Winward Adds Third 24H Spa Entry for Ward, Ellis, Dontje
Winward Racing expands 24H Spa effort; brings in IMSA GTD regulars to pilot third car...
Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMS
Winward Racing will enter a third Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in next month’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, featuring the team’s regular IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship driver lineup.
Russell Ward, Philip Ellis and Indy Dontje will pilot the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo at the Ardennes endurance classic, which takes place on June 25-29.
They will compete in Gold Cup, which is the same class that they were entered into when they last contested an edition of the 24H Spa together in 2023.
Ward and Ellis currently lead the GTD standings in the WeatherTech Championship after taking the class victory at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca last weekend.
The No. 57 car joins the team’s two regular GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup entries, spearheaded by the No. 48 entry for Maro Engel, Lucas Auer and Matteo Cairoli.
A second car competes in Bronze Cup, with lineup for that car consisting of Rinat Salikhov, Marvin Dienst, Gabriele Piana and Daan Arrow.
CrowdStrike by SPS to Defend Pro-Am Crown With Unchanged Lineup
In total, Mercedes-AMG will field twelve cars in the 24H Spa, with its eight full-time Endurance Cup entries joined by four one-off cars.
Amongst those is the No. 4 CrowdStrike by SPS squad, which will defend its Pro-Am victory with an unchanged lineup compared to last year as George Kurtz and Ian James return to team up with Acura GTP racer Colin Braun and Corvette factory driver Nicky Catsburg.
Catsburg, in particular, will aim to secure a third consecutive Pro-Am win at Spa, as he also won with SunEnergy1 Racing in 2023.
Out of the four one-off Mercedes-AMG entries, one is entered into the Pro category.
As previously reported by Sportscar365, Toyota Gazoo Racing team principal Kamui Kobayashi will compete at the event with Goodsmile Racing, teaming up with compatriots Tatsuya Kataoka and Nobuteru Taniguchi.
2 Seas Motorsport, meanwhile, has entered a Bronze Cup car for Isa Al Khalifa, Kiern Jewiss, Kevin Tse and Lewis Williamson.
The full 24H Spa entry list is expected to be revealed on Tuesday as part of the two-day Prologue test taking place this week.
