CR Scuderia will hope to shine at Spa this weekend as it makes its debut in the famed 24 Hour event at the Belgian circuit.

The race will be vital for the first year team as it seeks to move up the GT2 pecking order, with points behind handed out at the six, twelve and 24 hour marks.

A strong driver line-up will be at the wheel of both Ferrari 430s, with Chris Niarchos and Tim Mullen being joined at the wheel of the #55 car by Italian sportscar ace Andrea Piccini and touring car race winner Gordon Shedden.

“We can be as competitive as any other car out there,” Niarchos said. “Three of the four drivers in the #55 car have extensive experience of running successfully in 24 hour races; myself, Tim and Andrea understand the dynamics of it and I'm sure that Gordon will find his place fast and settle in. It's about preservation of equipment, not all out speed, and I think we are all smart enough to do a great job at Spa.

“I have very high expectations for the team. I'm not saying that to apply pressure; 24 hour races are what they are and of course you need a bit of luck sometimes, but we are more than ready for the challenge. Aside from a top driver line-up, the engineers standing behind the cars all know what's required. As a team we may not have done a 24 hour race before but as individuals we have proven ourselves in this field. The competition is going to be extremely tough – we are up against some of the biggest names in GT2 – but we are going to go out there and do a sol! id job, making sure we don't over-drive as it's a long 24 hours.”

Andrew Kirkaldy and Rob Bell meanwhile will be joined by leading German driver Dirk Müller, with one of the team's British GT Championship stars, James Sutton, as reserve.

“I think we have a very strong line-up with Rob and Dirk and it's great to have such a strong reserve in James,” Kirkaldy said. “All of us are quick, we all know Spa and we all know the Ferrari 430 so there's no reason why we can't get a good result. As always with these 24-hour events you need things to go your way but we h! ave all the right ingredients so let's see what we can make out of it.”