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Photo: Fred Hardy/SRO Michael Cooper made a last-lap pass on Luca Mars to take overall victory in the opening Pirelli GT4 America race of the weekend at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in a remarkable drive to the front by the Blackdog Racing driver. Mars, in the No. 028 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport, held command of the 60-minute contest after co-driver Spencer Pumpelly sped away from pole. However, a full-course caution for an accident by the No. 5 OGH Motorsports McLaren Artura GT4 of Sean Gibbons reset the gaps and set up a ten-minute shootout to the finish. Gonazlez put heavy pressure on Mars at the restart, although his No. 68 RAFA Racing Team Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 dropped down the running order in the closing minutes with a suspected issue. A hard-charging Cooper, meanwhile, flew through the field and passed Mars in Turn 12a on the final lap, finishing 1.051 seconds ahead of the RS1 driver. The overall win, and Pro-Am class honors for the Blackdog Racing McLaren, c...

Photo: IMSA IMSA President John Doonan indicated the current designs of LMDh manufacturers will not become “obsolete” under the rules that will be introduced in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2030. Doonan was speaking immediately after Friday’s ACO press conference, where the governing bodies of the world’s two largest sports car racing series fleshed out their vision for a unified set of regulations at the end of the decade. Manufacturers will be permitted to use either its own bespoke chassis or a ‘spine’ from one of the four licensed chassis manufacturers that are currently available to LMDh competitors. Those following the latter path can then choose between making their own hybrid system and a common solution produced to the same regulations. Reacting to the news, Doonan said current LMDh competitors competing in either series would not need to develop a new car from scratch. “I thi...

Photo: Fred Hardy/SRO Spencer Pumpelly and Michael Cooper have claimed poles for this weekend’s pair of Pirelli GT4 America races at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Pumpelly, who currently leads the Silver class standings with RS1 co-driver Luca Mars, reeled off a 1:26.627 in his No. 028 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport to outpace title rival Westin Workman by a hefty 0.518 seconds. Workman, in the No. 68 RAFA Racing Team Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 will line up alongside Pumpelly in second, ahead of series rookie Austin Jurs, in his best-ever qualifying effort in the No. 131 Advance Motorsports McLaren Artura GT4. Yves Baltas and Francis Selldorf completed the top-five for ACI Motorsports and AutoTechnic Racing, respectively, in a top five sweep of Silver class entries. Michael Garcia powered his way to the sixth quickest overall time, and pole in the Am class in the No. 21 ACI BMW M4 GT4 EVO. Garcia’s 1:27.697 lap time was quicker than the entire Pro-Am class field, ...

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...