Team Motopark will field the Mercedes-AMG GT3 that brings together four SRO GT Academy winners for a fully funded drive at the 2027 CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.
The German team will run one driver each from GT World Challenge America powered by AWS, GT World Challenge Asia, GT World Challenge Australia and the British GT Championship. The four young drivers will share a Mercedes-AMG GT3, with the entry provisionally expected to compete in either the Gold Cup or Silver Cup at Spa-Francorchamps.
Tom Sargent currently leads the American contest, while Yu Kuai heads the Asian standings. Oscar Targett leads in Australia and Jarrod Waberski is the current British GT frontrunner, although none of the four seats has yet been formally awarded.
Team Motopark chosen for young-driver programme
Team Motopark’s extensive history of developing young drivers played a significant part in SRO Motorsports Group selecting the outfit for the programme.
While the German operation is increasingly active in GT racing, much of its reputation was established in single-seaters. Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas, Liam Lawson, Brendon Hartley and Mercedes-AMG Performance Driver Lucas Auer are among the drivers to have raced with Timo Rumpfkeil’s organisation earlier in their careers.
The team has also won championships in GP2, Euroformula Open and Japanese Formula 3, while its successes in major standalone events include the Macau Grand Prix and Masters of Formula 3. Verstappen won the latter with Motopark at Zandvoort as a 16-year-old in 2014.
Mercedes-AMG Head of Customer Racing Stefan Wendl believes that record makes Motopark a strong fit for the Academy programme.
“We are delighted that SRO has chosen Team Motopark, a Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Team, for this special project,” said Stefan Wendl, the Head of Customer Racing at Mercedes-AMG Motorsport. “The team has a proven track record of developing young talent, including drivers who have gone on to become established names in international motorsport.”
Motopark expands its GT3 presence
Although best known for single-seaters, Motopark has increasingly expanded its sportscar programme.
The team moved into GT competition in 2023 and recorded its first major endurance victory at the Gulf 12 Hours in 2025. It then made its CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa debut this year with a Silver Cup Mercedes-AMG GT3 shared by Levente Révész, Christian Mansell, Yannick Mettler and Rui Andrade.
That quartet finished 23rd overall, giving Motopark first-hand experience of the demands surrounding the world’s largest GT3 race before it takes responsibility for the Academy car in 2027.
The new programme therefore combines the team’s established young-driver development expertise with a rapidly growing GT3 operation.
Rumpfkeil welcomes SRO opportunity
For Team Principal and Owner Rumpfkeil, the programme provides an opportunity to apply the development approach that has shaped much of Motopark’s history to four emerging GT drivers.
“We are honoured to be chosen by SRO to be part of this unique project,” said Timo Rumpfkeil, Team Principal and Owner of Team Motopark. “I trust that, with our experience of promoting young talent we can add a lot of value. Together with SRO we are creating a comprehensive programme to ensure that the SRO GT Academy graduates will receive the maximum support possible.”
The four winners will arrive from different championships and racing environments, meaning Motopark will need to bring them together as a single endurance crew before Spa.
That challenge extends beyond outright speed. The programme is designed to give its graduates the preparation and support required to compete against established international GT3 teams rather than simply providing the race seat itself.
Ratel highlights Motopark’s development record
SRO Motorsports Group Founder and CEO Stéphane Ratel similarly identified Motopark’s experience with young drivers as a key factor in the selection.
“As an experienced professional outfit with a growing reputation in GT racing, Team Motopark was the ideal candidate to field our SRO GT Academy entry at next year’s 24 Hours of Spa,” added SRO Motorsports Group Founder & CEO Stéphane Ratel. “Their record of working with young talents is truly exceptional and I am certain they will provide our winning drivers with an opportunity to shine.”
The 2027 Spa programme represents one of the most significant prizes created through the expanded Academy structure.
Four drivers will earn places in the same car, with each qualifying through a different SRO championship on a different continent. The resulting line-up will therefore bring together talent developed through North America, Asia, Australia and Britain.
Sargent leads American Academy contest
Sargent is currently in the strongest position to secure the GT World Challenge America seat.
The GMG Racing driver has accumulated 156 Academy points through the opening five rounds, comfortably ahead of Ryan Yardley on 95 and Zachary Vanier on 86. He began the season by taking maximum scores at Sonoma, COTA, Sebring and Road Atlanta before his perfect sequence ended with an early retirement at Road America.
His fourth consecutive maximum Academy score at Road Atlanta established a substantial advantage before the final portion of the season.
Sargent now heads into the penultimate GTWC America round at Barber Motorsports Park with both the Academy opportunity and the Pro-Am championship in focus. He and Kyle Washington sit only three points behind Dave Musial Jr. and Yardley in the latter competition.
