia’s Caitlin Woods leading the female driver championship. The competition is not far behind though and with the prospect of a season in the Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup for the champions, all drivers will fight for the lead until the very end.
New winners at Spa?
As last year’s double race winner, Bulgarian Pavel Lefterov, left the Competition102 GT4 European Series to pursue other opportunities, there will be a new race winner. In 2014 V8 Racing and Racing Team Holland by Ekris Motorsport were the winners of the two one-hour races. Marcel Nooren, Bernhard van Oranje and Ricardo van der Ende hope to return to the top of the podium with their teams this year, but they face fierce competition on the 7 km long circuit.
The two-hour race starts 12:10 p.m. local time on Saturday 9 July. As usual, live timing and comments are available on www.gt4series.com/live.
Remaining calendar 2016
8 – 9 July: Spa-Francorchamps / Endurance – 25 Hours Fun Cup (Belgium)
23 – 25 September: Budapest / Sprint – DTM (Hungary)
7 – 9 October 2016: Zandvoort / Sprint – Final race (Netherlands)
Competition102 GT4 European Series
The Competition102 GT4 European Series consist of six rounds, held at premier race tracks in Europe and partnering top level GT or touring car championships except from the last round in Zandvoort where the GT4 category will be the main programme. The championship includes two endurance races and one round at a street course.
Competition102, unique fuel for maximum performance
Competition102
Competition102 is premium petrol with an octane number of 102. The unique high octane number of 102 (RON 102) and MON number of at least 90 ensures optimal performances. Competition102 is suitable for all petrol-powered vehicles: from classic (Formula 1) cars and normal passenger vehicles to cross motorcycles and high performance racing cars. Competition102 fuel is exclusively produced, stored and distributed by Salland Olie Maatschappij B.V. in the Netherlands. It’s available at over 60 petrol stations nationwide and is sold in 60-litre barrels.
Pirelli, official tyre supplier
Pirelli is a tyre manufacturer and world leader in the automotive industry. It has an exclusive relationship with over 50 racing series worldwide, including Formula One.
Pirelli has a long and illustrious history in endurance racing, and has also claimed a huge variety of class wins in GT racing all over the world. The design of the new Pirelli GT tyres meets the needs of GT racing while maintaining the performance characteristics that endurance drivers have appreciated in the past. The slick tyres used for GT racing are branded Zero: just like the slicks that have become a central feature of Formula One. The name P Zero is used in the highest categories of motorsport such as GT racing.
SRO Motorsports Group, architect of modern GT Racing
SRO Motorsports Group was founded by Stephane Ratel and has specialised in the promotion, support and organisation of many national and international motorsport series since 1995.
In 2016, SRO Motorsports Group will promote several championships and series, such as the Blancpain GT Series, including the iconic Total 24 hours of Spa, the British GT Championship, the Blancpain Sports Club with the GT Sports Club and the Ultracar Sports Club, the Competition102 GT4 European Series and the Intercontinental GT Challenge.
SRO Motorsports Group runs also the SRO Race Centre by MMC, a high-level technical centre at the Paul Ricard Circuit in the south of France.
SRO has offices in London, Paris and Liège.