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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...

Photo: Porsche Reigning champion Klaus Bachler will make his Michelin 24H Series return this weekend at the Michelin 12H Spa-Francorchamps. The Porsche factory driver, who won the championship with Proton Huber Competition last year, will join the Herberth Motorsport squad alongside Max Moritz and Alfred Renauer in the No. 269 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo. A grid of 41 cars will enter the 12-hour race, including last year’s championship winners Proton Competition. Proton’s No. 73 Porsche will be manned by Jörg Dreisow, Constantin Dressler, Manuel Lauck and Robert de Haan. Mercedes-AMG has the most cars on the Spa grid with six Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos campaigned across five teams. The No. 28 GetSpeed Team PCX Racing Mercedes-AMG, which took pole in the opening round at Mugello, is set to return with Benjamin Paque, Jordan Boisson, Patrick Charlaix and Marvin Klein at the wheel. GetSpeed’s sister car, the Getspeed Team JR286 Mercedes-AMG, will be driven by Steve Jans, Tanner Harvey, Patr...

Photo: Masahide Kamio Ex-Formula 1 driver Daniil Kvyat says he can take satisfaction from a top-six finish on his SUPER GT debut with the JLOC Lamborghini team at Okayama, which was capped off by an overtake on the Saitama Green Brave Toyota at an unusual location. The factory Lamborghini racer was making his first appearance in the Japanese series, sharing the No. 88 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 he shared with Takashi Kogure, taking over for the second stint after Kogure’s pit stop on lap 40 of 77. Steady progress from 14th on the grid put Kvyat seventh at that point, but in the closing stages he encountered Hiroki Yoshida’s Saitama Green Brave Toyota GR Supra. With just a handful of laps to go, the JLOC driver was finally able to get ahead by going all the way around the outside at the tight Redman left-hander, giving himself the inside line for the following right-hander of Hobbs, to grab sixth. Kvyat and Kogure were classified a lap down on the winning D’station Racing Aston...

Photo: Julien Delfosse/DPPI Porsche factory driver Kevin Estre will make a return to LMP2 competition for the first time in over a decade after being confirmed as competing for TDS Racing in this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. With Porsche Penske Motorsport withdrawing from the FIA World Endurance Championship at the end of last season, Estre was facing the prospect of not competing at Le Mans for the first time since 2014. However, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship regular has now inked a deal with TDS to crew its Oreca 07 Gibson in the endurance classic, sharing the car with Mathias Beche and debutant Tobias Lutke. For Estre, this represents a first LMP2 outing since he contested the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans at the wheel of an OAK Racing Ligier JS P2 Honda. Beche has made sporadic appearances with TDS at Le Mans, including finishing runner-up in the LMP2 Pro-Am class last year with the squad alongside Clement Novalak and Rodrigo Sales. Canadian Lutke, however,...