A number of teams have made line-up changes ahead of this weekend's season-closing Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup round at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Local star Albert Costa has received a last-minute call-up to drive the #563 Orange1 FFF Racing Lamborghini at his home event. The change was necessary after regular driver Dennis Lind fell ill and was deemed unable to compete.
Costa arrives at a crucial moment for the squad. FFF Racing is in contention for the overall Blancpain GT Series and Endurance Cup teams' titles, while Andrea Caldarelli and Marco Mapelli will compete for the same drivers' crowns this weekend. The Spanish driver has accumulated significant mileage at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, as well as race-winning experience in the Blancpain GT Series and knowledge of the Huracan GT3 from his International GT Open programme.
Costa's addition means that all three Orange1 FFF Racing machines will feature a new driver this weekend. In the #519 Lamborghini, which competes for overall honours, Giacomo Altoe replaces Franck Perera; meanwhile, in the Silver Cup class #555 machine, Andrea Amici replaces Diego Menchaca. Both drivers contested this year's Total 24 Hours of Spa in Lamborghini equipment.
A further three top-tier cars feature line-up changes. In the #25 Sainteloc Racing Audi, Dorian Boccolaci steps in for Steven Palette. Young French racer Boccolaci already knows the Sainteloc outfit well, having contested the final two rounds of Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe for the Audi squad.
In the #54 Dinamic Motorsport Porsche, Marco Seefried takes over from Klaus Bachler. Coincidentally, German racer Seefried was alongside Costa on the crew that took overall victory at last season's Circuit Paul Ricard 1000kms. Valentin Hasse Clot will make his series debut, filling in for Kelvin van der Linde aboard the #66 Attempto Racing Audi.
There are two more changes to the Silver Cup grid. In the #6 Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG, Italian ace Davide Fumanelli takes over from fellow countryman Gabriele Piana. This will be Fumanelli's third outing in 2019 following his participation for Strakka Racing at Circuit Paul Ricard and the Spa Total 24 Hours of Spa. The #17 Team WRT Audi has also been tweaked as Paul Petit steps aside and is replaced by Sean Walkinshaw. This will be the Brit's first outing in the series since Spa last year.
In the Pro-Am class, French youngster Pierre Alexandre Jean will drive the #26 Sainteloc Audi alongside Edouard Cauhaupé and Pierre Yves Pâque. The rival #31 Team Parker Racing Bentley will now run with a two-driver line-up of Derek Pierce and Seb Morris. The #9 Boutsen Ginion BMW will will also consist of a pairing, with Karim Ojjeh joined by Gennaro Bonafede in the Am Cup contender. A further change in the Am class sees Daiko Lazarus Racing move its #27 Lamborghini from the Silver Cup, with Andrzej Lewandowski, Jose Manuel Balbiani and August MacBeth at the wheel.
Saturday's track action consists of a 90-minute free practice session, which will bring the full field out for the first time at 10.20. Later in the day, pre-qualifying will give drivers another 90 minutes of running from 15.05.
Qualifying and the race take place on Sunday, with both sessions streamed live on the Blancpain GT Series website and social media channels.
The final entry list can be viewed here.