New for this year's 24 Hours of Spa, which takes place this weekend, is the relay-race format of the Coupe du Roi. Teams may enter with three identical GT3 cars. With two drivers per car, they must complete 45-minute stints, handing over to the next car in the pits. Two outfits, JMB Racing and S-Berg, both regulars in the FIA GT3 European Championship, will try this new format.  The winner will be the team to complete the greatest distance with all three cars.

S-Berg Racing will enter the Coupe de Roi with the three Reiter Engineering-built Gallardo GT3s that they have been running all season in their familiar white with blue stripe colours. This will be the first time that the Gallardo GT3 has challenged in a truly international 24 hour race, although the 5.0-litre V10-engined Italian sports car has previously taken part in round-the-clock races at the Nürburgring in Germany. S-Berg is a new start up Austrian racing team which is competing in the international FIA GT3 series this year. Founded and owned by Hans Weitgasser, it was established in 2006 and  is located in Altenmarkt, Salzburg, Austria.

The S-Berg team's six-driver line up for Spa this weekend is made up of four Czechs, an Austrian and a Russian. In the #215 car the youngest driver, 20-year-old Jan Charouz, has already gained high-level sports car racing experience as he drove a Zakspeed-run Saleen S7-R on several occasions last year; in Belgium this weekend he will share the Gallardo GT3 with fellow Czech Jaromir Jirik, who last year raced for most of the season in a Porsche 996 GT3-RSR with Vonka Racing, although he did appear behind the wheel of a Callaway Corvette Z06 during one round. This year Jirik has been racing for S-Berg, and alongside fellow countryman Erik Janis, during the second race of the opening FIA GT3 round at Silverstone in May he finished in an impressive second place overall, the Gallardo's best FIA GT3 race result to date.

In the #216 Gallardo GT3 36-year-old professional Austrian skier and part-time racing-driver Hans Knauss, will be teamed up with Russian spors car newcomer Vadim Kuzminykh. Both pilots have amply familiarised themselves with the car and team this year.
 

As team mates they have been racing the S-Berg-run Gallardo GT3s during the three opening FIA GT3 races of the year held at Silverstone, Bucharest and Monza. Knauss drove a Renauer Motorsport Team-run Porsche in the FIA GT3 series last year, before moving to S-Berg for 2007; his best results so far this year came with a 12th and 13th place finish at Bucharest alongside another Austrian, Werner Grobl. Finally the third car, the #217 machine, will be pedalled by two more Czechs drivers, Jan and Milan Urban.

The trio of S-Berg Gallardos will face tough opposition for the inaugural Coupe de Roi prize from a trio of JMB Racing-entered Ferrari F430 GT3 machines. JMB Racing currently lead the FIA GT3 Championship overall and the impressive Ferrari F430 GT3 already has a string of wins to its name. The Monaco-based team's line-up will also include the highly experienced Dutch driver Peter Kutemann. This year sees a number of other changes made to the Spa 24 Hours, including a new title sponsor in Total, and an updated circuit, with new F1-standard facilities and a 7.004 km track, including changes to the Bus Stop and La Source.

The three S-Berg Gallardo GT3s won't be the only Lamborghini representation in the endurance marathon as in the GT1 class a pair of All-Inkl entered Murciélago R-GT machines will be battling for outright honours against no less than five Maserati MC 12s, four Corvettes, and three Aston Martin DBR9s. The #7 Murciélago R-GT entry will be driven as usual by Christophe Bouchut and Stefan Mücke, who will be joined for the Belgian encounter by 32-year-old German driver Frank Stippler. The sister #8 All-Inkl.com Murciélago entry, which scored its first points in the last FIA GT round at Oschersleben, will have an all-Dutch line-up, Peter Kox and Jos Menten being joined by Jeroen Bleekemolen, who still holds the record as the youngest-ever FIA GT race winner.