Weekend Recap: Pfaff Closes In on GTD Pro Title at VIR & More
Catch up on all of the action from around the world in sports car racing...
Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell have claimed their fifth IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory of the season following a controlling run in GTD Pro in Sunday’s Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway.
Jaminet took his No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R to a 0.823-second win over Jordan Taylor’s No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD in a race that saw a number of GTD runners attempt to stretch their fuel mileage.
The Frenchman emerged on the race’s final restart in seventh overall but moved up the running order in the closing 30 minutes as five of the six leading GT3 cars that were on alternative strategies pitted for splashes of fuel.
Maxime Martin in the No. 27 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 was the only holdout, but lost the overall lead to the Porsche factory driver with four minutes left on the clock as the Belgian was on a significant fuel save.
Jaminet and Campbell head into October’s season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans needing to only start the ten-hour race enduro at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta to be crowned GTD Pro class champions.
Taylor and co-driver Antonio Garcia were followed home by the GTD class-winning No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Philip Ellis, who was one of the cars to pit with eight minutes to go.
Read the Full Story on Sportscar365
Stolz Scores Dominant Maiden DTM in at Nürburgring
Luca Stolz took his maiden DTM victory in dominant fashion during Sunday’s race at the Nürburgring.
The German finished well clear of second-placed Dennis Olsen in the second of two races after he took the late during a round of stops following an early safety car.
Stolz started the race from seventh but found himself up to fifth by the end of the opening lap, taking advantage from a slower start from the likes of Kelvin van der Linde and Maximilian Goetz while Sheldon van der Linde led from pole position.
Briefly before the mandatory pit window opened, a collision between David Schumacher and Rene Rast left the latter in the gravel at the final corner, triggering a safety car.
As the field pitted under safety car, Stolz’ No. 4 Mercedes-AMG Team HRT Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo vaulted ahead of the No. 31 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 on pit exit and took the lead.
At the restart, while Stolz maintained the lead while Van der Linde dropped back to the lower end of the top ten.
Stolz from there controlled the race and secured his maiden win by a margin of some four and half seconds over the No. 94 SSR Performance Porsche 911 GT3 R of Dennis Olsen.
Read the Full Story on Sportscar365
Prema Wins European Le Mans Series Round in Barcelona
Louis Deletraz, Ferdinand Habsburg and Lorenzo Colombo have extended their points lead with Prema’s third victory of the European Le Mans Series season in Sunday’s 4 Hours of Barcelona.
The trio took their Oreca 07 Gibson to a dominant win in the fourth round of the season, with Deletraz finishing 22.926 seconds ahead of the No. 65 Panis Racing entry that was taken to the checkered flag by Job van Uitert.
Habsburg took over the lead on Lap 18, getting around the pole-sitting Panis entry of Julien Canal, who was later handed a five-second penalty for not respecting the start.
A further ten seconds was added to the result of the No. 65 entry of Canal, Uitert and Nico Jamin due to a subsequent pit stop infringement that was unable to be served during the car’s final scheduled stop that came under a Full Course Yellow.
The No. 37 COOL Racing Oreca of Nico Lapierre, Yifei Ye and Niklas Kruetten completed the overall podium in third, despite a nose change during one of Lapierre’s pit stops after sustaining right-front damage.
Read the Full Story on Sportscar365
Formal, Marcelli Clinch Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America Title
Danny Formal and Kyle Marcelli have returned to victory lane in Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America competition following a hard-fought battle in Sunday’s round at Virginia International Raceway.
Formal, in the No. 1 Prestige Performance with Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2, passed the No. 27 Dream Racing Motorsport entry of Dario Capitanio with 14 minutes to go in the 50-minute contest.
The Pro class points leader crossed the line 6.808 seconds ahead of Capitanio, who shared his Lamborghini with pole-sitter Edoardo Liberati.
It marked the fourth victory of the season for the WTR driver pairing, who have clinched the Pro class title ahead of November’s North America season finale at Portimao.
Liberati led early on Sunday and through the race’s only full course caution, for an accident involving the No. 25 WTR entry of Tom Long and Edoardo Piscopo’s No. 50 O’Gara Motorsport/Change Racing/USRT entry.
Saturday race winner Giano Taurino, who was on a three-race win streak, was deemed responsible for the incident that triggered Long into a spin and was forced to serve a drive-through penalty as a result.
Read the Full Story on Sportscar365
Audi Confirms Discontinuation of LMDh Project
Cadillac V-LMDh Completes Three-Day Test
VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Schedule Finalized
Beechdean Withdraws from GTWC Europe
Vital Speed, Andretti Autosport Team Up for Indy 8H