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Photo: AO by TF AO by TF will not only head into next month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans with a new driver but also a new livery for its Oreca 07 Gibson LMP2 Pro-Am entry as it looks to defend its class victory in the French endurance classic. Revealed on Monday, its LMP2 car, which has so far only featured the character ‘Spike the Dragon’ will change to ‘Rockie the Pegasus’ for Le Mans, as part of a sponsorship deal with Mobil 1. The character, has been born from a “collaborative effort” between AO and Mobil 1. “Her towering wings and small hooves appear poised for takeoff, ready to take flight,” a statement from the team read. “Flared nostrils and a focused expression give her an aggressive edge, accompanied by a flowing red mane and a sharp white blaze running down the bridge of her nose.” The team also noted that ‘Rockie’ has already been registered as a trademark of ExxonMobil Corporation and its subsidia...

Photo: Julien Delfosse/DPPI Louis Deletraz will tackle this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R after Alex Lynn’s neck surgery was postponed. Lynn had already missed the opening two events of the FIA World Endurance Championship season amid what was described as an “ongoing neck injury” with Deletraz taking the Briton’s place in the No. 12 Cadillac at Spa earlier this month. But the team had previously stated that Lynn would be back in the car for Le Mans, however this is now no longer the case. Deletraz, who also races a Cadillac in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Wayne Taylor Racing, will now again team up with Will Stevens and Norman Nato at Le Mans. He had been due to tackle the LMP2 class in the French endurance classic at the wheel of the AO by TF Oreca 07 Gibson — which will feature a new Mobil 1 livery and will be referred to as ‘Rockie’ — after winning the Pro-Am LMP2 division last...

Photo: Gruppe C Photography/BMW BMW M Motorsport director Andreas Roos has hailed the top-five overall finish for the BMW M3 Touring 24H in the Nürburgring 24 as a ‘better than expected’ result for the one-off race car that started as an April Fools joke less than 14 months ago. Jens Klingmann, Connor De Phillippi, Neil Verhagen and Ugo de Wilde drove the GT3-based estate/wagon to a fifth place result and class victory in the SP-X class, after running as high as second overall in the Eifel endurance classic. “My goal was to have the car in the top-ten,” Roos told reporters post-race. “We managed to have the car in the top-five. We have to say the car was always able to be hang there and to have a great race. “It’s better what we ever expected to do with the Touring, to be honest. “We always said if we go here with the Touring, it has to be a competitive car. But it was that competitive that we can have at the end a top five result ...

Photo: Gruppe C Photography/SRO Mattia Drudi says he never expected “underdogs” Aston Martin to score a first-ever overall Nürburgring 24 podium in this year’s race, a contest he described as “crazy.” Drudi narrowly missed out on securing the runner-up spot in the No. 34 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo he shared with Nicki Thiim and Christian Krognes when encountering traffic and a Code 60 zone on the last lap while chasing down the No. 84 ABT Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 — which was carrying a post-race penalty — in the battle for second. The Walkenhorst car vaulted up the order at the start of the second hour of this year’s contest, after qualifying 11th, having opted for a shorter opening stint. It then continued to run near the front while a host of other top crews encountered issues or crashed out amid a chaotic first third of the race. When Sportscar365 asked Drudi if he expected to finish on the podium, he replied: “To be fair, no. ...

Source: Sports Car 365

Photo: Nurburgring 24 Hours The Manthey ‘Grello’ Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Kevin Estre that had been closing on the lead of the Nürburgring 24 crashed out in the fourth hour of the race, shortly before Arjun Maini had a sizeable shunt at the same Brunnchen corner. Following the third round of stops, Estre had narrowed a 20-second lead for the No. 80 Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo down to just 6.7 seconds. The No. 911 Porsche had earlier effectively been the race leader and Estre was flying up towards Jules Gounon aboard the Mercedes-AMG when he lost the rear of the car at Brunnchen and spun into the barriers backwards after oil had been laid down at that part of the track. Estre was unable to continue and his car had to be retrieved by a recovery vehicle and returned to the pits. The Manthey team later confirmed that the damage was too great for the car, which finished second in last year’s race, to be able to continue. Moments later, Maini lost contro...

Photo: Gruppe C Photography/SRO Max Verstappen stormed into the lead of the Nürburgring 24 after three hours aboard the No. 3 Winward Racing-run Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, while a host of front-running contenders hit trouble. The four-time Formula 1 champion had a nervy start to his stint at the beginning of the second hour after taking over from Dani Juncadella when he ran wide onto the grass at the Eiskurve. He then had another grassy moment as he passed the No. 47 KCMG Mercedes-AMG of Jesse Krohn on the grass at Klostertal, before his next target was the No. 911 Manthey ‘Grello’ Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Ayhancan Guven that was the net leader as the first of the cars on the more traditional strategy. With Guven struggling to stop at the first turn in the third hour, Verstappen sensed an opportunity and dived down the inside and just made the corner to take the place. He then set off after the two leaders, the No. 34 Walkenhorst Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Christian...