Sprint Cup grid grows to 30 cars as Saintéloc Racing adds third Audi for Misano

Sprint Cup grid grows to 30 cars as Saintéloc Racing adds third Audi for Misano

The field for this weekend's Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS Sprint Cup event at Misano has expanded to 30 cars with the addition of a third Audi from French squad Saintéloc Racing.

Finlay Hutchison and Markus Winkelhock will share the #27 machine, expanding a line-up that already features full-season crews Christopher Haase/Leo Roussel in the #25 and Frédéric Vervisch/Aurelien Panis in the #26.

The extra car joins what was already set to be the biggest Sprint Cup field since 2017. Scottish racer Hutchison and Audi Sport ace Winkelhock are established team-mates, having competed together in the opening two Endurance Cup events of 2021.

This weekend's event at Misano will be the third of five Sprint Cup rounds staged in 2021 and comes a month before the marquee TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa (29 July–1 August). Preparations will begin on Thursday with paid testing, followed by 80-minute Free Practice (11:50) and Pre-Qualifying (17:00) sessions on Friday.

Qualifying 1 takes place at 09:45 on Saturday morning and will set the grid for Race 1 at 15:00. The same format will be repeated on Sunday, with Qualifying 2 at 09:00 and Race 2 at 14:00. All of the action will be streamed live across the series' social media platforms and the GT World YouTube channel.