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Photo: JEP/SRO Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach has voiced similar concerns over the future of the GT3 platform to that of Stephane Ratel, stating he “fully agrees” with the SRO Motorsports Group founder and CEO, who was one of the original architects of the formula and that organizers must “take action” not to prevent the category turning into prototype-based GT cars. The concerns not only come amid rising costs in GT3 but also several upcoming models, including the GR GT3 and new Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, that have been first developed on the race track and then re-engineered to be low-volume production cars to meet current GT3 regulations. The similar philosophy had been used in the GT1 era, as well as more recently with selected brands in GTE, most notably with the Ford GT, which was never essentially given to customer teams, aside from a one-off run at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2019. “I was on the phone with Stephane for a long time and I ful...

Photo: Mercedes-AMG 75 Express will return to the Suzuka 1000km with a Pro class Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to be shared by Kenny Habul, Philip Ellis and Mikael Grenier. The Sept. 11-13 event will mark the team’s first Intercontinental GT Challenge appearance since the season-opening Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour back in February, when team owner Habul was partnered by Jules Gounon and Luca Stolz. 75 Express contested the Bronze division at Suzuka last year with Habul flanked by Yannick Mettler and Dominik Baumann, finishing fourth in class. In the team’s SunEnergy1 guise it contested the Suzuka 10 Hours in 2018-19, winning the Pro-Am class in 2018 with Habul, Grenier and Luca Stolz, and then the Silver class in the latter year with Habul, Grenier and Nico Bastian. “I’m really looking forward to returning to Suzuka,” said Grenier. “The Suzuka Circuit is one of the best race tracks in the world. Having competed there every year since 2018 will certainly h...

Photo: Craft-Bamboo Racing Craft-Bamboo Racing has revealed a two-car entry for next month’s Suzuka 1000km round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge with a pair of Mercedes-AMG entries, with factory pair Maxime Martin and Luca Stolz joining its assault for overall honors. IGTC title contenders Martin and Stolz will share the Pro class No. 77 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo with Honda factory driver and Suzuka specialist Kaku Ohta as they bid to give the Three-Pointed Star a third win of the season on Sept. 11-13. The No. 28 Pro-Am car will be driven by Joao Paulo de Oliveira, Daisuke Yamawaki and Kevin Tse, the last-named hoping to repeat his class win from last year. While Martin will race for Craft-Bamboo for the first time, Stolz has made a handful of appearances for the team in the past, with the most recent one coming in the Indianapolis 8 Hour round of the IGTC in 2021. Ohta, a Craft-Bamboo regular in Super Taikyu, was part of the squad’s Suzuka Pro lineup last year with R...

Source: Sports Car 365

Photo: SRO/JEP Darren Leung is targeting a future 24 Hours of Le Mans entry for his Paradine Competition squad, believing the team has now “broken well clear of the ‘who the hell are these guys?’ territory.” The operation only became an entrant in its own right in 2025, shortly after Leung won the 2024 GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup Bronze class title with Dan Harper in a Century Motorsport-entered BMW that featured significant Paradine involvement. GTWC Europe has been the team’s main focus since and it has achieved several class victories, most recently in the Bronze division of the Sprint Cup at Magny-Cours earlier this month when Leung triumphed in a BMW M4 GT3 EVO alongside Augusto Farfus. Team founder Leung told Sportscar365 he is very “proud” of the way the squad has developed from being an unknown contender to a “respectable position whereby we’re able to compete with some of the best teams in the paddock.” ...

Source: Sports Car 365

Photo: GT World Challenge Asia Nissan SUPER GT stars Katsumasa Chiyo and Kazuki Hiramine will both participate in next month’s Suzuka 1000km as part of a Pro effort fielded by 5ZIGEN. Chiyo and Hiramine will share the team’s No. 500 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 with another member of the Nissan GT500 stable, Atsushi Miyake, for the fourth round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge season on Sept. 11-13. Miyake is part of 5ZIGEN’s regular crew in GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS together with Takayuki Aoki, who is not part of the lineup for Suzuka. Both Chiyo and Hiramine, who won the 2022 SUPER GT title for Team Impul together with Bertrand Baguette, will be racing a GT-R for the first time in many years. Chiyo last raced the car in 2019 for KCMG as part of a dual program in the IGTC and Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, while Hiramine’s previous race outing in a GT-R was for the GTNET MotorSports Team in the Fuji 24 Hours in 2020. However, Hiramine recently tested a GT-R...