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Photo: Wes Duenkel/Ford Joey Hand will make his return to the wheel of Gradient Racing’s Ford Mustang GT3 EVO in this weekend’s Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America, following a recovery from a fractured pelvis due to a karting accident. The veteran Ford driver will join Jake Walker and Till Bechtolsheimer in the GTD class entry for the six-hour race at the Wisconsin circuit. It comes after Hand was forced to miss the most recent Endurance Cup round , which saw the team’s sprint driver Corey Lewis sub. “I’m thrilled to be back in the race car with Gradient Racing, driving the Ford Mustang GT3 that I know and love so much,” said Hand. “I can’t think of a better place to make my return than Road America. “It’s my favorite race track in the world, one of the greatest places to race, with incredible fans, great food and everything that makes Road America so special. “I’m really looking forward to getting back behind the ...

Photos: Jessica Johnk/Forte Racing Ryan Yardley and Devlin DeFrancesco will complete RS1’s lineup for this weekend’s Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America, alongside team veteran Jan Heylen in the No. 28 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo. The Porsche Motorsport North America Selected Driver, who won last year’s Porsche Carrera Cup North America title, is set for his second IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship start of the season, after making his Rolex 24 at Daytona and series debut in Muehlner Motorsports’ Porsche. Yardley, who has been focused primarily on SRO America competition, in both GT World Challenge America powered by AWS and Pirelli GT4 America this year, will now get another outing in top-level IMSA competition, after what’s been a rotating lineup within the Florida-based squad’s Michelin Endurance Cup program. DeFrancesco, meanwhile, is set for his first WeatherTech Championship outing since 2024 when the Canadian open-wheel dr...

Photo: Ferrari Four factory Ferrari Hypercar drivers have conducted initial testing at Monza of upgrades that could form the basis of a planned Evo version of the 499P for next season’s FIA World Endurance Championship. The manufacturer confirmed at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans that it would be using some of the performance jokers that it has available to introduce a heavily revised car for 2027. The initial steps towards this began at Monza on Tuesday when Antonio Fuoco, Antonio Giovinazzi, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Miguel Molina completed the first laps at the wheel of an updated 499P that Ferrari said featured a “wide range of technical and aerodynamic solutions.” The manufacturer added in a statement: “This is a step-by-step process that keeps several design options open until final homologation, providing for on-track testing of different configurations as part of the project’s natural evolution.” Images from the one-day test have been ...

Photo: SRO/JEP Reigning GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS champions Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts head a record 45-car Sprint Cup entry for this weekend’s Magny-Cours event. The Sprint Cup competitors waited over two months between the Brands Hatch opener and the second round at Misano earlier this month, but just two weeks on they are now back in action in France. WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO duo van der Linde and Weerts were unstoppable at Misano, winning both races to open a 14.5-point lead over Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo drivers Maro Engel and Lucas Auer at the head of the field. The 45-strong entry for Magny-Cours is bolstered by the addition of a Sainteloc Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II tackling the Bronze Cup division with International GT Open pairing Jim Pla — who won the 2024 Endurance Cup Gold title with the squad — and Michael Blanchemain at the wheel. However, the Razoon – more than racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo did not tackle the previous e...

Source: Sports Car 365

Photo: Ferrari The penultimate event for Ferrari Challenge North America came to a close this weekend at Sonoma Raceway. In Sunday’s races, championship contenders across all classes continued to exert their dominance, setting the stage for success in the upcoming season finale. It was a perfect weekend for Johnny Kaminskey (Ferrari of Long Island) at Sonoma, finishing with two victories and two pole positions in the Trofeo Pirelli class. Both wins were by 15 seconds over his next closest competitor, and the teenage driver further extended his championship lead as a result. On Sunday, Roberto Perrina (Ferrari of Seattle) chased the youngster and settled for second place above Brad Fauvre (Ferrari of San Francisco) in third. In Trofeo Pirelli Am, Michael Mathes (Ferrari of Central New Jersey) also completed a weekend sweep. Sunday’s win was Mathes’ fourth in six races while competing in a partial season. Championship leader Mitchell Green (Ferrari Westlake) finished second, advanc...

Photo: Gruppe C Photography The Nürburgring 24 will form part of a new four-event mini-series of races around the Nordschleife next year that will all be run to the same regulations, while a Prologue event has been created ahead of the N24. The German endurance classic has enjoyed renewed interest, especially with four-time Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen tackling this year’s edition, which featured an expanded entry list of 161 cars . Organizer ADAC Nordrhein is seeking to capitalize upon this by giving teams and drivers further opportunities to compete on the full Nordschleife circuit. After next year’s N24 is held on May 27-30, there will be additional races held to the same rules as part of the existing ADAC Eifel (July 30 – Aug. 1) and 1000 km (Sept. 10-12) contests. As well as the traditional N24 Qualifiers, held four weeks before the main event, there will also be a new two-day Prologue on Apr. 2-3 to give teams a further opportunity to prepare for the 24...