Trending Sports Updates

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA IMSA has made wholesale Balance of Performance changes to both the GTP and GTD classes ahead of next weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Confirmed in a technical bulletin on Thursday afternoon, the sanctioning body confirmed the weight, power and energy configurations for the third round of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season. All cars in the GTP class except for the BMW M Hybrid V8 receive weight adjustments since last month’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, with the Aston Martin Valkyrie getting a 10 kg break, and both the Porsche 963 and Cadillac V-Series.R getting 9 kgs of less weight. The Acura ARX-06, however has received a 5 kg increase in minimum weight, along with a 7 kW (9.3 hp) reduction in first-stage power levels below 230 km/h. Conversely, the Acura gets a 2.3 percent increase in power at speeds over 240 km/h. Both the Cadillac and Porsche have also been hit with first-stage power reductions, to the tune of 13 kW (17 ...

Photo: Julien Delfosse/DPPI Akkodis ASP Team has confirmed that Esteban Masson will stand in for the injured Ben Barnicoat at the upcoming FIA World Endurance Championship round at Imola. Barnicoat is still recovering from a mountain bike accident that ruled him out of last month’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and will also see him not be part of Vasser Sullivan’s two-car lineup at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach next week. At Imola, which is the second round of the WEC season, Masson will stand in for the British driver and share the No. 78 Lexus RC F GT3 with Arnold Robin and Finn Gehrsitz. Masson formed part of ASP’s full season LMGT3 squad last year and was subsequently upgraded to Gold status for the 2025 season. The Frenchman was understood to initially be set for stand-in appearances replacing Barnicoat for clashes between WEC and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship rounds at Laguna Seca and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, but will now make an extra appeara...

Photo: Porsche Pascal Wehrlein “checked all the boxes” for Porsche Penske Motorsport to enlist the reigning ABB FIA Formula E world champion in the team’s third Porsche 963 for the 24 Hours of Le Mans according to managing director Jonathan Diuguid, who revealed that he’s already been integrated into the team’s FIA World Endurance Championship testing program. The 30-year-old German, who made his race debut with the Porsche LMDh car in January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona with customer squad JDC-Miller Motorsports, was understood to have been the leading contender to fill the third and final seat in Porsche Penske’s third Hypercar entry for Le Mans, alongside IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship regulars Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr. However, the German manufacturer placed fellow Porsche-contracted Formula E driver Nico Mueller in JDC-Miller’s entry in last month’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, prior to confirming Wehrlein for the seat. “It’s something we don’t take lightly because...

Photo: Porsche After running separate opening round events at Sebring International Raceway and Spring Mountain for Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama and Porsche Sprint Challenge USA West – both series are set to feature on the same weekend for the first time this year at Sonoma Raceway this weekend. Between the two series, a total of 63 Porsche race cars are entered – both the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup and the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS versions. It won’t be just the individual championship battles on the line; the weekend also will feature the second round of the Porsche Endurance Challenge North America. All the race action from both championships will be streamed live on the Porsche Motorsport North America YouTube channel. PORSCHE SPRINT CHALLENGE NORTH AMERICA BY YOKOHAMA The opening round of Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama was held at Sebring International Raceway last month with teenage newcomer Cole Kleck making an immediate impact by sw...

Photo: Porsche Thomas Preining and Aycancan Guven led a 1-2 for Manthey EMA during official pre-season testing for DTM at Oschersleben. Just a single day of official collective testing was available for DTM teams this year, featuring a total of eight hours of running across two sessions. Preining and Guven both set their quickest times of the day during the opening session, with the former reeling off a 1:21.887 to lead by 0.324 seconds. Jordan Pepper, who also went quickest in the morning session, was third with a 1:22.388 aboard the No. 63 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2. Luca Engstler and Winward Racing’s Jules Gounon, fourth and fifth respectively, both set their times in the afternoon. Lucas Auer was sixth at the wheel of the No. 22 Team Landgraf Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, 0.028 seconds faster than defending champion Mirko Bortolotti. The Italian, who switched teams over the winter to join ABT Sportsline, steered the No. 1 Lamborghini to a best lap of ...

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA A total of 27 cars are set for next weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, including confirmation of a second Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3. Confirmed on the release of the entry list by IMSA on Wednesday, the GTP and GTD-only class race will again feature a second Lexus, for drivers Aaron Telitz and Frankie Montecalvo. Ben Barnicoat, who continues his recovery from a mountain biking accident that ruled him out of last month’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, and Thompson claimed GTD class honors at Long Beach last year in the No. 89 car. It joins the previously announced No. 177 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R for Laurens Vanthoor and Jonny Edgar, an entry that’s also typically in the GTD Pro ranks, but with different drivers. Eleven GTP entries are set to do battle in the first sprint race of the year, including the street course debut for Heart of Racing Team’s Aston Martin Valkyrie, while Proton Competition’s Porsche 963 is absent, as expect...

Photo: Honda A number of SUPER GT drivers have voiced skepticism regarding the Japanese championship’s plans to host a pair of sprint races at Fuji Speedway in August. Ahead of last week’s final pre-season test at Fuji, Sportscar365 revealed that plans to mix up the format for the fourth round of the championship are proceeding, with organizers having settled on a 35-lap Saturday race featuring both GT500s and GT300s and a pair of 50-minute races, split by class, on Sunday. Teams will have to nominate a single driver to take part in each day of action, with no pit stops and driver changes taking place in any of the races. Asked for his reaction to the plan, Impul Nissan driver Bertrand Baguette said he applauded SUPER GT for wanting to try something different but expressed the view that the spectacle could suffer without pit stops and no traffic to negotiate on Sunday. “In my opinion, it goes a bit against the spirit of SUPER GT, which for me is pit stops, traffic and two drive...