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Photo: Andrea Lorenzina/DPPI ***A special presentation was held at the Piazza Matteotti in downtown Imola featuring all FIA World Endurance Championship teams and drivers on Thursday afternoon. Each team was allotted a five-minute slot to appear on stage in front of gathered fans and local media, with drivers also partaking in an autograph session. ***Collective drivers’ photos for the LMGT3 and Hypercar classes were also taken at the same location. ***Peugeot has undergone other changes in its team structure for the new season besides the arrival of new team principal Emmanuel Esnault, who replaces freshly-promoted Stellantis Motorsport boss Olivier Jansonnie. Mathieu Neuville has moved up to become chief engineer, while Victor Famin takes over from Neuville as race engineer for the No. 93 side of the garage. ***Esnault said he believes the work that is being done within the French manufacturer “ is not in line with the results that the cars have delivered on-track” as the pro...

Photo: Porsche Porsche Penske Motorsport’s pair of 963s will feature a special Apple Music livery at this weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round. The German manufacturer has enjoyed a partnership with Apple since 2019 when the Porsche Taycan became the first car to offer Apple Music as a built-in streaming experience. That partnership has now expanded into motorsport with the company’s logos and special colored stripes added to the liveries of the factory 963s for the event. “We are extremely proud of our collaboration with Apple Music,” said Thomas Laudenbach, vice president Porsche Motorsport. “The livery on our two Porsche 963 cars looks fantastic. After our successful Mobil 1-themed appearance at Sebring, this is another highlight as we celebrate 75 years of Porsche Motorsport. I’m very excited to see how fans respond to this design.” PPM currently heads both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ standings heading into the ...

Photo: Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific Phantom Global Racing has signed Enzo Trulli and Loek Hartog for its campaign in the China GT Championship season with a pair of Porsche 911 GT3 R Evos. Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific Selected Driver Trulli will share the Chinese outfit’s No. 66 car (pictured top) with Chris Chia for the five-round series that begins this weekend at Shanghai International Circuit. The team’s second entry, the No. 79, will feature Porsche Carrera Cup North American Hartog champion for four of the five rounds together with Li Ning. Trulli and Hartog are among a number of high-profile international drivers involved in the series this year, with the likes of Tom Kalender (Elegant Racing Mercedes-AMG), Samantha Tan (Team KRC BMW), Lorenzo Patrese and Ollie Millroy (both Team AAI BMW) also to be found among the 28-strong GT3 field at Shanghai. Trulli’s China GT campaign will be his first full season in a GT3 car, the Italian having so far only raced the 911 GT3 ...

Photo: Porsche I made my GT3 debut at Sonoma last month and I’ve discovered something about myself. Give me a new car, a stacked grid, and expectations higher than Willie Nelson, and I don’t panic. I immediately begin a detailed internal engineering meeting with myself that nobody asked for. Thirty-seven mental tabs open. All of them playing audio. My fellow over-thinkers – sound familiar? So naturally, my debut in GT World Challenge America powered by AWS went very smoothly, very logically, and absolutely according to plan. Yah, right! What actually happened is what always happens: I arrive, feel optimistic, immediately begin overanalyzing everything, briefly find flow, question reality, go faster, forget why it worked, panic a little, repeat. Sonoma just ran that entire loop at 150 mph in front of thousands of fans. Wednesday & Friday: Humbling, But Make It Fun My first practice in the brand-new Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo at Sonoma felt like being handed a spaceship and to...

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO Chicago Performance & Tuning Co. will skip next weekend’s second round of the GT World Challenge America powered by AWS season at Circuit of The Americas due to not having been able to secure a customer for the event. The team debuted its Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 in last month’s season opener at Sonoma Raceway with Mads Siljehaug and Nicolai Elghanayan, although Elghanayan was only confirmed for the rounds at Sonoma, Road America and the Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS. It’s understood the program was intended as a full season effort with Siljehaug but only on the condition of securing another FIA Bronze-rated driver for the races Elghanayan was unable to contest. “We’ve had strong interest but unfortunately we’ve been unable to secure a customer for COTA,” said team manager Chris Lester. “As said from the onset, Nicolai would only be able to join the team for three races, with his next entry to be Road America. “We’re incredibly proud of ...

Photo: Florent Gooden/DPPI ***FIA World Endurance Championship teams completed the category’s compressed single-day Prologue pre-season test on Tuesday at a soggy Imola Circuit, which was led by Ferrari in a 1-2-3 run for the Prancing Horse on home soil. Heart of Racing, which had a mixed day after a heavy accident for its No. 009 Aston Martin Valkyrie of Marco Sorensen, led the way in LMGT3 with its No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Mattia Drudi. ***Toyota may not have featured towards the top of the Prologue timesheets with its new TR010 Hybrid, but it did finish at the head of the laps completed leaderboard. Out of all eight Hypercar manufacturer teams (not including the mileage from the satellite AF Corse No. 83 Ferrari 499P), it clocked up 456 laps around the Imola track, ten more than the next best, Peugeot’s 9X8. ***In contrast, unsurprisingly, Aston Martin propped up that table as the No. 009 Valkyrie required a chassis change following Sorensen’s morning cras...

Image: BHA Bryan Herta Autosport has signaled plans to expand into McLaren Trophy America competition beginning with the SRO America-run single-make series’ event at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in June. The multi-time IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge TCR title-winning squad, which has recently partnered with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports’ for a LMP2 effort in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, will add a third program in the second-year series. Its first Artura Trophy EVO car was recently delivered to the team’s shop for an intended debut in the June 12-14 event as a “precursor to an expanded presence” in the series in “2027 and beyond.” Drivers for the program have not yet been announced. “Expanding into the McLaren Trophy America Series is a natural next step for our organization,” said team president and CEO Bryan Herta. “This program allows us to continue our growth while creating more opportunities across the board—for drivers looking to develop, for engineers and mechanic...