Sportscar GT rookie David Vidales is gearing up for his biggest challenge of the year this weekend as he takes to the track for the centenary Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa, the Belgian endurance racing classic and the fourth round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe. The MIM-contracted driver has a five-race programme this year in the Endurance Cup, where he is competing with the red #71 AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors Ferrari 296 GT3.
The 21-year-old Spanish driver and his French teammates Thomas Neubauer and Vincent Abril make up just one of the 66 crews entered for this twice-round-the-clock event, which will see nine different brands and drivers in five different categories take to the 16.30 start on Saturday afternoon – when they will be flagged away by sportscar legend Jacky Ickx – around the 7.004 km circuit in the heart of the Ardennes forest in Belgium.
“It’s the first 24-hour race in my life so you can imagine the excitement, honestly I’m really looking forward to it,” declared Vidales after Tuesday’s free practice session. “I drove for about one hour yesterday and everything looks good so far, so I’m confident it’s going to be a really strong qualifying, and that we can have the pace to start in front. Then a 24-hour race is very long but we know what we have to do. I haven’t driven for a long time, the last test was more than one month ago, and the first race more than two months ago so it’s nice to get back behind the wheel and get the feeling back. Straightaway I was on the pace so that was good. As for a result, I think a win is possible because we have a very strong team in terms of driver line-up, as well as AF Corse the top Ferrari team and I’m very confident that we have all the ingredients to do a very good race. But anything can happen, especially here in Spa where the conditions are always changing, everyone is very competitive, and there are a lot of factory teams and pro drivers. For the race it looks like it’s going to rain on Saturday evening and all night, so it’s not going to be easy, that’s for sure.”
The action at the iconic Spa-Francorchamps track gets underway on Thursday with an intense programme of Free Practice, Pre-Qualifying, Qualifying and Night Practice, while Superpole and Warm Up are held Friday afternoon and evening. The 24-hour race gets underway at 16:30 CET.
Follow David in action from Spa on our social media channels and live on YouTube and davidvidalesracing.com
