With six weeks to go before the opening Masters Sports-Prototype race, interest has been strong and entries have reached healthy levels already.

The opening race of the new-for-2011 category will be at the Barcelona Grand Prix circuit on April 8-10th as part of the inaugural Catalunya Classic Festival and will feature two races for the cars of the 1990s.

Amongst the impressive list of entries already confirmed are a trio of Spices from father-and-son Larry and Nathan Kinch accompanied by Warren Dunbar, while Steve Tandy will make his Group C debut in the Nissan RC90 shared with historic racing stalwart Martin Stretton. A similar Nissan will be driven by Masters regular Katsu Kubota, the car having returned from Japan after its winter overhaul - the Japanese driver will combine his MS-P outing alongside the Grand Prix Masters F1 races in his Williams FW07.  Grand Prix Masters regulars Christophe D’Ansembourg and Manfredo Rossi di Montelera will share a Porsche 962, while a similar car is to be driven by versatile and fast Dutch driver David Hart. Former British Formula 3 racer Mike Donovan will make his Masters debut in his newly-acquired Spice SE88C, while entries have also been received from Alain Schlesinger in a Tiga and the ALD of Carlo del Conte.

Category Manager Sean Roberts said: “I am delighted with the response that we have had to this new Masters Sports-Prototype initiative. We are working very hard with potential entries and to be looking at double figures with seven weeks to go before the opening race is excellent news. It underlines the appeal of Masters Historic Racing environment, which provides multiple entry opportunities to race at great circuits with lots of track time making it excellent value for money. I am confident that we will have many more exciting cars on the grid in Spain and that the category will go from strength to strength.”