52 GT3 vehicles were part of the GTWC Europe Endurance Cup entry list for the 2022 season and these 52 cars will be present at the 3 Hours of Imola, the opening event of the event. At the start of the contest, up to 17 GT3 cars will compete for honors in the Pro class, while the new Gold division has 13 participants. What’s more, 18 GT3 vehicles are entered in the Silver Cupwhile only 4 cars will fight for victory in the Pro-Am category.
The 3 Hours of Imola as the opening event of the event has the honor of having the largest grid seen in the Endurance Cup – apart from Spa – since the resistance round that was held in Barcelona in 2018. Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Bentley and McLaren are represented in the category, although the distribution of cars is somewhat unbalanced. In fact, while Audi has twelve GT3 and Mercedes-AMG has eleven vehicles, while Aston Martin barely has two cars and Bentley only one.
Beyond the distribution of vehicles by categories and the volume of cars by manufacturer, data that was practically confirmed after the publication of the global entry list of the Endurance Cup, the highlight of the list of participants of the 3 Hours of Imola It’s in the confirmations of some alignments that were still in the air. Without going further, AKKA-ASP will have Raffaele Marciello, Jules Gounon and Dani Juncadella in the #88 Mercedeswhile in #87 appears Konstantin Tereschenko, a Russian pilot under the FIA’s neutral flag.
Other GT3s that have completed their driver line-up is the Audi #99 of Attempto Racing in which Markus Winkelhock, Dennis Marschall and Juuso Puhakka join forces. The first two are official Audi drivers, while the latter joins the team after competing in the Silver Cup last year with one of the Mercedes of the Toksport WRT team, a structure that this year is not in the championship representing Mercedes, a task which is held by Getspeed, HRT, SPS Automotive, Winward Racing, AKKA-ASP, Madpanda Motorsport and Tempesta Racing.
Among the GT3 to watch closely is the Audi #32 in which Kelvin Van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts competeas the bottom two are the reigning GTWC Europe and Sprint Cup champions. Even without having the 2021 Endurance Cup winners in action, Iron Lynx has shaped two luxury lineups. At Ferrari #51 will be Miguel Mlina, James Calado and Nicklas Nielsen, while Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon and Antonio Fuoco compete in #71. What’s more, the Lamborghini #63 with Mirko Bortolotti at the helm is always a candidate for everything.
Photos: GT World Challenge Europe