Preparing for their maiden race at the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsport have joined the entry list for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
The team, appearing on the expanded entry list for the opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, earned an invite to the blue-ribband event in the summer after American racer Patrick Kelly received the auto-invite from being awarded the 2020 Jim Trueman Award by virtue of his IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship LMP2 title. Kelly is currently the only driver listed for the car’s entry at the 6 Hours of Spa.
Along with the addition of PR1/Mathiasen, the two Le Mans-entered G-Drive Racing cars will also take to the track at Spa-Francorchamps at the end of next month. With both driver line-ups confirmed, team patron Roman Rusinov will share one of the G-Drive cars with silver-rated Franco Colapinto (making his WEC debut) and ex-Formula 1 racer Roberto Merhi. In the sister car, the trio from the European Le Mans Series G-Drive entry – John Falb, Rui Andrade and Pietro Fittipaldi – will take the wheel.
The addition of these three cars pushes the LMP2 field up to 14 cars.
Doubts remain over the full 37 expected cars making it to the start line, however, as Scuderia Cameron Glickehaus has expressed doubts of their car being ready in time due to COVID hold ups through the homologation process. The team completed three tests with the 007 earlier this month and were positive about the car’s performance, but the pressure is still on for them to make it to the opening round of the championship even with the delayed start to the season.
