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Photo: Conquest Racing Longtime GT racing driver Cedric Sbirrazzuoli has died at the age of 39. A cause of his death has not yet been disclosed but is understood to not be motorsport-related. News of Sbirrazzuoli’s passing first appeared on AF Corse’s Instagram page on Thursday evening, with the following words: “You were a very talented, determined and professional driver, with that passion and desire to win that only belongs to those who really love racing. “But you were also much more: an authentic, respectful and sunny person, capable of bringing healthy enthusiasm and your own special way of living your passion for motorsport. “It has been a privilege to work and dream together. “Your race stopped too soon. Your memory will keep running forever. We hug your wife, parents and all your loved ones with love.” Sbirrazzuoli, who won the GTD class at the 2024 Motul Petit Le Mans with Conquest Racing, had been a longtime driver and coach i...

Photo: John Dagys ***IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams unloaded on Thursday at Virginia International Raceway for the lone GT-only race of the year. This weekend’s Michelin GT Challenge marks the 10th anniversary of Michelin, the Official Tire of IMSA, serving as the event’s title sponsor, which has seen a large level of activation around the event in the decade since. ***The GR GT3 made its un-camouflaged North American dynamic debut in last week’s Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, with Jack Hawksworth turning laps in the car that’s set to replace the Lexus RC F GT3 next year. Among the interested onlookers included RAFA Racing Team owner Rafael Martinez and team principal Kevin Conway, with the Toyota-affiliated GT4 squad understood to be evaluating a future expansion into the GT3 ranks. ***McLaren’s new MCL-HY LMDh-based prototype, meanwhile, was also on display during Monterey Car Week, in what marke...

Photo: SRO GT racing veteran Andrew Howard will bow out of top-line GT3 competition at the end of the year, it has been announced. The 62-year-old Briton has elected to call time on his full time driving career that yielded two British GT Championship crowns, in 2013 and 2015, when the current series concludes at Brands Hatch next month. He also won the 2016 GTE title in the European Le Mans Series, and made two appearances in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2016-17. Howard explained that he is hanging up his helmet mainly because of the changing nature of Pro-Am competition in GT racing, amid the constant arrival of younger and better-prepared FIA Bronze-rated drivers. “In short, despite the competitive fires burning in me just as intensely as 10 or 15 years ago, I just don’t have the time and energy to commit myself 100 percent to racing any more,” he said. “The game has moved on over the past decade and it’s clear that younger Am drivers, who can race weekend after weeke...

Photo: Aston Martin Heart of Racing Team completed an initial test with a development version of the Aston Martin Valkyrie ahead of planned Evo joker updates to the car for next year. Ross Gunn and Harry Tincknell handled driving duties on Wednesday at Silverstone, in what was billed as a “comprehensive test” for the 6.5-liter V12-powered LMH-based prototype. While specifics on the potential upgrades were not disclosed, the British manufacturer stated they assessed a “wide range of technical items” in order to evaluate the “future performance direction” of the car. “This was a significant day for Valkyrie,” said Heart of Racing team principal Ian James. “Some of the developments we tried today will fuel our thinking as we consider the technical direction we go next with Valkyrie. “We have been able to evaluate lots of areas of performance on the car, so Silverstone has proved an interesting place to challenge ideas. ...

Photo: PONOS Racing Honda factory driver Tadasuke Makino says he is excited by the prospect of vying for overall victory in next month’s Suzuka 1000km as he prepares to make his first GT3 race appearance in seven years as part of the PONOS Racing Ferrari team. Makino will share the No. 45 PONOS Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo with fellow SUPER GT regulars Seita Nonaka and Takuro Shinohara as part of the Prancing Horse’s only Pro class effort for the Intercontinental GT Challenge fixture on Sept. 11-13. The 29-year-old, who races a Honda HRC Prelude-GT in SUPER GT’s top GT500 class and also represents the brand in Super Formula, has two previous starts in the Suzuka 1000km/10 Hours to his name, the last of which came in 2019 when he raced for Team UpGarage in a Honda NSX GT3 Evo, finishing 14th. That remains Makino’s last race in a GT3 car, but his work with PONOS in the SRO Japan Cup as an advisor to Am pairing Yorikatsu Tsujiko and Yusuke Yamasaki, who were original...

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...