The famous Circuit de Catalunya, well-known as the venue of the Spanish Formula 1-Grand Prix, will be hosting the 24H BARCELONA this weekend. With a huge entry of 60 cars in total, ranging from GT3 machines to powerful ‘hot hatchbacks’ in the touring car categories, great racing is expected in every class of the endurance event.
As usual, the A6 category is the top class in the field. Here, six GT3 cars have been entered: an Aston Martin Vantage GT3, a Ferrari 430 GT3 Scuderia, a Porsche 911 GT3-R and no less than three Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3s. With Mercedes-Benz customer teams having won nearly all the major endurance races for GT cars this year, the teams Car Collection Motorsport from Germany, De Lorenzi Racing from Italy and Hofor Racing from Switzerland will be out to add another success. German Kenneth Heyer, one of the drivers in the Hofor-SLS, can achieve a special feat: last weekend, he won the Zolder 24-hour race and when he scores another victory in Barcelona, he will be the first driver with two outright 24 hour race wins in as many weeks this year. However, the teams with the gullwing sports cars will be facing strong opposition. British team Barwell Motorsport aims to celebrate the centennial of the Aston Martin brand in style and has works drivers Bruno Senna and Stefan Mücke added to its line-up. Danish team Bremer Racing also has a strong quartet of drivers for its Ferrari 430 while Swiss outfit, Stadler Motorsport, has four experienced Porsche drivers, including Porsche Supercup regular Norbert Siedler, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the iconic Porsche 911.
The Porsche 997 Cup class has teams from Australia, France, Germany and Italy competing while a Belgian team has entered a pair of Porsche 996 cars. The SP2 category includes a powerful Callaway-Chevrolet Corvette and two GC Automobile silhouette cars. The Ginetta G50 GT4 is the car of choice in the SP3 class with four of them entered by three different teams from Great Britain, Italy and Spain. Other SP3 cars are a BMW M3 GT4, a Lotus Evora GT4, an Aston Martin Vantage GT4 and an Audi R8. As usual, the A5 class is a BMW-only affair with various M3 versions, a 3-series WTCC car with a 3.5 litre engine, a 3-series M Coupé and a 130i Cup car.
On home soil, only a few kilometres away from its headquarters in Martorell, the Spanish SEAT brand is set for success in the A3T class with no less than eight SEAT Leon Supercopa cars on the grid, entered by teams from France, Great Britain, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain and the United Arab Emirates. The only non-SEAT in this category is a Volkswagen Scirocco GT24 from a Spanish team. In the A2 class, five Renault Clios are up against two MINIs and three Honda.
Civics. The D1 diesel class has two SEAT Leon TDIs, two BMW 120Ds, one BMW 320D and one Volkswagen Golf V TDI and a pair of BMW 135Ds is contesting the D2 class.
Track action at the Circuit de Catalunya starts on Friday, September 6th, with free practice from 16.30 to 17.15 hrs, followed by qualifying from 17.45 to 19.45 hrs and night practice from 21.00 to 23.00 hrs. The 24-hour race starts on Saturday, September 7th, at 12.00 hrs.
Latest information, live-timing, photos and video footage can be found at live.24hseries.com. There will also be regular updates on Twitter (@24HSERIES, hashtag #24HBCN) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/24hseries).
Source : 24H Series