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Image: Absolute Racing Absolute Racing will run a special kangaroo-inspired livery on its Porsche 911 GT3 R for next month’s Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour. The Chinese squad took the wraps off the Pro class entry that is set to be driven by Matt Campbell, Bastian Buus and Alessio Picariello in the Intercontinental GT Challenge season opener on Feb. 15. The distinctive yellow-and-black design includes a large kangaroo sign graphic on the rear-quarters of the car, reminiscent of Phoenix Racing’s special design on its 2012 race-winning Audi R8 LMS that also featured a kangaroo sign. The race has regularly featured Australian-themed liveries, particularly from overseas teams competing in the around-the-clock enduro. Absolute’s entry is one of two Pro class Porsches set to take part in the race, the other being fielded by Earl Bamber Motorsport for Klaus Bachler, Ricardo Feller and Laurin Heinrich. Image: Absolute Racing Image: Absolute Racing Source: Sports Car 365

Photo: Juergen Tap/Porsche Penske Racing President Jonathan Diuguid admitted he’s unsure where Porsche Penske Motorsport will stack up to the competition in this weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona despite topping the time charts at the Roar Before the 24. Two-time and defending overall Rolex 24 winner Felipe Nasr and Laurens Vanthoor set the first and third quickest times from the three-day test at Daytona International Speedways that saw the Porsche 963 lock out the the top three positions when factoring in the 2025-spec GTP entry from privateer squad JDC-Miller Motorsports that was second quickest in the hands of Nico Pino. While the next-closest competitor was the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Filipe Albuquerque, some four-tenths slower, Diuguid dismissed the notion the team holds any kind of pace advantage heading into the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener. “I know we had a good, successful three days of running, from a technical standpoint...

Source: Sports Car 365

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA Morgan Burkhard topped the times across three days of IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge testing at Daytona International Speedway ahead of next weekend’s four-hour season opener. GS and TCR competitors were given a total of five sessions across the Roar Before the Rolex 24 weekend, with Burkhard’s benchmark time of 1:52.800 coming during the opening session on Friday. As a result, the No. 2 CSM Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport was 0.175 seconds faster than the No. 46 Team TGM Ford Mustang GT4 of Matt Plumb, with the sister machine of Hugh Plumb third. Ford runners occupied all but the top spot in the top five across the weekend, with Clayton Williams fourth in the No. 30 LAP Motorsports entry followed by McCumbee McAleer Racing driver Nate Cicero. Former NTT IndyCar Series driver Matheus Leist was sixth aboard the No. 7 VPX Porsche, with Gregory Liefooghe slotting into seventh at the wheel of the No. 19 Stephen Cameron Racing Mustang. The overall top te...

Image: IMSA IMSA’s impromptu video stream of Saturday’s night session from the Roar Before the Rolex 24 could be the start of additional YouTube-based “opportunities” for fans according to IMSA’s head of brand, digital strategy & communications Doug O’Donnell. The two-hour session, featuring commentary from IMSA Radio’s Ryan Myrehn and NBC Sports’ Matt Yocum, who also hosts the IMSA Endurance Hour Podcast, drew in more than 160,000 views as of Sunday morning, including 12,000 simultaneous live viewers. Deemed as an overwhelming success by fans as well as numerous teams in the paddock, O’Donnell revealed the idea stemmed from fan feedback, as well as its trackside capabilities. A television production was already set up at Daytona International Speedway for the coverage of the season-opening IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge races. “Throughout the two days leading upm we got a lot of inbound social media requests and people commenting on, ‘Can you guys put the Roar up on Yo...

Photo: Gruppe C Photography/Mercedes-AMG A debut victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona would be “amazing” for Will Power, who is stepping into only his second 24-hour race during next weekend’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener. The two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion has been enlisted by longtime friend and 75 Express team owner/driver Kenny Habul to pilot the No. 75 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, with Chaz Mostert and Maro Engel completing the lineup. It will mark Power’s second GT3 appearance after taking part in last year’s Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS. Prior to that, his only other sports car experience came in the 2003 Bathurst 24 Hours at the wheel of a Porsche 996 GT3-RS. The Australian, who also won the Indianapolis 500 in 2018, has set his sights on a debut victory, which would also mark Mercedes-AMG’s first GTD Pro class win at Daytona since 2023. “Of course, that would be amazing coming here first time and winning,” Power told Sportscar365. “I know...

Photo: Juergen Tap/Porsche Laurens Vanthoor led a Porsche Penske Motorsport 1-2 in the third Roar Before the Rolex 24 session at Daytona International Speedway. Vanthoor’s best lap of 1:36.549, set aboard the No. 6 Porsche 963, was 0.419 seconds faster than stablemate Laurin Heinrich in the sister No. 7 car. The three Cadillac V-Series.Rs entered for next week’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener made up the remainder of the top five. Filipe Albuquerque was third at the wheel of the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing-entered example, followed by the No. 40 sister car of Will Stevens and the No. 31 Action Express Racing entry in the hands of Frederik Vesti. Tom Blomqvist slotted into sixth aboard the No. 60 Acura ARX-06, while the sister No. 93 machine had its session curtailed by brake issues for Nick Yelloly. The No. 23 Aston Martin Valkyrie ended the 90-minute session seventh with Ross Gunn at the wheel, while the pair of BMW M Hybrid V8s were eighth and ninth wit...