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Photo: Toyota Spike Kohlbecker will start at the head of the field in Race 1 piloting the No. 15 TechSport Racing Toyota GR 86 Cup car after collecting his sixth pole of the season in Qualifying 1 for Toyota GR Cup North America Friday afternoon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Kohlbecker’s lap time of 1:39.483 midway through session held still en route to the checkered. The pole continues the championship leader’s perfect weekend so far, setting the fastest times in Practice 1 and 2. Starting beside the championship leader in 2nd is his teammate, Parker DeLong, aboard his No. 42 TechSport entry. Will Robusto rounds out the top three on the starting grid in the No. 2 car prepared by RVA Graphics Motorsports by Speed Syndicate, while Michael Edwards in his No. 21 Eagles Canyon w/ Fast Track effort and championship pursuer Jeremy Fletcher in the No. 22 Copeland Motorsports machine complete the Top 5 in the running order. Additionally, Patrick Brunson will lead the Legends...

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO Loris Spinelli continued his form from Thursday evening’s Free Practice to lead Pre-Qualifying for the Desder Indianapolis 8 Hour. The Italian in the No. 64 Chicago Performance and Tuning Co. Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 laid down a best lap of 1:23.503 to outpace the No. 6 Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang GT3 EVO of Chris Mies by 0.119 seconds. The No. 8 McCann Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo was third quickest overall in the hands of Alessio Picariello, with Ayhancan Guven’s No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche fourth and No. 31 Wright Motorsports Porsche of Laurin Heinrich completing the top-five. Tsunami RT’s Porsche was sixth on the time sheets with Alex Fontana as the best-placed Intercontinental GT Challenge entrant in sixth, while Danny Dyszelski made a late-session improvement to seventh in the No. 28 RS1 Porsche. Turner Motorsport, which is GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Pro class title contention, was eighth in the hands of Connor...

Photo: Toyota Toyota GR Cup North America championship leader Spike Kohlbecker set the opening pace for the weekend aboard his No. 15 TechSport Racing Toyota GR 86 Cup car in Practice 1 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Twenty-eight of the 29 entries hit the track for the Thursday’s session, which marked the series only-on track on the day’s slate. Kohlbecker’s time of 1:39.658 topped the charts in the first session, ahead of championship suitor, Jeremy Fletcher. Fletcher finished the initial on-track runs in second in his No. 22 Copeland Motorsports machine, two-tenths of a second short of Kohlbecker with a 1:39.884. Garret Manes completed the top three piloting his No. RVA Graphics Motorsports by Speed Syndicate entry with a fast lap of 1:40.347. Keelan Harvick, son of 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion, Kevin Harvick, made an early impression on the board in his first official stint behind the wheel of the No. 812 for RAFA Racing. Harvick converted his time of 1:...

Photo: Gruppe C Photography/Porsche Laurin Heinrich said he’s entering the Desder Indianapolis 8 Hour in a similar frame of mind to last weekend’s Motul Petit Le Mans, in having a “shot” to go for a championship title but on the offensive. The Porsche factory driver, who less than seven days ago had an outside chance of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP title, has arrived at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a similar position for the Intercontinental GT Challenge drivers’ championship. Heinrich is the only non-Mercedes-AMG driver that still holds a title chance in SRO Motorsports Group’s globe-trotting GT3 series, with the 24-year-old German sitting 15 points behind effective leader Luca Stolz and 14 back on Maxime Martin. While Maro Engel, who won both the Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour and Nürburgring 24 and finished runner-up in the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, is on DTM duty for the second consecutive IGTC race, the championsh...

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO Ayhancan Guven continued to lead the way in the second and final test session for Saturday’s Desder Indianapolis 8 Hour, keeping GMG Racing’s Pro-Am class Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo atop the time charts. The Turkish driver reeled of a benchmark 1:23.655 in Thursday morning’s 90-minute session, improving on his pace-setting time from Wednesday afternoon by more than six-tenths. Guven ended up 0.132 second quicker than the No. 6 Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang GT3 EVO of Chris Mies, with two more Porsches, from RS1 and Tsunami RT, ending up third and fourth, respecticely. The top nine positions were all occupied by Pro-Am class entries, with Thomas Fleming putting the No. 69 Archangel Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo fifth. The No. 017 Kellymoss Porsche was sixth quickest, followed by the sister Nos. 88 and 13 entries. Quickest of the Pro class competitors was the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche, formerly the No. 242 Pro-Am class entry, which...

Photo: RacingPixels/Creventic Creventic has finalized its 2027 Prototype Cup Europe calendar with a planned visit to Circuit Paul Ricard in July. The LMP3-based series will make its maiden visit to the French circuit in the penultimate event of its five-round championship on July 9-11. Its 2027 calendar was released in August with events scheduled at Mugello, Spa-Francorchamps, Red Bull Ring and Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The championship, which is organized in partnership with the ACO and Michelin, will enter its second year in 2027. Creventic also confirmed that it will retain its format of two 55-minute races across the course of each weekend. The Paul Ricard event will act as a support race for the one-make Lamera Cup, which holds endurance events across Europe. The remainder of the Prototype Cup Europe season will support Creventic’s Michelin 24H European Series. “We are happy to be able to add yet another new venue to our calendar and delighted to be taking Prototyp...

Photo: Julien Delfosse/DPPI Toyota Racing technical director David Floury says Akkodis ASP Lexus FIA World Endurance Championship driver Hadrien David is on its radar for a future Hypercar seat as it begins to consider options beyond current prime candidate Esteban Masson. The Japanese marque has yet to finalize its 2027 WEC driver plans amid the Haas Formula 1 team’s delay in naming a replacement for Esteban Ocon, as that decision will directly impact the futures of both Ryo Hirakawa and Masson. If Hirakawa gets the nod for F1, Masson is highly likely to succeed him, while Kevin Estre is poised to replace the soon-to-retire Mike Conway next season regardless. However, with current Akkodis ASP racer and European Le Mans Series champion Masson likely to step up no later than 2028 regardless, attention has already started to turn towards which driver could be groomed to follow in his footsteps. Ben Barnicoat and Sacha Fenestraz both tested the previous-generation GR010 Hybrid...