Lexus signs up for full-time 2018 Blancpain GT Series campaign

A pair of Lexus RC F GT3s will be entered in both the Endurance and Sprint Cup segments of the BGTS by the Swiss Emil Frey team.

The full BGTS programme follows a one-off entry at the Nurburgring sprint round at the end of the last season, as well as a campaign in the International GT Open series.

The driver line-up will include ex-Formula 1 driver Christian Klien, Le Mans 24 Hours victor Stephane Ortelli, former Formula Renault 3.5 race winner Albert Costa and Marco Seefried, who were all regulars in Frey's Jaguar BGTS endurance programme last season.

They will be joined by Markus Palttala, winner of the Spa 24 Hours in 2015, and Norbert Siedler, who raced for the team at last year's Barcelona endurance finale.

Frey will also enter its XKR-based GT3 Jaguar in selected races, including the Monza, Silverstone and Paul Ricard enduros.

Alex Fontana will stay with the team and will be joined by Adrian Zaugg and Mikael Grenier.

The French Sainteloc Audi squad, which won last year's Spa 24 Hours BGTS blue-riband round with factory backing, is expanding its assault on the BGTS this year.

It will run a pro class Audi R8 LMS in all the enduros, whereas last year it only contested the Paul Ricard and Spa races in the top division, and increase its Sprint Cup presence with two pro entries.

Audi factory drivers Markus Winkelhock and Christopher Haase, who were part of its winning Spa line-up last year, are the drivers confirmed so far.