American based New Zealand racing driver Matt Halliday has declared himself well prepared in anticipation of his debut appearance at one of the world’s most prestigious long distance motor races. This weekend he will join his Belgian Audi Club Team WRT team mates for a major assault on the Total 24 Hours of Spa to be held at Belgium’s Spa-Franchorchamps circuit located in the Ardenne forest region. The race will also be the fourth round of the high profile Blancpain Endurance Series for GT sports cars.
Halliday and his co-drivers Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof (Austria) and female driver Rahel Frey (Switzerland), will pilot the team’s No. 0 Audi R8 LMS ULTRA GT3 as part of a four car assault by the Audi works supported organisation. The race will feature a huge field of 72 cars including classic marques such as Audi, Ferrari, McLaren, Lamborghini, BMW, Aston Martin, Mercedes, Porsche and Nissan.
Having taken out overall victory in the 2011 race and finished runners-up last year, the team is well primed for success especially after one of their cars set the fastest lap time in pre-event testing a fortnight ago:
“For a Belgian team like ours, the Spa 24 Hours means an extra something and after our first win in 2011 and second position last year, we are determined to fight for being again on the highest step of the podium” explained WRT Principal Vincent Vosse.
Halliday was pleased with his testing performance by lapping comfortably within the top ten and is confident he will be well on the pace come race day. However, he is also aware that consistency as well as speed could be the key to success over the arduous 24 hours race distance:
“The 24 hours of Spa is the biggest GT endurance race in the world and the track, as we know, is one of the original big boys that requires huge commitment on a normal day.
“To be part of WRT and Audi Sports programme and to be working with some of the best team mates and engineers in the business you can’t ask for more going into an event at this level.
“We had a tough round in Paul Ricard as the “Balance of Performance” (BOP) has made it very difficult for the Audi this year. However, Spa-Franchorchamps offers a different set of challenges and based on what we learned in the official test a few weeks ago, I am confident we can put up a big fight!” said Halliday on his departure for Belgium
Qualifying for the race will take place on this coming Friday 26th with the race scheduled to start at 4:30pm on Saturday 27th and conclude on Sunday afternoon Belgium time.
