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Photo: IMSA Former Grand-Am President Tom Bledsoe has passed away at the age of 71. Bledsoe served in the series’ executive leadership role from 2010-12, having initially been named Grand-Am’s chief operating officer in 2007, and prior to that working for parent company NASCAR beginning in 1990. “On behalf of our IMSA and NASCAR teammates, we extend our deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of former Grand-Am President and longtime NASCAR executive Tom Bledsoe, who passed away over the weekend,” read a joint statement from IMSA President John Doonan and IMSA CEO Ed Bennett. “Tom played an instrumental role in the growth of endurance sports car racing throughout the 2000s and early 2010s, helping lay the foundation for the continued success IMSA enjoys today following the merger of Grand-Am and the American Le Mans Series in 2012. “He was a respected leader and valued teammate within the GRAND-AM organization, including among ...

Photo: Mustang Cup Australia Motorcraft Mustang Cup Australia has released a provisional 2027 calendar that includes a first visit to the famous Mount Panorama circuit at Bathurst. The Ford-backed one-make series is currently amid its inaugural campaign, which runs on the support bill of GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS for all bar the season finale at Sandown, where it will host a standalone event. For its second season, it will once again feature on the support bill of the opening five GTWC Australia events under SRO Motorsports Australia’s ‘SpeedSeries’ banner, beginning with the opening round at Phillip Island on April 17-18. That will be followed by visits to The Bend Motorsport Park, Sydney Motorsport Park and Queensland Raceway, before a first trip to Bathurst at the end of October. A sixth and final round remains to be announced, in line with the GTWC Australia calendar that was revealed at last month’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa . Seri...

Photo: Julien Delfosse/DPPI Charlie Eastwood was concerned a slow puncture suffered in the penultimate hour of the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo FIA World Endurance Championship event could derail the TF Sport squad from securing a second successive LMGT3 victory. Eastwood triumphed alongside Salih Yoluc and Peter Dempsey at the wheel of the No. 34 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R but endured a more tense conclusion to the race than expected. Strong stints from Yoluc and Dempsey had guided the car from tenth on the grid into the class lead, before Eastwood took to the wheel in third. He was able to find his way past both the No. 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Riccardo Pera and the No. 69 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Dan Harper but it was not a straightforward final stint to the flag. “We came out behind the Porsche and BMW, but we knew we had a fuel advantage at the stop because obviously we were able to extend with Peter because his pace was so strong, which was great,” said Ea...

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA Inter Europol Competition claimed victory in Sunday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship LMP2 headline Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Tom Dillmann drove the No. 43 Oreca 07 Gibson to a 9.796-second win over the second-placed No. 04 CrowdStrike by APR entry of Alex Quinn in the two-hour and 40-minute contest that saw multiple strategies at play in all three classes. While Jeremy Clarke led from pole in the Polish squad’s LMP2 entry, a pair of early race full-course cautions saw the No. 04 CrowdStrike entry of George Kurtz briefly take the lead after staying out during the second yellow, which saw the majority of the runners pit for service. An alternate strategy for the No. 52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca put FIA Bronze-rated Misha Goikhberg out front before pitting exactly at the halfway mark to change over to Ricky Taylor. The call, however, didn’t play out as Taylor was forced t...

Photo: Joao Filipe/DPPI The BMW M Hybrid V8 of Raffaelo Marciello led the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo at the mid-point of the FIA World Endurance Championship contest as the race began to unravel for the Cadillacs that locked out the front row. Will Stevens had continued to lead at the start of the second hour in the No. 12 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R that had started from pole, while Kevin Magnussen in the No. 20 WRT BMW jumped ahead of the No. 38 Cadillac of Earl Bamber. But both Caddys then had slow 90-second stops at the first round of pit stops, Bamber locking up slightly when he entered the box, causing the mechanics to readjust and delay the No. 38 car, before a sticking wheel nut hampered the No. 12 as well. This meant Magnussen enjoyed a 10-second lead over Stevens once the out of sequence No. 35 Alpine A424 that pitted early in the first hour returned to the pits. Bamber was in a net fifth at this stage having rejoined in traffic and being forced off at Turn 5 by the N...

Photo: Andrea Lorenzina/DPPI Will Stevens maintained Cadillac’s lead of the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo after starting the FIA World Endurance Championship contest from pole but the sister Hertz Team JOTA machine has dropped to third. The pair of Cadillac V-Series.Rs maintained their 1-2 at the start despite an aggressive launch from Kevin Magnussen in the No. 15 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 that guided the Dane around the outside of the No. 36 Alpine A424 of Fred Makowiecki, which had started third, and almost into second. The Cadillacs had then looked relatively comfortable out front on the damp but drying track over the first few laps but, as soon as they began encountering the LMGT3 traffic, Magnussen suddenly closed on Earl Bamber in the No. 38 Cadillac. Magnussen saw an opportunity on lap 11 when he charged up the inside of Bamber at Ferradura, banging wheels as the BMW forced its way ahead. Stevens enjoyed a lead of around five seconds at this stage in the pole-sitting No. 12...

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge will shift entirely to an endurance format next year, with most races set to be contested during USAC weekends in 2027. Confirmed on Saturday, the series, which was split between two 45-minute sprint races and an endurance component known as the Airbnb Endurance Challenge this year, will combine into a single format of races ranging from 90 minutes to three hours in length. The move comes after lower-than-expected car counts in both segments, with the new-look series set to formally drop GT3-spec machinery, which raced for a single season in 2025 as the GTDX class but did not feature any entries this year. Additionally, second-generation LMP3 machinery will no longer be allowed, with only the new-for-2025 Toyota-powered machinery eligible in the top class. The two specs of prototypes ran together this year as part of a grandfathering period. LMP3 will again be joined by the GSX class for SRO GT4-homologated machinery,...