Kuai heads close Asian fight
Yu Kuai leads the GT World Challenge Asia Academy standings with 152 points after eight races.
However, his advantage is far less comfortable than Sargent’s. Maxime Oosten sits second on 138, while Atsushi Miyake follows with 135. Elias Seppänen and Liu Kaishun also remain within reach as the championship approaches its conclusion.
That makes the Asian Academy contest one of the closest of the four programmes still determining the Spa line-up.
Kuai’s position has been built through consistently strong Academy scores rather than simply mirroring the conventional GTWC Asia race classification, reflecting the different way the development scheme evaluates its candidates.
Targett remains Australian benchmark
Targett leads the Australian Academy battle as his debut GT3 season with Tigani Motorsport approaches its conclusion.
The young Australian has repeatedly demonstrated outright pace in the #56 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, including securing pole at Queensland Raceway. That performance made him the first SRO GT Academy driver to claim an SRO pole position during the 2026 programme. Targett and Tigani swept the two Queensland qualifying sessions, further underlining Targett’s speed during his first GT3 campaign.
Valentino Astuti has emerged as his principal Academy challenger and reduced the deficit during the Hidden Valley weekend, although Targett retained the lead entering the final stages of the season.
The Australian contest will ultimately decide another of the four drivers who join Motopark at Spa.
Waberski leads British GT selection
Waberski currently heads the British GT Academy classification as the championship approaches its final round.
The South African has spent 2026 sharing Barwell Motorsport’s #78 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 with Alex Martin. The pair sit second in the overall British GT3 Drivers’ Championship on 107 points, 15.5 behind Rob Collard and Hugo Cook.
British GT’s Academy evaluation operates separately from its conventional championship. Eligible Silver-rated drivers under 30 receive assessment based on individual performance measures intended to reduce the influence of co-drivers, reliability and race circumstances.
The official Academy announcement identifies Waberski as the current leader, although the British and Asian contests remain particularly close before the four-driver Spa line-up is finalised.
Academy focuses on individual performance
The SRO GT Academy is deliberately structured differently from a conventional championship.
Rather than simply awarding its prize to whichever eligible driver finishes highest in the overall standings, the programme considers measures such as outright speed and consistency. The objective is to evaluate individual ability while reducing the impact of factors outside a young driver’s control.
The broader eligibility framework is aimed at FIA Silver-graded drivers under 30. Drivers must also complete the relevant season to remain eligible for the major prizes.
That approach means Sargent, Kuai, Targett and Waberski lead their respective Academy competitions rather than simply earning provisional Spa places based on conventional championship results.
Spa prize forms part of expanded Academy structure
The four-driver 24 Hours of Spa entry forms one part of a significantly expanded Academy programme for 2026.
SRO initially launched the concept in Championnat de France FFSA GT in 2025, where Gaspard Simon emerged as the inaugural leading talent. He subsequently stepped into GT3 competition with Walkenhorst Motorsport for 2026.
The programme expanded internationally this year. One winner each from America, Asia, Australia and British GT earns the fully funded Spa seat, while eligible drivers in the GT2 European Series powered by Pirelli compete for a fully funded 2027 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup programme with Mercedes-AMG Motorsport.
The team responsible for that separate Endurance Cup prize has yet to be announced.
Mercedes-AMG provides common platform
Mercedes-AMG was confirmed earlier this year as the manufacturer supporting the international Academy entry at Spa.
The four selected drivers will therefore share the same Mercedes-AMG GT3 platform regardless of which manufacturer they race with in their domestic championship. Sargent and Waberski currently compete with Porsche and Lamborghini respectively, while Targett already races a Mercedes-AMG in Australia.
That introduces another development element to the prize. Some Academy graduates will need to adapt not only to new teammates and the demands of a 24-hour race but also to unfamiliar machinery.
The car is provisionally expected to contest either the Gold Cup or Silver Cup, with the final category depending on the classification and composition of the winning line-up.
Four championships to decide Motopark line-up
The exact Team Motopark crew therefore remains unresolved despite the team itself now being confirmed.
Sargent, Kuai, Targett and Waberski currently occupy the four leading positions, but the remaining rounds will determine which drivers ultimately receive the fully funded opportunity.
Whoever emerges will move from four separate championships into one Mercedes-AMG GT3 programme at Spa-Francorchamps. For Motopark, the assignment combines two increasingly important parts of its operation: its established history of developing young drivers and its growing presence in international GT racing.
After making its own Spa debut in 2026, the German squad will return one year later with a distinctly different objective — giving four emerging talents from across the SRO racing world an opportunity to establish themselves on one of GT racing’s biggest stages.
