Photo: Jacques Letihon Photographe

Volvo trio ready for Spa 12 Hours

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Volvo Racing are ready to take on the 12 Hours of Spa, with WTCC driver Rob Huff joining regular drivers Eric van de Poele & Vincent Radermecker at the event.

The third round of this year’s championship, this will be the longest distance the new Volvo S60 will have competed in so far – though finishing second place last time out at Dijon-Prenois, the team will be aiming to move up one extra position on the podium this weekend.

Drafting in WTCC star Rob Huff, who currently sits joint second in the championship is a great coup for the team, who already have former F1 driver Eric van de Poele in their line-up, as well as former ADAC Procar champion Vincent Radermecker.

The race winner is most likely to come from the top S1 Silhoutte category – and with Delahaye Racing’s Renault Mégane Trophy winning three out of the four rounds so far this season, they’re certainly the favourite – with drivers Frédéric Bouvy, François Verbist & Christian Kelders taking part this weekend.

Fighting with numbers, British squad Chad Racing will bring as usual three Kia Pro_Cee’d cars – though a last minute replacement in the #17 car sees Kris Wauters swapped out as he’s unwell, and will be replaced by former Champcar driver Jan Heylen.

Last year’s winning team, missing the regular round of the championship are back for Spa with their Audi A4, but with an all new driver line-up of Nathalie Maillet, Ronnie Dubois & Nicolas De Keijser.

KS Motorsport, the only other team to have won a race this season will field two BMW M3’s – and will fancy their chances also at taking a victory.

Gomez Compétition will enter three GC10 Silhouettes, with former WTCC driver Pierre-Yves Corthals sharing one of the cars. Although still entered in the S1 category, one of the cars isn’t running with the 400bhp unit, and is running a lesser power unit closer to that of the S2 category, so Haddouche, Gagneux & Calmon will effectively be running with a bit of a handicap in the VW Scirocco shaped car.

The last runner is Jag4Fun, featuring a gentlemen driver line-up – originally the team was planning to debut a new XF, but will now enter that car at a later date.

The third round of the BTCS, the 12 Hours of Spa, gets underway this Saturday. TouringCarTimes will be providing regular updates during the race.