MEDIA INFORMATION
2023 FANATEC GT WORLD CHALLENGE POWERED BY AWS ENDURANCE CUP
Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa, Belgium, round 3
June 30th-July 2nd, 2023
For immediate release
Wednesday, June 28th, 2023
AL-MANAR RACING’S STOLZ AND SCHILLER TEAM UP WITH LUCAS AUER FOR CROWDSTRIKE 24 HOURS OF SPA ROUND OF FANATEC GT WORLD CHALLENGE
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS (BELGIUM): The regular Al-Manar Racing by Getspeed duo of Luca Stolz and Fabian Schiller team up with Lucas Auer and turn their attention to this weekend’s world famous CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. They will tackle the 75th running of the iconic race in their customary 777 Mercedes AMG-GT3.
The race is the third counting round of the 2023 Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS Endurance Cup and has attracted a world class field of endurance drivers, who will challenge for honours on the 7.004km, 21-turn circuit in southern Belgium.
After dropping from second to 15th with technical issues at the season’s opener at Monza, Stolz, Schiller and Maro Engel finished a close second in the Pro Cup category at round two last month at Paul Ricard in France behind the AKKODIS ASP Team Mercedes, crewed by Raffaele Marciello, Timur Boguslavskiy and Jules Gounon.
Auer replaces Engel on this occasion and joins the team with a wealth of racing experience as diverse as Formula 3, DTM, ADAC GT Masters, test driving for the Sahara Force India F1 Team and International GT Open and GT World Challenge. The 28-year-old Austrian is the nephew of former Formula 1 driver Gerhard Berger.
Rivals to the Al-Manar Racing by Getspeed trio on this occasion include a pair of AKKODIS ASP Team Mercedes, the Sainteloc Junior Team Audi, Team WRT’s BMW M4s, the Tresor Orange 1 Audi, the AF-Corse Ferrari 296 GT3s, the Iron Lynx Lamborghini, Rowe Racing’s BMW M4s and the Garage 59 McLaren.
The first on-track action will be a 90-minute free practice session from 11.20hrs tomorrow (Thursday). This precedes an hour of pre-qualifying, starting at 18.10hrs, and then four 15-minute qualifying sessions and night practice, with Q1 getting underway at 21.20hrs and action running until after midnight.
With Fanatec GT World Challenge competitors sharing the circuit over the weekend with Lamborghini Super Trofeo, Formula Regional Championship by Alpine entrants, GT1 Sports Club and the McLaren Trophy Europe, Friday’s action is restricted to a 30-minute Super Pole session, starting at 15.35hrs, and a half-hour evening warm-up from 20.35hrs.
The 75th CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa then takes centre stage with pre-race formalities from 15.30hrs on Saturday. Drivers will join the formation lap at 16.25hrs and carry out a rolling start from 16.30hrs.
The chequered flag will be raised at 16.30hrs on Sunday with the podium and winners’ press conference to follow.
Ends
For further information:
Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS (gt-world-challenge-europe.com)