This weekend, the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps hosts the first round of the brand new Virtual 24H SERIES. In the GT3 class, can 24H SERIES staples Red Camel-Jordans.nl (Red Camel Esports), Leipert Motorsport (Leipert eSports Real Yellow), and/or Cor Euser Racing continue their run of success against a host of debuting rivals? Can Team ABBA Racing bounce back from the bad luck it suffered at the E-SPORTS 12H MONZA? And will a switch from Mercedes to Audi pay off for Radio Show Limited?

Ferrari 488 GT3

By far the most popular model thus far in the ‘GT3’ category is the Ferrari 488, with more than 15 teams entering a prancing horse for the E-SPORTS 12H SPA. Understandable too, given that South Korea’s Atlas BX Motorsports claimed outright pole position with a Ferrari at the last 24H SERIES iRacing event in Monza.  

Expect Leipert eSports Real Yellow to be among the favourites (#10, Dan Wells / Louis Prette). As Leipert Racing, the German team secured the Overall GT Teams’ crown in the 24H SERIES Continents, and in their iRacing guise, the 24H SERIES stalwart also finished 4th last time out at Monza.

The first of four entries for DUWO by SimRC – check out our other event preview for further details – is a Ferrari 488 GT3 for Philip Weber, Cedric Bollen and Diogo C. Pinto, which qualified on the second row of the grid last time out at Monza.

Like the Luxembourg team, SIMMSA Esports is also operating multiple entries (its GT4 Porsche you can read about HERE), two of which are ‘GT3’-entered Ferrari 488s. The first (#66, Christopher Zoechling / Lewis Goodway / Michael Davies / Scott Brazier / Ramez Azzam) will be operated solely by the Emirati team, while the other (#67, Aron Engel / Julian Reinhart / Luca Trunk / Tim Brzeske / Simon Klemund) is a collaborative effort with former Hankook 24H DUBAI class winner, fun-M Motorsport.

And, lastly, Raceunion 12H (#87, Florian Bodin / Marvin Otterbach / David Jahn), alongside its entry in ‘991’, has also entered a Ferrari 488 GT3 for the E-SPORTS 12H SPA.

The subtly renamed Speed Monkeys eSports #YELLOW (#23, Julian Niederhagen / Daniel Muth / Daniel Alves Lourenco) makes its virtual series return after taking a top 20 finish at Monza. One team returning after a longer hiatus though is Fox Motorsport by Vibe eSport (#99, Gordon Mutch / Josh Malin / Luke Bennett). The British outfit last raced in the 24H SERIES, fittingly, at the 2018 Hankook 12H SPA, bowing out with its second class win of the season.  

A stalwart TCE competitor – Red Camel-Jordans.nl took two class ‘TCR’ class wins at Spa-Francorchamps and COTA last year, and overall victory at the inaugural TCR SPA 500 – Red Camel Esports (#98) will once again compete with a Ferrari 488 GT3 in the Virtual 24H SERIES. Brothers Rik and Luc Breukers will once again team with Dutch compatriot, Jorn Zoetekouw.

A host of debutants will also make their first 24H SERIES appearance at this weekend’s E-SPORTS 12H SPA. Poland’s Atlantis Racing Team in particular does so with gusto, having entered two Ferrari 488 GT3s for Pawel Kowalik, Tomasz Oliwiak, Miroslaw Nastalczyk, and Miroslaw Nastalczyk (#27), and Arkadiusz Neumann, Jakub Wyderka, Marcin Imielski, and Maciej Mlynek (#28).

RSR Abruzzi Esport (#55, Anthony Pisano / Paulo Munoz / Christopher Pfeffer) and Satellite Racing (#64, Nick Rowland / Eneric Andre / Alexis Fedoriw) will both represent the stars and stripes at Spa-Francorchamps, while QUASAR SIM RACING – HYDRA (#25, Garrett Thompson / Aaron R Ackles / Richard Small / Jonnie Waters) is thus far the only Canadian team on the entry list.

Finally, Indonesia’s HM Engineering (#89, Jordan Weekes / Kieran Harrison / Norbert Leitner / Jeremy Lamier / Maxim Ramsteijn) and IJN RACING BY SIMATTACK (#33, Marc Veit / Paul J Holt / Tonnie Jansen / Pim van Ark) complete the Ferrari 488 GT3 line-up.

Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo 2019

In a change of pace, 24H SERIES staple Cor Euser Racing (#9, Rik Koen / Joey Alders / Tim Matzke) trades in its MARC II V8 for a digital Audi R8 at Spa-Francorchamps. Though not on driver detail, the Dutch endurance legend already has a 4th in-class at the season-opening Hankook 24H DUBAI to its name in 2020.

As it did at the E-SPORTS 12H MONZA in May, Radio Show Limited has confirmed an entry for the E-SPORTS 12H SPA as Team RSL Powered by MOFO (#62). Vaunted commentary duo Nick Daman and Joe Bradley will again team with Darren Wood and Simon Herring, though the quartet have swapped their Mercedes-AMG GT3 for the four rings.

24H SERIES newboy GazX Racing meanwhile is set to enter two Audi R8s at Spa-Francorchamps (#11 and #88), while fellow series debutant T3 eSports Beta has a confirmed entry for German compatriots Bastian Dobitz, Patrick Dietzen and Jens Homann.

Mercedes-AMG GT3

In contention for victory in the early going at Monza until contact ‘on-track’ scuppered the team’s pace, Team ABBA Racing (#8), a former Hankook 24H SILVERSTONE race winner, will surely be on its rival’s respective radars at Spa. Former 24H SERIES A6 Drivers’ champion Tom Onslow-Cole is set to team up again with multi-time class winner Adam Christodoulou and ABBA’s Sam Neary in one of only three Mercedes-AMG GT3s on the virtual grid.

Viper Niza Racing, a class winner at the inaugural TCR SPA 500 last year, steps up from the TCE division to compete with a Mercedes-AMG GT3 at Spa-Francorchamps (#65, Douglas Khoo / Dominic Ang / Rueben Wong / Freddie Ang).

Similarly, Team Virage eSports, which finished 4th in the ‘GT4’ class at the E-SPORTS 12H MONZA, also swaps to the ‘GT3’ class for Spa with Julien Gerbi, Julian Wagg, Felipe Espinosa and Rodolfo Gonzalez (#94).

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* Full entry list for this weekend’s E-SPORTS 12H SPA HERE