Trending Sports Updates

Photo: SUPER GT Nissan driver Bertrand Baguette has described the looming end of SUPER GT’s tire war as “quite sad” and a “big blow” for the Japanese series as he prepares to commence what will be his 13th season in the GT500 class next week at Okayama. It was announced last year that the upcoming season will be SUPER GT’s last with multi-make tire competition, as the series prepares to introduce one-make tires in 2027. Since joining the series in 2014, Baguette spent five years on Dunlop tires with the Nakajima Racing Honda team — earning the Sumitomo Rubber brand its most recent GT500 win at the Suzuka 1000km with Kosuke Matsuura in 2017 — before switching to Bridgestone rubber in 2019 upon his switch to Real Racing. The 40-year-old, now the eldest driver in the upper category, feels SUPER GT’s appeal will be reduced as a result of adopting single tire suppliers for each class. “It’s quite sad it’s the last year of the tire war,” Baguette told Sportscar365. “It’s a big blow f...

Source: Sports Car 365

Image: Proton Competition Proton Competition will run a special Porsche Motorsport 75th anniversary tribute livery on its No. 75 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo that will contest the upcoming European Le Mans Series season. The German squad confirmed on Tuesday that longtime Porsche factory driver Richard Lietz and Porsche Motorsport North America Selected Driver Tom Sargent will join the previously announced Matthew Kurzejewski at the wheel of the LMGT3 entry. It will sport a livery paying tribute to Porsche’s 1951 Le Mans-winning 356 SL, marking Porsche’s first win in the French endurance classic in its maiden year of competition. The entry, initially listed to run as No. 91, has been re-numbered as part of the tie-in. Former ARCA stock car driver Kurzejewski, who holds previous Ferrari Challenge experience, teamed with Alessandro Balzan to win the 2024 Michelin Le Mans Cup in GT3 and is now set for his ELMS debut alongside U.S.-based Australian Sargent. Lietz, meanwhile, is a two-time...

Source: Sports Car 365

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA Pfaff Motorsports will tackle next month’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach with its new Lamborghini Temerario GT3, having confirmed its GTD class entry with Andrea Caldarelli and Zachary Vanier. The Canadian squad, which gave the twin-turbo V8-powered car its global debut in the recent Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, has elected to enter the GTP/GTD-only IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship street race. As a result, FIA Silver-rated driver Vanier, who has been sponsored by Pfaff Automotive through his career, will make his WeatherTech Championship debut, taking the seat typically occupied by Sandy Mitchell when the car runs in GTD Pro. The 23-year-old Canadian, who finished third in last year’s Porsche Carrera Cup North America championship, recently stepped up to GT3 competition in GT World Challenge America powered by AWS, making his debut in last weekend’s season opener at Sonoma Raceway at the wheel of a McCann Racing-entered Porsche 911 GT3 R...

Photo: Dan Bathie/McLaren Tommy Pintos and Spencer Schmidt claimed a sweep of the season-opening McLaren Trophy America weekend at Sonoma Raceway, doubling up following their last-gasp victory on Saturday. Pintos and Schmidt claimed a more straightforward flag-to-flag victory in Sunday’s 50-minute contest in their No. 11 RWE Motorsport McLaren Artura Trophy EVO entry. Having started on pole, McLaren GT3 Junior driver Pintos held command over the No. 5 GMG Racing entry Jeff Cook. The top five cars, all with their pro drivers, waited until the end of the pit stop window to make their mandatory stops, which saw Schmidt emerge as the leader over the No. 53 RPM by Forte McLaren of Neil Langberg. Schmidt drove to a 15.078-second win over the Pro class-winning No. 8 Forte Racing McLaren of Kaia Teo and Paul Holton, who made an impressive late-race charge. Holton passed the sister No. 24 Forte McLaren of Tanner Harvey for the class win with three minutes to go after an intense battle b...

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO JMF Motorsports will start the new era of GT World Challenge America powered by AWS on pole, with Michai Stephens and Mikael Grenier teaming up for the best average in qualifying for this afternoon’s three-hour season opener. Stephens and Grenier, in the No. 34 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, combined for a best average of 1:33.352 lap time, ending up 0.689 seconds clear of the No. 6 Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang GT3 EVO of Alex Sedgwick and Cameron Lawrence. Both Stephens and Grenier topped their respective time charts in Q1 and Q2, although Tom Sargent, in the No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, set the session’s overall quickest time, a 1:32.673. The Porsche Motorsport North America Selected Driver, however, qualified a combined eighth in Pro-Am with co-driver Kyle Washington. Lorcan Hanafin and Jason Daskalos gave JMF a double pole, having qualified third overall in their Pro-Am class Mercedes-AMG, ahead of the No. 12 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Matia Pe...