Posts

Cairoli, Wittmann Share Wins on Eventful Nürburgring Weekend

Image
Photo: Gruppe C Photography Ferrari driver Matteo Cairoli and BMW’s Marco Wittmann shared the wins on an eventful DTM weekend at the Nürburgring, during which championship contenders Maro Engel and Lucas Auer tangled on the opening lap of the second contest. Cairoli dominated the opener from pole in his Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, eventually crossing the line almost ten seconds ahead of Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo racer Thomas Preining, who had also started on the front row. Ben Doerr had climbed up to third at the start in his Doerr Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 Evo but a slightly slow pit stop dropped him behind Wittmann’s Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO. Points leader Engel did emerge from his stop in third at the wheel of his Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo but fell behind Wittmann, Doerr and Auer as he got up to speed on his cold tires and therefore had to settle for sixth at the flag. A whole host of contenders were in strife, including title prot...

Watch ‘GT3: The Contenders’ Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo

Image
Source: Sports Car 365

Toney Doubles Up With Road America Race Win, Airbnb Title

Image
Photo: IMSA Toney Driver Development captured both the race win and the IMSA Airbnb Endurance Challenge championship following Sunday’s two-hour finale at Road America. This year marked Nathan Toney’s team’s first full-season effort in IMSA competition, with flawless execution across both its two cars to carry a championship. The team recently committed to another multi-car effort in the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge for 2027, which will run seven endurance races. The 2026 LMP3 season has been split with both sprint rounds and the new Airbnb Endurance Challenge component. Wyatt Brichacek shared the winning No. 95 Toney Ligier JS P325 Toyota with Lincoln Day. It was Brichacek’s second Airbnb Endurance Challenge win of the year, in addition to three VP Racing SportsCar Challenge sprint race wins. It was Day’s first win of the season, as Brichacek’s win in the two-hour COTA race came with Titus Sherlock. Teammates Ari Balogh and Garett Grist in the No. 30 Toney Ligier JS ...

Tunjo Takes Road America Pole for Airbnb Endurance Challenge

Image
Photo: IMSA Oscar Tunjo secured his third and the team’s fourth pole in as many rounds ahead of Sunday’s IMSA Airbnb Endurance Challenge season finale at Road America. Tunjo qualified his No. 1 Gebhardt Motorsport entry fastest at Sebring International Raceway and Circuit of The Americas, while teammate Valentino Catalano grabbed the pole at Virginia International Raceway as the team updated its previous generation Duqueine D08 Nissan to a new D09 Toyota prior to VIR. Today at Road America, once Tunjo set the pace on his second flying lap and improved it for three straight laps, he established an unbeatable gap. The Colombian lapped the 4.048-mile permanent road course in Elkhart Lake at a best time of 1P58.819 seconds to lead the field by 1.630 seconds. Despite the gap, Tunjo was somewhat surprised with the pace as the Gebhardt team had not tested prior to the race weekend. Lincoln Day qualified the No. 95 Toney Driver Development Ligier JS P325 Toyota second, in the car he...

Cadillac Reveals V-ONE Concept Based on V-Series.R LMDh Car

Image
Image: Cadillac Cadillac has taken the wraps off its V-ONE prototype, billed as a concept study that “unites the Cadillac V-Series performance legacy with a one-of-one, single-seat expression” marking the first of its kind for the brand. Based on the Dallara-chassied V-Series.R LMDh car that competes in both the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the V-ONE Concept was unveiled Friday at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering in Carmel, Calif., as part of Monterey Car Week. “The Cadillac V-ONE Concept is the ultimate manifestation of a customer performance concept and is a clear sign of our ambition for the Cadillac V-Series brand in the future,” said Dominic Najafi, Executive Design Director, Global Cadillac. The concept car, co-developed by Cadillac Design, Cadillac Racing and Dallara, is designed to deliver factory-level prototype performance and technology. The V8 hybrid powertrain shares foundations with the V-Series.R, but ca...

Porsche: Spa Win, Points Lead Doesn’t Change IGTC Approach

Image
Photo: JEP/SRO Porsche’s win in the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa and points lead in the Intercontinental GT Challenge doesn’t change its strategy for the final two rounds of the globe-trotting GT3 series according to Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach. The German manufacturer scored its first triumph in the Belgian endurance classic since 2020, when Thomas Preining, Bastian Buus and Ricardo Feller — all three of its DTM drivers — teamed for victory in Lionspeed GP’s Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo. It marked the ninth outright victory for Porsche in the 24 Hours of Spa, but more importantly vaulted the brand to the top of the IGTC manufacturers’ standings ahead of next month’s Suzuka 1000km. Reflecting on its achievements in Spa, Laudenbach said they felt like there were a number of Porsche customer teams that were in contention, including the Schumacher CLRT and Boutsen VDS examples, which also finished in the top-ten. “The nice thing...

Communication in Ford Hypercar Project the “Biggest Challenge”

Image
Photo: Ford Racing Ford Hypercar program manager Dan Sayers has described ensuring effective communication between the different bases and companies involved in the project around the world as one of the “biggest challenges” in developing the car. The yet-to-be-named LMDh machine is understood to have recently completed its initial shakedown ahead of the start of on-track testing for its FIA World Endurance Championship debut next year. The car’s bespoke 5.4-liter Coyote V8 engine has been designed and built at Ford’s global headquarters in Dearborn, Mich., while simulation work has been ongoing at Ford Racing’s technical center in Concord, N.C. The car itself features an ORECA chassis and it has therefore been constructed at the company’s French facility close to Paul Ricard, while the cars will be run out of Venture Engineering’s UK base in Oxfordshire. “We have ORECA in the south of France, we have a UK base, we’ve got two U...