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Photo: IMSA Archives Former IMSA owner, CEO and competitor Charlie Slater passed away last Saturday in South Florida at the age of 69 following an extended illness. “IMSA, at its core values, has always been a culture of family – the IMSA racing family,” said IMSA President John Doonan. “The loss of Charlie has hit all of us hard. The positive impact he has had on the IMSA community over the years has been discussed and recognized by so many legends of IMSA in recent days. “It is with heavy hearts that we will go racing this week at VIR…but also with the same ‘IMSA family’ spirit that Charlie represented. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of Charlie’s family and loved ones.” That ‘family’ spirit was evident among a mix of past and present IMSA competitors as word circulated in the industry of Slater’s passing. Those he worked alongside, shared a cockpit with and competed wheel-to-wheel with spoke of what a quality person Slater was – respected in b...

Photo: Bob Chapman/Ford The fight for the Mustang Challenge North America titles in both Dark Horse and Dark Horse Legends continues this weekend at Virginia International Raceway for the penultimate event of the season. With a sweep of the weekend last time out at Watkins Glen International, Cole Loftsgard of Round 3 Racing, has marginally increased his points lead over Devin Anderson to 120 points. However with Anderson, in his TechSport Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse R, finishing second in both races while also scoring pole for Race 2 and setting the fastest race laps in both 45-minute contests, it’s kept his championship hopes still very much alive with four races to go. It’s a similar story in the DHL class, with Wheelhouse Motorsports driver Tom Tait holding a 130-point margin over Paley Motorsport with AAG Racing driver Chris Clarke. A total of 15 entries are set for this weekend’s pair of races at the picturesque 3.27-mile circuit. Track action begins o...

Photo: Seven x Seven Racing Porsche GT300 squad Seven x Seven Racing has elected to promote Taichi Watarai to a race seat for the remainder of the current SUPER GT season. Up-and-coming Japanese star Watarai, 22, will step up from his third driver role to partner Sven Mueller aboard the team’s No. 666 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo for the remaining five races of 2026, beginning with this weekend’s Suzuka 300km. It comes at the expense of two-time GT300 champion Kiyoto Fujinami, who stands down from driving duties after a season-and-a-half with the team. Watarai will make his SUPER GT debut at Suzuka, but is already well known to Seven x Seven via his activities in one-make Porsche and GT3 competition. The Saitama Prefecture native was part of the recently established team’s title-winning effort in the ST-X (FIA GT3) class of Super Taikyu last year alongside Fujinami and team owner ‘Bankcy’ (real name Hiroyuki Ogawa). In addition, he was a race winner in SRO J...

Photo: Macau Grand Prix Organizing Committee Mercedes-AMG has announced it will return to the FIA GT World Cup on the streets of Macau after a year’s absence with a three-car effort involving Craft-Bamboo Racing and first-time event participant Tigani Motorsport. The Stuttgart brand confirmed on Wednesday that it will have three of its Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos on the grid for the end-of-season street event on Nov. 19-22, marking its return to Macau after it elected to sit out the 2025 running over concerns around the cost of installing FIA-mandated torque sensors. Four-time Macau GT winner Maro Engel will drive one of Craft-Bamboo’s two cars as he bids to follow up his victory on his previous Macau visit in 2024, flanked by Silver-rated Adderly Fong, who makes the switch to Mercedes-AMG from Audi. Lucas Auer, meanwhile, will compete in the sole entry fielded by Australian team Tigani, which is expanding to race at Macau for the first time following its extensive GT World C...

Source: Sports Car 365

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge GS championship leaders look to rebound from abnormal Road America results for the Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway. Robert Noaker will share the No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4 with new co-driver Finn Wiebelhaus starting at VIR . The No. 13 car has finished in the top 11 in each of the first seven races and built its championship lead from 30 points to 100 entering VIR. Ford scored a pair of podiums at VIR last year in the hands of KohR Motorsports, finishing second and third behind eventual season champions Luca Mars and Jan Heylen in the RS1 Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS. Each of the top five in the championship all finished seventh or worse in the Road America 120. That brought a sixth possible GS title contender into play, in the form of series newcomers YRB Racing and Road America winners Trenton Estep and Allen Patten in their No. 66 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 ...

Source: Sports Car 365