Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Phoenix Audi effort joins line-up for 2016 Sepang 12 Hours

The German Phoenix squad will represent Audi in the final round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge at Sepang next month with two cars and six factory drivers

The pair of Phoenix Audi R8 LMS GT3 cars will be raced by Laurens Vanthoor, Robin Frijns and Christopher Haase, and Rene Rast, Markus Winkelhock and Pierre Kaffer in the Sepang 12 Hours run by the Stephane Ratel Organisation on December 10.

The US K-PAX team will fly the flag for McLaren in the finale of the IGTC, which incorporates the GT3 enduros at Bathurst and Spa with Sepang.

K-PAX, sister team of the US sportscar stalwart Flying Lizards and a competitor in the Pirelli World Challenge, will field a solo McLaren 650S GT3 for three factory drivers who have yet to be confirmed.

The likely line-up is Shane van Gisbergen, who is second in the drivers' points to Vanthoor, Rob Bell and Alvaro Parente.

Bentley looks unlikely to defend its lead in the manufacturers' standings.

The M-Sport Bentley team, which took in the event in 2015, will not be racing at Sepang this year, and it appears that no other team running the Continental GT3 will be present to try to score points for the marque.

Mercedes, which is second in the manufacturers' points, will be represented by Japanese Super Taikyu team Saitama Toyopet with an old SLS AMG to be shared by a roster including sometime Formula 1 driver Naoki Hattori.

The entry from Ferrari, the other of the four manufacturers registered for IGTS points, will be led by the AF Corse-run Spirit of Race team.

Its 488 GT3 will be driven by Alessandro Pierguidi, Michele Rugolo and former British GT racer Pasin Lathouras

Further Ferraris on the entry list will be fielded by the HubAuto Racing from Japan and local teams T2 Motorsport and Naza Nexus.

Porsche, which announced that the factory Manthey team would contest the event at the end of last year, will field two 911 GT3-Rs for Nick Tandy, Earl Bamber and Patrick Pilet, and Frederic Makowiecki, Richard Lietz and Michael Christensen.

The 25-plus entries received for the race so far include 13 GT3 cars, up on the 11 that started last year's event.

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Strakka leaves WEC LMP2 for McLaren Blancpain GT deal
Next article Ex-Formula 1 driver Heikki Kovalainen wins Super GT title in Japan

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe