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Photo: Andrea Lorenzina/DPPI An early flier from Ryo Hirakawa put Toyota on top in opening practice for its home FIA World Endurance Championship round at Fuji Speedway. Hirakawa posted the best lap of the 90-minute session on Friday morning, a 1:29.694, in the opening stages aboard the No. 8 Toyota TR010 Hybrid he shares with Sebastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley, making him the only driver to break the 90-second mark. The Japanese driver was 0.343 seconds faster than the No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA entry of Will Stevens as Toyota opened its bid for a first home win since 2023. Antonio Fuoco put the No. 50 Ferrari 499P third-fastest, 0.509 seconds behind Hirakawa, ahead of the second Cadillac V-Series.R, the No. 38 machine of Jack Aitken, and the No. 36 Alpine A424 of Jules Gounon. Genesis was an encouraging sixth-fastest in the first outing for the GMR-001 Hypercar at Fuji, with Dani Juncadella posting the best time in the No. 19 car. Next up was the lead Aston Martin Valkyr...

Photo: Fred Hardy/SRO Parker DeLong set the pace in the opening Pirelli GT4 America practice session of the weekend at Barber Motorsports Park. DeLong, in the No. 131 Advance Motorsports McLaren Artura GT4, reeled off a chart-topping 1:28.642 lap time, edging out the fellow Silver class No. 98 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO of Josh Green by 0.402 seconds. Marc Miller made a last-lap improvement to put the No. 39 Dome Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 third on the overall time charts and quickest in Pro-Am, bumping Matheus Leist to fourth No. 47 Nolasport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport. Tyler McQuarrie completed the overall top-five and was third quickest in Pro-Am, in his No. 38 BimmerWorld BMW. ACI Motorsports driver Alex Garcia was quickest in the Am class in his BMW that he shares with his brother Michael, setting the 17th quickest overall time. The 45-minute session, which saw 30 of the 31 competitors take part, ran without any red flags. VPX Motorsport’s Aston Ma...

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO Tom Sargent believes the entire GT World Challenge America powered by AWS campaign has been building up for next month’s season-ending Desder Indianapolis 8 Hour due to the nature of this year’s points structure, stating that he and GMG Racing co-driver Kyle Washington “have to win” this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park to put them in the best position of the Pro-Am title. The Porsche Motorsport North America Selected driver and Washington slipped to second in the standings after Washington was collected in a multi-car accident at the Kink last time out at Road America. It marked the team’s first DNF of the year after a controlling first half of the season that saw two class wins and an additional podium result. “That’s the most disappointing way is the fact that it wasn’t Kyle’s fault, it wasn’t my fault, it wasn’t anyone of our fault, but this is racing unfortunately,” Sargent told...

Photo: Bob Chapman/Conquest Conquest Racing will run its Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo in a special tribute livery honoring Cedric Sbirrazzuoli, who passed away last month at the age of 39. Sbirrazzuoli was a longtime member of the Eric Bachelart-led squad, having teamed for GTD class victory at Petit Le Mans two years ago with Manny Franco and Albert Costa. The same livery that took the trio to top honors in 2024 will be on the car for next weekend’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season finale. Costa will be joined in the No. 34 Ferrari by Lorenzo Patrese and Alec Udell. “It was important for both Manny Franco, myself, and the entire team to pay homage to Cedric and all he did for the sport,” said Bachelart. “Winning Petit Le Mans in 2024 was both a great memory for the team but especially side-by-side with Cedric, who was always such a positive influence both on and off the track. “Seeing that same livery will bring back many good memories, which ...

Photo: PMNA With help from Porsche Motorsport North America, a rare factory Porsche 962 race car has returned to doing what it was built for nearly four decades ago: running at speed on track. Seeing a historically significant car in a museum is special, but nothing compares to watching a piece of the past perform the duties it was built for – going fast on a race track. That sentiment is what led longtime racer and collector Charles Nearburg to embark on a restoration project last November with Porsche Motorsport North America. The mission? Bringing one of the most prized pieces of his “Howlin’ Collection” back to sporting form: Porsche 962 chassis 962C-005. A rare piece of Porsche history. Nearburg’s racing journey began in SCCA club competition in the Southwest, finishing second in the National Championship race, and moved to a professional racing effort in open wheel racing in the late 80s and early 90s, including driving Walter Payton’s Reynard Cosworth in the 1997 CART...

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA A capacity 54-car entry is set for next weekend’s Motul Petit Le Mans, which will close out the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Michelin Endurance Cup seasons. Released on Wednesday, the entry list is comprised of 11 GTP and LMP2 entries, 14 GTD Pro cars and 18 GTD machines. The two prototype classes feature no major surprises, with third drivers coming back into the GTP class, for most teams, since the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Matt Campbell is set to make his final outing for Porsche Penske Motorsport in the No. 6 Porsche 963 alongside Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor, who returns to the team after giving up his seat for GTP title hopeful Laurin Heinrich. Heinrich will be back in the team’s No. 7 Porsche, which he won the Rolex 24 at Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring with, alongside Felipe Nasr and Julien Andlauer. Kaylen Frederick returns to JDC-Miller Motorsports’ privateer Porsche with Nico Mueller a...

Photo: McLaren McLaren Motorsport held a special two-day training camp in Madrid last week for a total of 38 drivers belonging to the manufacturer’s various driver development schemes. Those attending the camp at the MSi Bio Performance facility were members of the McLaren Elite Talent Pathway, McLaren Trophy Academy and GT3 Junior initiatives and represented 15 different nationalities. The drivers participated in various physical activities during the two days with a focus upon strength, endurance, coordination and reaction time. Each of those in attendance was also able to spend time individually with the coaches to identify specific areas in which they could improve. McLaren explained that bringing drivers from the three schemes together “underlined the close relationship between the programs” and showed McLaren’s “focus on creating a clear and connected development pathway.” McLaren Automotive head of motorsport Giorgio Sanna added: “T...