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Aston Martin Beats Toyota to Conclude Test Day On Top

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Photo: Andrea Lorenzina/DPPI Aston Martin and The Heart of Racing Team topped the official test day ahead of next week’s 24 Hours of Le Mans as Tom Gamble set the fastest time of both the afternoon session and the day overall at the wheel of the No. 007 Valkyrie. Gamble posted his best effort of 3:26.293 with a little under two hours left on the clock in the three-hour session, going over half a second clear of the field in the process. The British driver’s time would remain unbeaten thereafter, although Brendon Hartley managed to cut that margin down to just 0.108 seconds with around 15 minutes remaining in the repaired No. 8 Toyota TR010 Hybrid. Following the incident in the morning session involving Hartley’s co-driver Ryo Hirakawa and the Algarve Pro Racing LMP2 car of Jake Hughes, Toyota was able to repair the No. 8 car during the lunch break and was ready for the start of the afternoon session. Third-fastest was the best of the Cadillac V-Series.Rs, the No....

Tunjo, Workman Double Up Victories at Mid-Ohio

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Photo: Geoff Miller/IMSA Oscar Tunjo and Westin Workman completed weekend sweeps in the pair of IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge races at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. At least for Tunjo, it was a different experience compared to his flag-to-flag win from pole on Saturday. Due to the wet weather conditions for qualifying on Saturday morning, the LMP3 grid was set by the fastest lap times in Saturday’s Race 1 on a damp-but-drying track. Although Tunjo had solid pace in the No. 1 Gebhardt Motorsport Duqueine D09 Toyota, his best race lap was only fifth fastest in Race 1 which left him out of position for Sunday’s second 45-minute race of the weekend. Tunjo gained a spot before the race even started as one car in front of him failed to present to the false grid in time. After the green flag, he leapt to third into Turn 4 on Lap 2, got to second by Lap 3 and then chased down polesitter Gian Buffomante in his No. 30 Toney Driver Development Ligier JS P325 Toyota. Buffomante led th...

Tunjo Wins Mixed Condition Saturday Mid-Ohio Race

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Photo: Geoff Miller/IMSA Oscar Tunjo in LMP3 and Westin Workman in GSX maintained their season long form en route to a pair of victories in Saturday’s mixed-condition IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge 45-minute race at Mid-Ohio. Tunjo had track experience in his back pocket from winning his first VP Racing Challenge event at the Mid-Ohio circuit in 2025 in similar treacherous conditions. But what was new to him this weekend, at least in North America, was his No. 1 Gebhardt Motorsport Duqueine D09 Toyota, a loaned chassis from Duqueine run by Forbush Performance at the most recent IMSA Airbnb Endurance Challenge race at Circuit of The Americas. The Colombian has raced Duqueine’s third generation LMP3 chassis in Europe but made his first start in the new car in the U.S. this race as his primary Duqueine D08 chassis has been sent to France for updates. This weekend has seen Tunjo spend time adapting to the new chassis at this track and learning in real-time through evolving ra...

Loftsgard Wins Again After Allaer Incident in Race 1

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Photo: Wes Duenkel/Ford Cole Loftsgard claimed his fourth Mustang Challenge North America victory of the season in the first race of the weekend at Mid-Ohio. The Round 3 Racing driver took his No. 42 Ford Mustang Dark Horse R to the win over the second-placed No. 22 TechSport entry of Devin Anderson after ending under full-course caution due to an incident for a Dark Horse Legends contender. The race wasn’t easy going, however, for pole-sitter Loftsgard, who lost the lead at the start to the No. 3 Spark Performance Mustang of Nolan Allaer, who showed an early pace advantage. However, the former Indy NXT driver dropped to fourth on Lap 8 after a violent single-car off-course excursion in Turn 1 that tore off the car’s floor and damaged the Mustang’s right-front corner after briefly catching air. It gave clear sailing to Loftsgard to continue his winning ways and extend his points lead in the Dark Horse class. The No. 7 Wheelhouse Motorsports Mustang of Sandy Satu...

Proton Porsche Leads at Midpoint of 12H Paul Ricard

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Photo: Racingpixels/Creventic Proton Competition led the Michelin 12H Paul Ricard into the overnight intervention after deciding not to pit for fuel before the race restart on Sunday morning. The No. 73 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo, driven by Joel Sturm, Jörg Dreisow, Manuel Lauck and Constantin Dressler, completed the opening six hours of the race as first on the road but it will restart the event with much less fuel than its rivals. A lack of pace early on saw the reigning teams’ champions drop from fourth place down to 12 th . However, an aggressive fight up the order from Porsche-contracted driver Sturm in the latter half of the race brought the car back into contention. The cars are now placed under parc fermé conditions overnight, meaning that they keep the same fuel loads at the restart. Additionally, cars which did not finish on the lead lap will retain the same gap to the leaders when the event recommences. GetSpeed Team PCX Racing’s No. 28 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo led the majority ...

Merrill Fastest in Opening Mid-Ohio Practice

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Photo: Geoff Miller/IMSA Thomas Merrill set the pace in the opening IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge practice session for this weekend’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio. The No. 14 Circle H Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Evo ended up quickest in Friday’s 60-minute session, thanks to Merrill’s benchmark 1:25.846 lap time. It was 0.089 seconds quicker than the No. 44 Ibiza Farm Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 of Michael Cooper, with the No. 37 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO of Cameron Shields third on the time sheets. Merrill is sharing the Mike Johnson-run GS class entry with David Hampton and Martin Sarukhanyan this weekend. Jeff Westphal and Robby Foley completed the top-five for CarBahn and Turner Motorsport, respectively. The No. 21 Victor Gonzalez Racing CUPRA Leon VZ TCR of Steven Clemons was quickest in TCR. The session saw a single red flag, for the No. 19 Stephen Cameron Racing Ford Mustang GT4 of Sean Quinlan, who stopped on tra...

Mustang Challenge Rookie Allaer Quickest on Friday at Mid-Ohio

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Photo: Wes Duenkel/Ford Mustang Challenge North America rookie Nolan Allaer topped the time charts for the first time in a session in the IMSA-sanctioned single-make series, ending the day quickest of the Ford Mustang Dark Horse Rs ahead of this weekend’s pair of races at Mid-Ohio. The Spark Performance driver recorded a best time of 1:28.808 to edge out the No. 7 Wheelhouse Motorsports Mustang of Sandy Satullo by 0.206 seconds. Both were quicker than Dark Horse points leader Cole Loftsgard, who posted the quickest time in opening practice, and improved to a 1:29.222 lap time in the second session but was only good enough for third Will Lucas and Devin Anderson completed the top-five for Wheelhouse and TechSport, respectively, ahead of Tate Pritt’s Automatic Racing entry. Dark Horse Legends points leader Chris Clarke returned to the top of the time charts in class, thanks to a 1:31.121 lap time in his No. 9 Paley Motorsport with AAG Racing entry. Practice 1 pace-sette...