Macau FIA GT World Cup entry list released

Edoardo Mortara, Maro Engel, Andre Couto and Darryl O'Young will each represent one of the five manufacturers bidding for honours in the World Cup for GT3 machinery over the Macau Grand Prix weekend on November 19-22.

They will be joined on the 24-car entry by two-time Macau winner in Keita Sawa, who will be racing one of eight cars not registered for World Cup points.

Audi DTM driver Mortara will be bidding to add to his tally of two Macau Formula 3 and three Macau GT Cup wins with the German Phoenix team.

The Italian, like all three of the official entries from the German manufacturer, will race a second-generation Audi R8 LMS.

The Belgian WRT squad will field the other two Audis competing for manufacturer points.

Laurens Vanthoor will take part in the car that will compete under WRT's own banner, pending a recovery from the leg injuries he sustained in last weekend's Blancpain Sprint Series round at Misano.

WRT will also run the car entered by Audi Hong Kong for Macau regular Marchy Lee.

German Maro Engel, winner of last year's final Macau GT event before its transition into the World Cup, will carry the #1 on the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG he drives for the Driving Academy squad.

Mercedes has only entered two cars rather than the permitted maximum of three, with the Academy team's second entry to be raced by Renger van der Zande.

Local driver Couto will drive for McLaren, 15 years on from his victory in the blue riband F3 event.

The 38-year-old will race for the FFF Racing Team together with McLaren factory driver Alvaro Parente and Super Formula driver Will Buller, who will be making his sportscar debut at a track on which he raced four times in F3.

Darryl O'Young, who won the inaugural Macau GT Cup in 2008, is the only driver confirmed at the Craft-Bamboo Aston Martin squad, but factory driver Stefan Mucke and team regular Richard Lyons are expected to fill the vacant spots.

Le Mans 24 Hours winner Earl Bamber will race one of two 911 GT3-Rs entered by LKM Racing as part of Porsche's official entry.

Japanese Sawa, winner of the Macau GT Cup in 2009-10, is entered in a Bentley from Absolute Racing.

Two more Continental GT3s from Absolute, three Ferraris, a further pair of Audis, a Porsche and one entry for an undisclosed car for former Lotus Formula 1 test driver Fairuz Fauzy will compete outside of the manufacturers' classification.

The top two cars from each registered manufacturer in the main 60-minute race will accrue points on the Formula 1 scoring system.