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Photo: Laurent Cartalade/MPS Agency Marc VDS Racing founder and owner Marc Van der Straten passed away on Sunday at the age of 78. The Belgian, who most recently lent his team’s name to the 2025 European Le Mans Series LMP2 championship-winning Panis Racing squad, as well as the Boutsen-run VDS Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo that currently competes in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS, held a storied history in both two and four-wheeled competition. While Marc VDS Racing became a three-time Moto2 World Championship-winning team in 2019, the team achieved considerable success in GT competition, both in the FIA GT1 World Championship and Blancpain Endurance Series, including winning the 24 Hours of Spa in 2015 with a BMW Z4 GT3 featuring drivers Lucas Luhr, Markus Palttala and Nicky Catsburg. The team ended its in-house GT3 racing operations that year to focus entirely on motorcycle racing, although made a comeback in recent years with branding on LMP2 and GT3 machinery. “B...

Photo: Racingpixels/Creventic GetSpeed Team JR286 overcame a flurry of penalties and rain showers to take a triumphant first win of the season at the Michelin 12H Nürburgring. Tanner Harvey took the No. 286 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo that he shares with Steve Jans, Jonathan Hirshberg and Patrick Liddy across the line with a gap of just over a lap to the No. 88 Up2Race Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo. The Team JR286 squad were in the strongest position when the race resumed at midday on Sunday. It was one of the only cars to undertake a full refuel and service before an unusual red flag was deployed just before the overnight intervention. This meant that it could complete a regular opening stint on Sunday while most of its rivals had to dive into the pits in the opening laps. This, combined with a mammoth two-and-a-half hour stint by Steve Jans, saw the GetSpeed crew secure first place in the opening hours. When rain arrived, Jans was significantly faster than some of his rivals and maintained a ...

Photo: Bruno Vandevelde/MPS Agency. The Forestier Racing by Panis crew of Louis Rousset, Oliver Gray and Esteban Masson triumphed in the Imola round of the European Le Mans Series, denying United Autosports victory in the team’s 500th race. A blistering final stint from Masson ensured the No. 19 Oreca 07 Gibson crossed the line some 52 seconds ahead of the No. 22 United Autosports entry of Griffin Peebles, Gregoire Saucy and Ben Hanley. It was a second win of the season for the Forestier Racing by Panis crew to narrow the points deficit to the United Autosports squad, while the podium was completed by the No. 25 Algarve Pro Racing machine of Matthias Kaiser, Tristan Vautier and Jake Hughes. Rousset maintained the lead from pole at the start but was passed at the Villeneuve Chicane by Adrien Closmenil in the No. 37 CLX Motorsport machine that also started on the front row shortly before the first virtual safety car period of a chaotic opening to the four-hour contest. However,...

Photo: Racingpixels/Creventic Up2Race held the lead of the Michelin 12H Nürburgring going into the overnight intervention after a red flag was brought out for a frightening crash in the final hour of the opening half of the race. The No. 88 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo, driven by Tim Heinemann, Oleksiy Kikireshko and Fabio Grosse, cycled up into first place after deciding not to stop under a Code 60 caution period caused by a high speed crash for the No. 921 Mühlner Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. The points leaders in the 992 class sustained a race-ending accident going into the first corner which necessitated lengthy barrier repairs. Thankfully, driver Joshua Bednarski was able to exit his car unassisted. In an unusual instance for Creventic competition, the event was red flagged as the barrier repairs were expected to take longer than the forty minutes remaining of the race. This caused much confusion amongst the paddock as some cars had pitted for fuel under the Code 60 while others ...

Photo: Bruno Vandevelde/MPS Agency. Esteban Masson continued his dominance of the European Le Mans Series’ Imola weekend after topping a very close qualifying session. Masson had set the pace in both of the free practice sessions and again topped the timesheets in qualifying at the wheel of the No. 29 Forestier Racing by Panis Oreca 07 Gibson. However, the reigning ELMS champion endured a nervy conclusion to qualifying after Masson failed to improve on both of his final two laps and a whole host of rivals closed the gap. In the end Masson’s 1:30.866 was good enough for top spot, but he was just 0.032 seconds faster than Ian Aguilera in the No. 17 CLX Motorsport entry. Third fastest was Gregoire Saucy in the points-leading No. 22 United Autosports Oreca on a 1:30.928, which was less than a tenth quicker than Reshad De Gerus in fourth at the controls of the No. 34 Inter Europol Competition machine. Fifth was Job van Uitert in the No. 28 IDEC Sport car on a 1:30.990, whi...

Photo: Bruno Vandevelde/MPS Agency. Esteban Masson continued to set the pace in second practice for this weekend’s Imola round of the European Le Mans Series in a session that came to an early end. The reigning champion clocked a 1:31.991 in the opening minutes of the 90-minute FP2 session to again lead the way in the No. 19 Forestier Racing by Panis Oreca 07 Gibson, although his time was four tenths of a second slower than he managed during Friday’s FP1 . The session was stopped four minutes early after Rene Binder in the No. 88 Proton Competition Oreca and the No. 68 M Racing Ligier JS P325 Toyota LMP3 machine of Nick Adcock tangled at Tosa. There were therefore no late improvements and so Masson finished up just 0.005 seconds faster than Ian Aguilera aboard the No. 37 CLX Motorsport Oreca, who set a quick time with his opening push lap of the session. Third fastest was Gregoire Saucy aboard the No. 22 United Autosports entry that heads the standings after winning las...

Source: Sports Car 365