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Source: Sports Car 365

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA ***IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams unloaded in Southern California on Thursday for this weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. This year’s race marks the 20th anniversary of Grand-Am/IMSA’s debut at the event, which saw a DP-only Rolex Sports Car Series race in 2006 that was won by Scott Pruett and Luis Diaz in a Chip Ganassi Racing Riley-Lexus DP. ***The American Le Mans Series made its debut at the 1.968-mile street circuit one year later, and through the post-merger era, IMSA’s top sports car racing series has been part of the Grand Prix of Long Beach ever since, except for the canceled 2020 event due to the COVID pandemic. ***In addition to the new Apple Music design on the pair of Penske Porsche 963s , the No. 31 Action Express Racing and No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.Rs and No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06s are also running revised liveries this weekend. ***Action Express has partnered with the National Law Enfo...

Photo: Andrea Lorenzina/DPPI ***A special presentation was held at the Piazza Matteotti in downtown Imola featuring all FIA World Endurance Championship teams and drivers on Thursday afternoon. Each team was allotted a five-minute slot to appear on stage in front of gathered fans and local media, with drivers also partaking in an autograph session. ***Collective drivers’ photos for the LMGT3 and Hypercar classes were also taken at the same location. ***Peugeot has undergone other changes in its team structure for the new season besides the arrival of new team principal Emmanuel Esnault, who replaces freshly-promoted Stellantis Motorsport boss Olivier Jansonnie. Mathieu Neuville has moved up to become chief engineer, while Victor Famin takes over from Neuville as race engineer for the No. 93 side of the garage. ***Esnault said he believes the work that is being done within the French manufacturer “ is not in line with the results that the cars have delivered on-track” as the pro...

Photo: Porsche Porsche Penske Motorsport’s pair of 963s will feature a special Apple Music livery at this weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round. The German manufacturer has enjoyed a partnership with Apple since 2019 when the Porsche Taycan became the first car to offer Apple Music as a built-in streaming experience. That partnership has now expanded into motorsport with the company’s logos and special colored stripes added to the liveries of the factory 963s for the event. “We are extremely proud of our collaboration with Apple Music,” said Thomas Laudenbach, vice president Porsche Motorsport. “The livery on our two Porsche 963 cars looks fantastic. After our successful Mobil 1-themed appearance at Sebring, this is another highlight as we celebrate 75 years of Porsche Motorsport. I’m very excited to see how fans respond to this design.” PPM currently heads both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ standings heading into the ...

Photo: Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific Phantom Global Racing has signed Enzo Trulli and Loek Hartog for its campaign in the China GT Championship season with a pair of Porsche 911 GT3 R Evos. Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific Selected Driver Trulli will share the Chinese outfit’s No. 66 car (pictured top) with Chris Chia for the five-round series that begins this weekend at Shanghai International Circuit. The team’s second entry, the No. 79, will feature Porsche Carrera Cup North American Hartog champion for four of the five rounds together with Li Ning. Trulli and Hartog are among a number of high-profile international drivers involved in the series this year, with the likes of Tom Kalender (Elegant Racing Mercedes-AMG), Samantha Tan (Team KRC BMW), Lorenzo Patrese and Ollie Millroy (both Team AAI BMW) also to be found among the 28-strong GT3 field at Shanghai. Trulli’s China GT campaign will be his first full season in a GT3 car, the Italian having so far only raced the 911 GT3 ...

Photo: Porsche I made my GT3 debut at Sonoma last month and I’ve discovered something about myself. Give me a new car, a stacked grid, and expectations higher than Willie Nelson, and I don’t panic. I immediately begin a detailed internal engineering meeting with myself that nobody asked for. Thirty-seven mental tabs open. All of them playing audio. My fellow over-thinkers – sound familiar? So naturally, my debut in GT World Challenge America powered by AWS went very smoothly, very logically, and absolutely according to plan. Yah, right! What actually happened is what always happens: I arrive, feel optimistic, immediately begin overanalyzing everything, briefly find flow, question reality, go faster, forget why it worked, panic a little, repeat. Sonoma just ran that entire loop at 150 mph in front of thousands of fans. Wednesday & Friday: Humbling, But Make It Fun My first practice in the brand-new Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo at Sonoma felt like being handed a spaceship and to...

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO Chicago Performance & Tuning Co. will skip next weekend’s second round of the GT World Challenge America powered by AWS season at Circuit of The Americas due to not having been able to secure a customer for the event. The team debuted its Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 in last month’s season opener at Sonoma Raceway with Mads Siljehaug and Nicolai Elghanayan, although Elghanayan was only confirmed for the rounds at Sonoma, Road America and the Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS. It’s understood the program was intended as a full season effort with Siljehaug but only on the condition of securing another FIA Bronze-rated driver for the races Elghanayan was unable to contest. “We’ve had strong interest but unfortunately we’ve been unable to secure a customer for COTA,” said team manager Chris Lester. “As said from the onset, Nicolai would only be able to join the team for three races, with his next entry to be Road America. “We’re incredibly proud of ...