Martin/Vanthoor/Tandy headline two-car KCMG Porsche effort

Martin/Vanthoor/Tandy headline two-car KCMG Porsche effort

KCMG will bid for overall victory at this year's TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa with a two-car Porsche effort that includes a trio of past winners. 

This will be the Hong Kong squad's second year competing in the Ardennes with factory support from Porsche and sees two more crews join the growing 2021 entry list. 

The #18 KCMG machine will gun for overall honours with a tried and tested line-up of Josh Burdon, Alexandre Imperatori and Edoardo Liberati. The same trio drove for Paul Ip's team last term and all three are long-standing members of the outfit. 

In terms of sheer star power, the line-up of the sister #47 will take some beating. Last year's winners Laurens Vanthoor and Nick Tandy are reunited, giving KCMG two of the most experienced and accomplished Porsche GT3 drivers on the planet. It is noteworthy, too, that Belgian ace Vanthoor will be bidding for his third overall win at the event.

With their 2020 teammate Earl Bamber already committed to a full-season programme with GPX Martini Racing, Paul Ip's team had to look elsewhere for a third driver. Their choice of Maxime Martin adds yet more talent as well as another previous winner, the local favourite having triumphed in 2016. 

Martin will return to the fight for overall honours having contested last year's race in the Pro-Am class. A perennial challenger for victory, this year's event will see Martin come full circle: his debut at the 24 Hours, in 2006, was at the wheel of a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car run by Belgian squad First Motorsport. 

KCMG founder Paul Ip commented: “Once again our GT programme takes us from the Nordschleife to Spa-Francorchamps for another global GT3 endurance race with Porsche. We’re very excited to once again be running two cars and that our #47 machine will feature Porsche works driver Laurens Vanthoor alongside two of the world’s finest GT drivers, Nick Tandy and Maxime Martin. 

"KCMG was a victory contender at last year’s 24 Hours of Spa and with this line-up and the support of Porsche, we have every confidence that we can be in a similar, even not even better, position in 2021.”

The team will be present at next week's TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa test days (22-23 June) with both of its Porsche 911 GT3-R machines. This year's race will return to its traditional summer slot following last year’s one-off autumn running, with track activity scheduled for 29 July–1 August.