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Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA Chevrolet and Ford have joined as Intercontinental GT Challenge manufacturers for the upcoming campaign, which will feature the largest number of registered GT3 brands since 2020. Announced on Wednesday by SRO Motorsports Group, the two iconic American brands will join the existing roster of Ferrari, Mercedes-AMG, Porsche and reigning champion BMW for the 11th season of the globe-trotting GT3 series, which will feature five events on four continents. Next month’s Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour will kick off the season on Feb. 15, and will also mark the debut of both the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R and Ford Mustang GT3 at Mount Panorama, with entries fielded by JMR Johor Racing and HRT Ford Racing. It is part of a provisional 36-car entry for the race that will see at least 32 GT3 cars. “Adding two more of the world’s biggest automotive manufacturers to a resurgent IGTC underlines the series’ significance within GT3’s global environment, whilst also emp...

Source: Sports Car 365

Photo: Anonymous Honda’s new Prelude GT500 contender set the pace in the first group test of the new SUPER GT season at Sepang as Nakajima Racing ended up with the top time. The Dunlop-shod No. 64 Nakajima Racing Honda HRC Prelude-GT, one of seven GT500 cars present at the Malaysian track, set the best time of 1:49.211 on the third day of running on Sunday while Riki Okusa was the wheel. Nakajima, which had both of its regular drivers Okusa and Igor Fraga taking turns at the wheel, topped four of the eight three-hour sessions held across the four-day test that commenced last Thursday, with a rest day on Saturday. The test marked Fraga’s first mileage in a GT500 car, as well as the first time the Prelude has been tested on Dunlop tires, with all running until now with the new-for-2026 machine having taken place using Bridgestone rubber. Okusa’s best effort was exactly three tenths shy of the best time set in last year’s Sepang test, a 1:48.911 by Tadasuke Makino in a Honda Civic ...

Changing conditions, a global tire debut and a three-peat made the Rolex 24 one to remember. The No. 7 Penske Porsche 963 with drivers Felipe Nasr, Julien Andlauer and Laurin Heinrich scored the first victory with the Michelin Pilot Sport Endurance tire. “It’s like amazing, joining the 7 crew for the entire year and starting off the year with the perfect result, I have to say the hard work paid off,” said Andlauer. “We’ve been working very hard for weeks and weeks together, and everyone delivered an amazing job.” Drivers across the GTP class gave positive reviews to the new Michelin Pilot Sport Endurance tire. “The soft tire is much, much better compared to the previous version, but it was tough out there,” said Andlauer. “Track conditions evolved so much during the race that we always had to adapt and get it right with the tire pressure and everything. “It was the same challenge for everyone, and luckily, we understood Michelin.” Second-place finisher Jack Aitken said: “We h...

Source: Sports Car 365

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA BMW outfit Paul Miller Racing claimed GTD Pro class victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona after coming out on top of a tense strategic battle against 75 Express. The No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO shared by Connor De Phillippi, Dan Harper, Max Hesse and Neil Verhagen triumphed by a margin of just 2.223 seconds over the No. 75 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Kenny Habul, Will Power, Chaz Mostert and Maro Engel. Heading into the final 90 minutes of a race punctuated by a caution period in the night-time hours lasting more than six hours due to fog, Engel appeared to be in a strong position to capture victory having passed several cars on-track. However, at the last round of pit stops with one hour and 20 minutes to go, Paul Miller turned around Harper 13 seconds faster than 75 Express managed with Engel, giving Harper a small cushion he was able to manage to the finish. As well having to conserve fuel, Harper faced the additional challenge of not having a working radio fo...

Photo: Jurgen Tap/Porsche Kevin Estre led Porsche Penske Motorsport teammate Julien Andlauer with three hours to go in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Estre in the No. 6 Porsche 963 held an eight-tenth advantage of Andlauer’s No. 7 entry in second. The No. 25 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 of Marco Wittmann ran third, some ten seconds behind. Andlauer’s co-driver Nasr put the No. 7 Porsche back into the lead, after Wittmann, who was off-sequence, pitted with three hours and 45 minutes to go. It re-instated a Porsche Penske 1-2 at the front of the field. The No. 24 BMW of Sheldon van der Linde, with Earl Bamber slipping back to fifth in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R, which bouced back from a stop-and-hold plus 60-second penalty for co-driver Connor Zilisch running the red light at pit exit during the six-plus hour long full-course caution period. LMP2 was paced by the No. 04 CrowdStrike by APR Oreca 07 Gibson of Malthe Jakobsen, who recovered from an earlier drive-th...