Round 5 of the 2017 Michelin Le Mans Cup at Spa-Francorchamps will feature a bumper grid of 22 cars. After five action packed races in Italy, France and Austria, the 2-hour encounter in the Ardennes will be a good indication of the destination of the 2017 titles, with the possibility of LMP3 titles being decided in Belgium on Saturday 23 September.
Local interest will focus on the Belgium and Dutch entries with 6 of the 44 drivers representing either Belgium or The Netherlands.
All eyes will be on the no3 DKR Engineering Norma M30 as local hero Jean Glorieux will be driving for gold at his home track alongside his Spanish teammate Alex Toril. The 32-year-old Belgian has won the last two races, taken four pole positions and finished on the podium four times in the first five races of the 2017 season. Glorieux and Toril are currently 25 points ahead of their nearest rivals and just need to be 27 points ahead on Saturday evening to secure the driver and team titles.
Their nearest rivals are the all British team of Colin Noble and Tony Wells in the no79 Nielsen Racing Ligier-Nissan and the Monza race winners will be doing their very best to ensure the title is decided in Portugal next month.
The second Belgian driver on the LMP3 grid is Eric de Doncker in the no98 Motorsport98 Ligier. The former FIA GT3 European Championship race winner and reigning Group C Racing Series Class 1 Champion is currently 5th in the overall standings with his British teammate Andy Meyrick with a season best finish of 4th at the Red Bull Ring. De Doncker will be looking for his first MLMC podium at home in Spa.
With a large contingent of fans expected to travel to Spa from The Netherlands, a lot of interest will be focused on the Dutch drivers. There are three drivers on the LMP3 grid with Mathijs Bakker in the no33 Ibran Pardo Javier Ligier-Nissan and the all Dutch Kox Racing team of Peter Kox and Nico Pronk.
The GT3 grid sees the return of the no20 Gulf Racing Porsche 911 of Andrew Baker and Ben Barker to boost the high quality entry.
Two time race winners Emanuele Busnelli and Fabio Babini are currently leading the driver and team championships in their Ebimotors run Lamborghini Huracan, with the all Italian team 16 points ahead of their nearest rivals, Lee Mowle and Phil Keen in the no7 Mercedes AMG GT3.
The no75 Optimum Racing Audi R8 of Joe Osborne and Flick Haigh is still in touch with the leaders with 49.5 points and the all British team still have a mathematical shot at the title.
Local interest on the GT3 grid will be on Dutch driver Remon Vos in the no5 RAM Racing Mercedes AMG who will be racing with Tom Onslow Cole on the 7km Spa-Francorchamps circuit.
Round 5 of the 2017 Michelin Le Mans Cup will take place on Saturday 23 September, with qualifying earlier on the same day.
CLICK HERE for the provisional entry list for Round 5 of the 2017 Michelin Le Mans Cup at Spa Francorchamps
