Bullitt Racing has announced plans to contest this year's Fanatec GT Europe Endurance Cup with Aston Martin, adding an eighth brand to the grid for the five-round championship.
The Marbella-based squad was already part of the 72-car CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa field and has now expanded its commitment to run the full Endurance schedule. The #33 Vantage will compete in the Silver Cup class with Jacob Riegel, Jeff Kingsley and Romain Leroux sharing driving duties.
Kingsley made his Fanatec GT Europe debut last year, running the full Endurance schedule with German squad GetSpeed Performance. Prior to this, the Canadian racer won his domestic Porsche GT3 Cup series in 2020.
Leroux began his career in karts while living in Singapore before retuning to his native France and graduating to cars, making appearances in the GT4 European Series and FFSA GT French Championship along the way. In 2022, the youngster finished as runner-up in ADAC GT4 Germany at the wheel of an Aston Martin Vantage.
At 18, Riegel is the youngest member of the crew. Like Leroux the German has experience in GT4 machinery and made his GT3 debut with Bullitt Racing in this season's Asian Le Mans Series.
“This is a part of the long-term plan for Bullitt Racing,” stated team manager Steffan Pattrick. “We are under no illusions that it will be easy. We’re still a young team, growing, investing, and developing in terms of staff, knowledge, and equipment. To race against the best teams is an honour and something we take seriously.
“It will be our first season at this level, the aim is to put in strong performances and secure results that reflect the massive effort going into this programme. We can’t wait to get going!”
DRIVER QUOTES
Jeff Kingsley: "I am very excited to be joining Bullitt Racing for the upcoming season in GT World Challenge Europe Endurance. Driving the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 car is going to be an absolute pleasure alongside my two new teammates. Having raced GTWCE last season, I look forward to building off the experiences I had, to achieve some podiums and solid results. The Aston Martin GT3 car is new to me, but I had the chance to get comfortable with the personnel and logistics of Aston Martin Racing at the Driver Academy in late March. It is an honour to drive for Bullitt Racing, and Aston Martin Racing, and to be a part of the Aston Martin Racing Driver Academy. Time to get things started.”
Romain Leroux: “I’m happy to be joining Bullitt Racing for the GT World Endurance Championship programme, as I have followed the team since they started racing the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 last year and have heard many positive things from various sources. This gives me a lot of confidence in joining the team for the coming season and I’m looking forward to working with Jeff and Jacob, they are fast guys and also very nice to work with. It makes for a strong trio heading into the season but of course, we’re all aware that GT World Challenge is very competitive, and we’re aware that it will be tough. We’ll aim for good results and try to stay consistent, and we’ll see what happens.”
Jacob Riegel: “I’m absolutely delighted to be part of Bullitt Racing again. After my GT3 debut in the Asian Le Mans Series, it is a fantastic opportunity to build from that experience in the Fanatec GT World Challenge endurance field. Being in familiar surrounding makes it a little bit easier for me. As a team, we had good laughs in the past and managed to keep the heads up even in difficult situations. I’m excited to see how we will perform, and it’ll be a tough challenge, but as a driver, this is what I love to do. The season highlight will be my first 24H race. It’s now all about the best possible preparation for the upcoming season, but I’m already training harder than ever before!”
The 2023 season will open at Monza on 21-23 April, followed by trips to Circuit Paul Ricard (2–4 June), the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa (29 June–2 July), the Nürburgring (28–30 July) and Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya (29 September–1 October). Aston Martin becomes the eighth brand on the grid, joining Audi Sport, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche.