Comtoyou Racing embarks in force on the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe

This will be one of the great novelties of the 2023 season. While continuing its activities in the VW Fun Cup and in touring car competitions (with a presence in the TCR World Tour and the defence of the Drivers and Teams titles in TCR Europe), Comtoyou Racing will be making its debut in GT racing. The Belgian team has not taken the easy way out: the prestigious Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe, considered as the most challenging competition for GT3 cars, will be the main programme of the season for the GT Department.

“Although there will still be links, we have indeed separated our team between the VW Fun Cup, the TCR and the GT,” explains Jean-Michel Baert, the Team Principal. “Each structure must be able to operate independently and it is obviously preferable that the engineers and mechanics can concentrate fully on one discipline. Within this framework we have strengthened our team and we are very happy with the collaboration between old and new. Furthermore, we have appointed Sébastien Breuil as leader of our GT3 programme.”

The French engineer, who has considerable experience with the Audi R8 LMS GT3 in various teams, will certainly be one of the cornerstones of the Frameries-based team. “I would like to thank Jean-Michel and François Verbist for their confidence,” smiles Sébastien. “Our common objective is to build on the long term and I feel that the entire team is very motivated.”

Although the identity of the drivers will be announced at the end of February, Comtoyou Racing has already confirmed that it will be present in the entire Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe, i.e. the five races of the Endurance Cup (including the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa) and the five meetings of the Sprint Cup. The surprise comes from the number of cars entered... 

“Effectively, we can confirm no fewer than three Audi R8 LMS GT3s, both in Sprint and in Endurance,” smiles Sébastien Breuil. “We will have two cars in the Pro class in Sprint and one Pro in Endurance. The third car in Sprint will be entered in Silver. For the two remaining cars in Endurance, there will be at least one Silver car and we are in the process of putting together the last crew. It could be a Silver Cup car again, but the idea of a Bronze Cup trio with a Bronze, and therefore amateur, driver is not excluded. This would allow us to be present in three different categories and to demonstrate our versatility in the services offered to drivers.”   

In the meantime, preparations are well under way. “We have purchased three new Audi R8 LMS GT3 cars from Audi Sport customer racing,” says Team Manager François Verbist. “The first car arrived in December and we have already run several test sessions with it. We received the second car last week and the third is currently being assembled at Audi Sport.”

With the season set to kick off at Monza on 23 April 2023, we will all have to be patient to find out who the Comtoyou Racing crews are. But the fans should not be disappointed!