Four championships and 34 drivers for Comtoyou Racing in 2023

Founded at the end of 2015 to compete in the Fun Cup, Comtoyou Racing will experience its eighth full season in 2023. Between 2015 and 2023, the structure managed by Jean-Michel Baert and François Verbist has become one of the undisputed benchmark teams in the world of touring cars. As the official representative of Audi Sport in world competition, it finished second in the Teams and Drivers rankings (with Fred Vervisch) in the 2021 FIA WTCR and won two Teams (2020 and 2022) and Drivers (Mehdi Bennani in 2020, Franco Girolami in 2022) titles in TCR Europe. Last year, with the addition of the Diamond Trophy (Viktor Davidovski) and Rookies (Marco Butti) titles, Comtoyou Racing even won all the titles at stake!

In addition to continuing its involvement in the Kumho TCR World Tour (successor to the FIA WTCR) with two Audi RS3 LMS, in TCR Europe with four cars and in the Fun Cup powered by Hankook with five Fun Cup Evo3 cars, Comtoyou Racing will add a fourth programme to its 2023 season by competing in the entire Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS. The Gembloux and Frameries-based outfit has purchased three brand new Audi R8 LMS Evo IIs, which will compete in both the Endurance Cup, with the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa as its highlight, and the Sprint Cup.

In order to run so many programmes at the same time, Comtoyou Racing has had to restructure, on the one hand by acquiring new buildings in Gembloux, where the Fun Cup and classic car restoration departments are now located, and on the other hand by recruiting key elements.

On Thursday 13 April, in the superb setting of the Lacs de l'Eau d'Heure, Comtoyou Racing detailed each of its four programmes, revealing in passing the drivers who will be flying the team's colours in the various championships. 

Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS

This is the new challenge for Comtoyou Racing. In addition to its involvement with Audi in TCR, both at world level and on the European scene, the structure of Jean-Michel Baert and François Verbist had the desire to develop a new branch. The passion for GT and the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa did the rest: in 2023, Comtoyou Racing will compete in the entire Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS!

Three Audi R8 LMS Evo II cars, all of which were sourced from Audi Sport, have now joined the workshops in Frameries and will compete in the five races of the Endurance Cup and the five races of the Sprint Cup.

In the Endurance Cup, the #11 car will be aiming for overall victory with three official Audi Sport drivers: the Belgians Frédéric Vervisch and Gilles Magnus and the German Christopher Haase. Two Belgians will also be at the wheel of the #21 car, which will be lined up in the Gold Cup: for his second season, Nicolas Baert will be associated with Maxime Soulet, back in the championship, and the young German Max Hofer. Finally, the #12 car will be aiming for the leading positions in the Silver Cup with Sam Dejonghe, who will therefore ensure a Belgian presence in all the cars, the Scotsman Finlay Hutchison and the Dutchman Loris Hezemans.

In addition to the Endurance Cup, five of these nine drivers will also compete in the Sprint Cup. The Swiss Lucas Légeret and Christopher Haase will team up in the #11 Audi, while the #12 Audi of Nicolas Baert and Frédéric Vervisch, also competing in the Pro category, will be a 100% Belgian duo. Finally, the #21 car will see Finlay Hutchison and Gilles Magnus aiming for the top positions in the Gold Cup.