W&S Motorsport plans to field two cars for its maiden campaign in the GT4 European Series this season, and has announced the championship’s first all-Russian driver pairing for one of its Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsports.

The W&S Motorsport team is a regular in single-make Porsche racing in Germany, having won last year’s Nürburgring-based Cayman GT4 Trophy by Manthey-Racing, and enjoyed multiple strong results during guest entries in ADAC GT4 Germany.

To make the jump into the GT4 European Series, W&S has partnered with Russian team ISKRA Motorsport. The alliance aims to help ISKRA gather experience and data of competing on the European stage, which it can then in-turn use during national races in Russia.

Russian drivers Andrey Solukovtsev and Mikhail Loboda will race the 718 Cayman in the Am class this season, and the pair will be coached by professional Danish driver Nicolaj Møller Madsen, who is racing with W&S in GT4 Germany.

W&S Motorsport is also planning to field a second car in this year’s GT4 European Series, and drivers for that entry are set to be announced soon.

Team principal of W&S Motorsport, Daniel Schellhaas, said: “We are very excited to be working with Nicolaj Møller Madsen and ISKRA Motorsport in the GT4 European Series and we hope that this will be the start of a successful long-term partnership. We will support Andrey and Mikhail to develop as drivers and gain experience on European circuits. Our goal is to regularly finish on the podium in the Am class and give ISKRA Motorsport as much input as possible so that their team can also fight for victories in Russian racing series.”

Kirill Budovskiy, team principal of ISKRA Motorsport said: “ISKRA Motorsport is very happy about the partnership with W&S Motorsport, one of the leading European racing teams, and Nicolaj, a top-level driver coach. We are all aiming for the same goal: to win races and to develop as a team. Andrey and Mikhail are highly motivated to bring out the maximum of our Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport. We are looking forward to this season!”

Andrey Solukovtsev said: “Last year, I competed in GT4 European Series in Monza for the first time and I am very happy that we will race the full season in this championship this year. Together with Mikhail we will be the first all-Russian driver crew to compete in the GT4 European Series. I am very excited about our partnership with W&S Motorsport, ISKRA Motorsport and Nicolaj being our coach. I am confident that with the support of such a great team we can make good progress during the season and try to compete for good results.”

Mikhail Loboda said: “I am glad to be back to racing in a European championship for a full season. It is a great honour for me to be racing for W&S Motorsport and ISKRA Motorsport this season, sharing a cockpit with Andrey. We did not compete in many races in Europe so far, therefore, most of the tracks are new for us. But we are training on the simulator to be prepared for the season the best possible way. Even if it will be our debut year in the GT4 European Series, we want to race at the front and fight for the podium.”