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Source: Sports Car 365

Photo: Charly López/DPPI Dries Vanthoor put BMW M Team WRT on the top of the time charts for the first time this week, having paced the final Free Practice prior to Hyperpole for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Belgian driver in the No. 15 BMW M Hybrid V8 reeled off a chart-topping 3:23.302 lap time in the final moments of the three-hour FP3 session, outpacing another late improvement from the No. 35 Alpine A424 of Victor Martins, by 0.423 seconds. Will Stevens, whose 3:24.795 lap time in the No. 12 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R held as the quickest time for most of the session, improved to a 3:23.816 to end up third. The No. 20 BMW of Sheldon van der Linde was fourth quickest, while Mathys Jaubert completed the top-five in the best-ever result in a session for the first-year Hypercar manufacturer. A red flag for the No. 222 United Autosports Oreca 07 Gibson of Daniel Schneider, who made contact with the tire barriers at the Ford Chicane, resulted in a red flag with 25 minutes...

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA Laurin Heinrich will contest the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and a full IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season after all, with Fred Makowiecki confirmed in the Porsche factory driver’s place for the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. Revealed by Schumacher CLRT on Wednesday, ex-Porsche star Makowiecki will join Ayhancan Guven and Matt Campbell in the No. 22 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo for the Belgian endurance classic on June 25-28. Originally, Heinrich was due to be in the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and Intercontinental GT Challenge centerpiece, prior to being named to JDC-Miller Motorsports’ Porsche 963 for the majority of the WeatherTech Championship season. Watkins Glen, which clashes with the 24 Hours of Spa, was the only GTP race Heinrich was due to miss, with the 24-year-old set to return to the No. 7 Penske Porsche for the season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans. The German driver is expected to slot into the No. 5 JDC-Mill...

Photo: Cadillac Cadillac swept the top two spots in opening official practice session for this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, as Earl Bamber set the fastest time aboard the No. 38 Hertz Team JOTA entry ahead of first qualifying on Wednesday. Bamber registered a best effort of 3:23.786 with around 20 minutes remaining of the three-hour session, easily surpassing the benchmark set in last year’s FP1 session and coming within just over seven tenths of a second of last year’s pole time. The Kiwi driver, who had earlier taken the top spot with a 3:24.773, the first sub-3:25 lap of the week at the Circuit de la Sarthe, ended up 1.582 seconds clear of the WTR Cadillac, which led much of the session after a first-hour flyer from Jordan Taylor. The session wasn’t entirely problem-free for the No. 38 car, however, as it was brought into the garage early to repair floor damage sustained from curb usage. Cadillac looked on course for a top-three lockout heading into th...

Photo: MPS Agency Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific Selected Driver Enzo Trulli says he is relishing a “special month” in which he is set to make his debut in two of the world’s major endurance races, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. Trulli, who succeeded Dorian Boccolacci in the Selected Driver role this year, is taking on Le Mans this week as part of Algarve Pro Racing’s No. 25 lineup in the LMP2 Pro-Am division together with Jake Hughes and Michael Jensen. Two weeks later, he will make his 24H Spa bow driving for Pure Rxcing in a Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo as he continues to build his experience in GT3 machinery. ‘This month will be quite special for m e, first for Le Mans and then for Spa, two of the biggest races endurance races in the world,” Trulli told Sportscar365. “It was an amazing experience to try the [Le Mans] track in real life. It’s just amazing.   Now I understand why everyone wants to win here, ...

Source: Sports Car 365

Photo: Florent Gooden/DPPI Mike Conway appears increasingly likely to leave Toyota Racing at the end of the current FIA World Endurance Championship season, in a move that would put an end to a relationship with the marque that stretches back more than a decade. Conway has been a full-time member of the Toyota WEC stable since the 2015 season, having made his first outings for the Cologne-based organization in 2014. In that time, he has been part of the 2019/20 and 2021 title-winning crews, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the latter year with Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez. However, Conway has for some time been regarded as the most likely member of the current Toyota roster to depart in the event that it elects to make a change for the 2027 season amid a driver market that has swung into action earlier than normal. The 42-year-old has been linked with a move away from Toyota, with Ford and McLaren believed to be among his potential destinations. Asked what his future c...