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Photo: Gruppe C Photography/SRO BMW looks set to forgo factory supported entries for the remainder of the Intercontinental GT Challenge season according to motorsport boss Andreas Roos, who cited it as a “strategic decision” within the brand. The German manufacturer’s factory commitment in SRO Motorsports Group’s globe-trotting GT3 series has traditionally always been on a race-by-race basis following the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, which serves as a round of GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup. The defending IGTC manufacturers’ champion remained third in the GT3 title race following a challenging Spa, which Team WRT team principal Vincent Vosse was critical of SRO’s Balance of Performance. Speaking with Sportscar365, Roos insisted that neither its position in the championship, nor Vosse’s BoP complaints, played a factor in the reduced effort for the Suzuka 1000km and Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS. “It...

Photo: Toyota Kamui Kobayashi has said Toyota has no immediate answer for why it struggled so much in this month’s 6 Hours of Sao Paulo round of the FIA World Endurance Championship and must “work hard” to find a solution for upcoming races. Coming off the back of its victory in June’s Le Mans 24 Hours, both Toyota TR010 Hybrids struggled for pace and ultimately finished outside of the points, resulting in the Japanese marque’s first non-score since last year’s Interlagos round. The No. 7 machine that Kobayashi shared with Nyck de Vries and Mike Conway was a lapped 12th, while the sister No. 8 car was left 12 laps down after contact with one of the Genesis GMR-001s left it needing a 16-minute stop for suspension repairs. Meanwhile, BMW’s second victory of the season means that Toyota’s lead in the manufacturers’ standings is down to five points with four races to go. Speaking exclusively to Sportscar365, Kobayashi said that he ...

Source: Sports Car 365

Photo: Ferrari The Golden State welcomes Ferrari Challenge North America for the third and final time of the year, as drivers and teams descend on Sonoma Raceway this weekend. The 2.533-mile circuit falls on the schedule after Ferrari Challenge visited The Thermal Club in southern California for its opening two rounds, and after its last doubleheader in July at Laguna Seca just a few hours south. Sonoma has been a staple on the series’ calendar after its first visit in 2011, and this year marks the 10th trip in Ferrari Challenge’s 33 seasons of competition. Fifty-five Ferrari 296 Challenge cars are prepared to lap Sonoma, in addition to 29 in Club Challenge and nearly ten in Club Competizioni GT. As the ninth and tenth rounds – and the penultimate event on North American soil before Road America in September – results at Sonoma Raceway will be key for soon-to-be decided championship results. With five wins in eight races, 17-year-old Johnny Kaminskey (Ferrari of Long Island) has ...

Photo: Alex Quinn Instagram Alex Quinn said he’s hoping to take the “next step” with Peugeot in becoming a race driver within the French squad’s FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar program. The 25-year-old Englishman, who was named this year as an official test and reserve driver, got his first experience of the LMH-based 9X8 prototype in last year’s Bahrain rookie test and was also part of the team’s pre-Le Mans endurance test at Portimao in the spring. Sportscar365 understands that Quinn, who won this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2 Pro-Am class, is in the mix to land a race seat next year amid an expected driver lineup shuffle . While denying that any decision has already been made, Quinn said he already feels at home with the team. “I enjoy driving that car,” he told Sportscar365. “It was really cool to get my first experience in it in March at a 24-hour test in Portimao. It was good to be mixing it with ...

Photo: HRT Haupt Racing Team CEO Ulrich Fritz said he’d like to expand his squad’s relationship with Ford Racing by entering additional series in the future, including potentially moving into ACO competition. HRT previously enjoyed a successful alliance with Mercedes-AMG, which included DTM and GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS titles, before entering a new partnership with Ford last year. Fritz has been encouraged by how the first 18 months has developed, particularly with the increasing competitiveness of the Ford Mustang GT3 since the new EVO version came on stream this year. HRT fields Mustangs in GTWC Europe, DTM and ADAC GT Masters, as well as contesting selected Intercontinental GT Challenge rounds. It has achieved some notable milestones in those categories already this year, including taking GTWC Europe Endurance Cup pole at Monza and scoring the Mustang’s first podiums in DTM. Fritz said he’s now keen to further strengthen the relationship ...

Source: Sports Car 365