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Photo: Geoff Miller/IMSA Thomas Merrill set the pace in the opening IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge practice session for this weekend’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio. The No. 14 Circle H Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Evo ended up quickest in Friday’s 60-minute session, thanks to Merrill’s benchmark 1:25.846 lap time. It was 0.089 seconds quicker than the No. 44 Ibiza Farm Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 of Michael Cooper, with the No. 37 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO of Cameron Shields third on the time sheets. Merrill is sharing the Mike Johnson-run GS class entry with David Hampton and Martin Sarukhanyan this weekend. Jeff Westphal and Robby Foley completed the top-five for CarBahn and Turner Motorsport, respectively. The No. 21 Victor Gonzalez Racing CUPRA Leon VZ TCR of Steven Clemons was quickest in TCR. The session saw a single red flag, for the No. 19 Stephen Cameron Racing Ford Mustang GT4 of Sean Quinlan, who stopped on tra...

Photo: Wes Duenkel/Ford Mustang Challenge North America rookie Nolan Allaer topped the time charts for the first time in a session in the IMSA-sanctioned single-make series, ending the day quickest of the Ford Mustang Dark Horse Rs ahead of this weekend’s pair of races at Mid-Ohio. The Spark Performance driver recorded a best time of 1:28.808 to edge out the No. 7 Wheelhouse Motorsports Mustang of Sandy Satullo by 0.206 seconds. Both were quicker than Dark Horse points leader Cole Loftsgard, who posted the quickest time in opening practice, and improved to a 1:29.222 lap time in the second session but was only good enough for third Will Lucas and Devin Anderson completed the top-five for Wheelhouse and TechSport, respectively, ahead of Tate Pritt’s Automatic Racing entry. Dark Horse Legends points leader Chris Clarke returned to the top of the time charts in class, thanks to a 1:31.121 lap time in his No. 9 Paley Motorsport with AAG Racing entry. Practice 1 pace-sette...

Photo: Bruno Vandevelde/MPS Agency ***Thirty-nine of the 62 cars entered for next weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans passed through Place de la Republique in downtown Le Mans on Friday, kicking off the official activities for this year’s French endurance classic. Among the notable Hypercar teams to go through the technical checks, for both cars and drivers, included BMW M Team WRT, newcomers Genesis Magma Racing, Heart of Racing Team, Peugeot, both the Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA and Wayne Taylor Racing squads, as well as Alpine. ***LMGT3 favorites TF Sport, AF Corse, Proton Competition and Manthey Racing were also present over the course of the packed day, along with LMP2 teams such as CLX Motorsport, TDS Racing and two-time and defending class winners Inter Europol Competition, which were the first two entries to go through the process at 10 a.m. local time. ***Among the notable absences included Nielsen Racing driver Jack Doohan, who is in Monaco this weekend in his reserve d...

Photo: Racingpixels/Creventic GetSpeed Team PCX Racing clinched a hard-fought pole position for the Michelin 12H Paul Ricard. The No. 28 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo which is driven by Maro Engel, Patrick Charlaix, Jordan Boisson and Benjamin Paque set a fastest combined lap time of 2:01.657. Engel set the fastest overall time of the session, smashing the record for the Michelin 24H Series at the circuit. The veteran Mercedes-AMG factory driver produced a rapid 2:00.652 lap time. The PCX Racing machine finished the session 0.203 seconds ahead of the No. 93 Ajith RedAnt Racing Mercedes-AMG. The pole sitting No. 28 car is currently tied for the championship lead with the Ajith RedAnt squad and its sister GetSpeed Team JR286 entry. Sainteloc Junior Team’s No. 18 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II finished the session in third place after displaying strong pace early on in the three GT3 qualifying sessions. The French squad sits a mere two points behind the championship leaders thanks to a win at Mugel...

Photo: Eric Le Galliot/MPS Agency Francois Perrodo has confirmed discussions with AF Corse to enter the 2026-27 Asian Le Mans Series in the new Hypercar class, although has cast questions whether the championship will go ahead as planned amid the current geopolitical situation in the Middle East. The Frenchman, who took LMP2 Pro-Am class honors at Le Mans in 2024 in an AF Corse-run Oreca 07 Gibson, has long raced for the Amato Ferrari-owned operation, in both GT3 and LMP2 competition. While currently focused on the European Le Mans Series ranks, as well as next weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, Perrodo revealed that he could add an Asian program later this year, should the pieces fall into place. Perrodo is the first FIA Bronze-rated driver to confirm talks to race a Ferrari 499P, which Ferrari’s global head of endurance Antonello Coletta confirmed talks with multiple undisclosed customers. “It’s in the talks,” Perrodo told Sportscar365 on Friday in Le Mans. ...

Photo: Andrea Lorenzina/DPPI Sheldon van der Linde said he’s upbeat on BMW M Team WRT’s chances at the 24 Hours of Le Mans following its recent string of momentum and the fact that its Evo joker update was specifically designed for Circuit de la Sarthe. The South African and co-drivers Rene Rast and Robjin Frijns gave the German manufacturer its breakthrough first FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar win in last month’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, in a landmark 1-2 finish for the pair of BMW M Hybrid V8s. “It came at the right point for us,” van der Linde told Sportscar365. “We knew that with every year passing, we have high expectations, the board at BMW, the people around us, it’s our third year in WEC already. “Naturally with every year we have more expectation, more pressure, to perform. The longer you wait, the more that pressure starts building. “You can really feel it before Spa that everyone was wanting to get th...

Source: Sports Car 365