Le Mans 24 Hours winner Timo Bernhard will enter his factory-supported Porsche outfit Team 75 Motorsport in next month’s Spa 24 Hours.
Porsche factory drivers Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen will share a 911 GT3 R in the Belgian endurance classic.
The German team, founded by two-time Le Mans winner Bernhard and run by team manager Klaus Graf, will be making its first foray into 24-hour racing.
Team 75 is known for its exploits in the domestic ADAC GT Masters, Porsche Carrera Cup and VLN championships, and is known to have been on Porsche’s radar for a factory-supported assault at Spa.
Bernhard said: “Although the memories from the win at the Le Mans 24 Hours are still very fresh I’m already thinking about the next 24-hour race.
“With Michael, Kevin and Laurens we have three of the world’s best endurance drivers in our Porsche.
“Spa will be the very first 24-hour race for our team, so our goal is to learn as much as possible and do a good job.
“I’m very proud of the performance and the development of the team so far.”
“It’s a really nice project,” 2014 Spa winner Vanthoor told Autosport. “It’s not a factory team with 3,000 people, but just a small squad.
“It’s a positive story for everyone, also for the Blancpain GT Series and for Porsche.
“I know Kevin very well because he was my team-mate in the US and he took part in Le Mans with Michael. The three of us get along very well.”
Vanthoor will compete against his younger brother Dries, who took a GTE Am class win a fortnight ago at Le Mans.
“It will be funny to come across each other on track,” Vanthoor added.
“I’m really happy he won at Le Mans. He deserved to win a big race, but he’s had some bad luck.”