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Photo: SUPER GT Toshiki Oyu grabbed pole position for this weekend’s SUPER GT opener at Okayama for the Cerumo team, leading an all-Toyota top three. The No. 39 Toyota GR Supra was third-fastest in Q1 in the hands of GT500 debutant Rikuto Kobayashi, before Oyu paced Q2 with a best time of 1:17.352. That was enough to beat Sho Tsuboi in the No. 36 TOM’S Toyota, which had topped Q1 in the hands of Kenta Yamashita, by a scant 0.065 seconds, while Nirei Fukuzumi put the No. 14 Rookie Racing car third-fastest less than a tenth further behind. Honda’s new HRC Prelude-GT will start fourth on the grid as Koudai Tsukakoshi led the brand’s charge in fourth, 0.512 seconds off the pace. Sacha Fenestraz was quickest in free practice aboard the SARD Toyota, but come Q2 he could only set the fifth-fastest time ahead of Ren Sato’s No. 16 ARTA Prelude. All three Nissan Z NISMOs made it through to Q2, but the quickest of the three, the Team Impul car, was only seventh in the hands of Kazuki Hira...

Photo: Laurent Cartalade/MPS Agency ***Friday’s one-and-only Free Practice session for this weekend’s European Le Mans Series season-opening 4 Hours of Barcelona saw drama from the start when Alex Quinn was forced to pull his No. 27 Nielsen Racing Oreca 07 Gibson off-course after encountering an oil leak, resulting in a lengthy red flag period and an extended session. The car, however, is expected to be back in action on Satuday. ***The afternoon’s Bronze Driver Collective Test, meanwhile, also saw a red, but in the closing minutes when the No. 63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Ameerh Naran stopped just past pit-out with a suspected mechanical issue. ***ELMS cars and drivers assembled for a group photo on Thursday evening (pictured above), with the front row led by the respective defending class champions in LMP2 (Panis Racing), LMP2 Pro-Am (AO by TF), LMP3 (CLX Motorsport) and LMGT3 (TF Sport). ***A total of ten drivers competing this weekend will be heading directly to Imola...

Photo: Javier Jimenez/DPPI Cadillac FIA World Endurance Championship driver Alex Lynn will miss the first two rounds of this season after undergoing an operation on his neck. The 32-year-old has had the planned procedure amid what has been described as an “ongoing neck injury” that he has been battling with since 2024. The Briton has contested every WEC race in a Cadillac since the V-Series.R was first introduced in 2023, including taking victory at Interlagos last year, but will miss the Imola opener later this month as well as the Spa event in May. The Cadillac Hertz Team Jota squad has said that its No. 12 machine will be driven by just Will Stevens and Norman Nato in Lynn’s absence at the opening round, meaning both Cadillacs will be raced by only two drivers at Imola as No. 38 pilot Jack Aitken is away on IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship duty at Long Beach. Regarding Lynn’s neck injury, a team statement read: “The decision has now been taken to address the i...

Photo: Drew Gibson McLaren Motorsport has confirmed the return of multiple UK domestic championship-winning driver Adam Smalley as a GT3 Junior driver for this year. Smalley will be joined by new additions Alessio Deledda, Baptiste Moulin, Lorens Lecertua, Riccardo Cazzaniga, Alejandro Geppert and McKenzy Cresswell. They will be joined by four more drivers who complete the new Talent Pathway initiative with Elite Motorsport. Smalleu was a race winner in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS last year, sharing the Garage 59 Gold Cup entry with fellow GT3 Junior driver Louis Prette and factory driver Dean MacDonald, where they claimed victory in the season finale at Barcelona. This follows his British GT Silver Cup championship success in 2024. Belgian racer Lecertua is the first of our six new members. The 19-year-old has already been a Silver Cup class winner in GTWC Europe and will be looking to emulate that success as he moves to McLaren customer team CSA this year. He wi...

Listen to Sportscar365’s latest ‘Double Stint Segment’ on this week’s episode of Midweek Motorsport, where John Hindhaugh and John Dagys catch up on the latest news in sports car racing, covering a wide-range of news and previews for the weekends ahead. The Double Stint Segment begins at the 23-minute mark. Source: Sports Car 365

Source: Sports Car 365

Photo: SRO Aston Martin Formula 1 driver Lance Stroll says he could tackle further GT3 races this year as he prepares to make his surprise GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS debut at Paul Ricard this weekend. The Canadian was an unexpected late addition to the entry list for the season opener with Aston squad Comtoyou Racing fielding a fourth Vantage GT3 Evo for Stroll, ex-F1 driver Roberto Merhi and Aston Academy racer Mari Boya. Stroll was able to take advantage of a gap in the F1 schedule brought about by the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian races amid the conflict in the Middle East to make his GT3 bow. He had the chance to sample the Vantage during GTWC Europe’s Prologue at Paul Ricard on Wednesday with the No. 18 machine ending up 26th in the afternoon session. When asked if this was just a one-off outing or he could make more sports car appearances, Stroll said: “If I feel good physically and mentally, yes — I’d like to do more races during th...