RNW Staff

Era Motorsport’s hopes of again finishing on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship podium were dashed Sunday afternoon when another car sent the No. 18 Oreca LMP2 car off course in WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca’s iconic Corkscrew with just seconds left on the race clock as the team ran in second place.

Meyer Shank Racing demonstrated strong race pace at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, leading 53 of 118 laps on the way to a fourth place finish on Sunday. Olivier Pla and Dane Cameron combined in the No. 60 Acura DPi for the seventh round of the 2021 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar championship. 

Daniel Harper produced a sensational performance to fight his way up the order from seventh to second and put the BMW Junior Team on course for a brilliant third podium finish of the 2021 Nürburgring Endurance Series season on Saturday (11th September).

Whelen Engineering drivers Pipo Derani (Brazil) and Felipe Nasr (Brazil) finished third in Sunday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

United Autosports head to Spa Francorchamps this weekend for the penultimate round of both the European Le Mans Series and the Michelin Le Mans Cup.

Perfect day for birthday boy Igor Waliłko (24/PL) and Mercedes-AMG works driver Jules Gounon (26/F): the two drivers from iconic team Zakspeed Mobil Krankenkasse Racing claimed their first win of the season at the DEKRA Lausitzring on Sunday, repeating last year’s success for Zakspeed in the Lusatia region of Germany. Like yesterday, second place went to Luca Stolz (26/Brachbach) and Maro Engel (36/Monte Carlo, both Mercedes-AMG Team Toksport WRT. Raffaele Marciello (26/I) and Maximilian Buhk (28/Hamburg, both Mann-Filter Team Landgraf – HTP/WWR) finished third to make it an all-Mercedes-AMG podium. “This is the best birthday present you could imagine,” said Walilko after his maiden victory. “I don’t know what to say. Jules did a great job. I would also like to thank the team, who worked into the night to repair our car after yesterday’s crash.”

The SUGO GT 300km RACE, Round 5 of the 2021 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was held at Sportsland SUGO circuit (one lap: 3.586 km x 84 laps) in Miyagi Prefecture on the afternoon of September 12 (Sun.). In the GT500 class, the winner was the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R driven by Kazuki Hiramine and Nobuharu Matsushita, taking their first GT500 class race win since 2016. In the GT300 class, after taking their third pole position of the season, the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi) went on to take their first win in three years.

The No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R will start tomorrow’s running of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca from third on the DPi grid.

Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill.) and Matt Campbell (Australia) will start tomorrow’s running of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca from third in GTLM.

The Paul Miller Racing team will roll off fourth at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca tomorrow after Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers both notched the fourth-fastest qualifying times in their respective sessions. 

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is hallowed ground. Whether racing an Indy car at the Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day, a NASCAR Cup stock car during the summer or a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car on Patriots Day, the Speedway, Indiana race track draws deep emotion from drivers from around the globe in a uniquely American way. The impact of crossing the yard of brick ahead of 25 other Porsche race cars in Round 9 of the Porsche Carrera Cup North America Presented by the Cayman Islands was easily recognizable in Seb Priaulx (United Kingdom) as he took part in a decade’s old tradition of kissing the yard of bricks following a victory here. The headline series of the Porsche Sportscar Together Fest – a weekend celebrating the Porsche culture of performance and motorsport – will race twice more over the course of the weekend. Round 10 will take place on Sunday morning, 8:45 a.m. ET while Round 11 will take the green flag at 3:30 p.m. Live coverage of those events can be found at www.PorscheCarreraCup.us .

The BMW Junior Team extends successful run at the Nürburgring Nordschleife (GER) in the Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS). After recording two wins in races four and five, Max Hesse (GER), Dan Harper (GBR) and Neil Verhagen (USA) in the #44 BMW M6 GT3 remained involved in the battle for victory to the end of Saturday’s seventh race. After six hours of racing, they claimed the second spot on the podium. The new BMW M4 GT3 also made its debut at the seventh NLS race, driven by Philipp Eng (AUT) and Augusto Farfus (BRA).

Ricardo Feller (21/CH) and Christopher Mies (31/Düsseldorf, both Montaplast by Land-Motorsport) were unbeatable in Saturday’s race in the German GT Championship at the DEKRA Lausitzring: pole position, victory, fastest lap – an impressive day’s work for the pair, whose second win of the season propelled them to the top of the table at the halfway point of the ADAC GT Masters. Second place went to Mercedes-AMG drivers Luca Stolz (26/Brachbach) and Maro Engel (36/Monte Carlo, both Mercedes-AMG Team Toksport WRT). They were followed home in third place by the Lamborghini of Mirko Bortolotti (31/I) and Albert Costa Balboa (31/E, both GRT Grasser Racing Team), making it three different manufacturers on the podium. “Maro Engel attacked hard in the closing stages. That really brought me out in a sweat at times,” said former champion Mies after his 12th victory in the ADAC GT Masters. “It is fantastic to be top of the table. We will not rest and will continue to work hard. There is still a long way to go this season.”

The qualifying for the “SUGO GT 300km RACE,” Round 5 of the 2021 AUTOBACS SUPER GT, was held at Sportsland SUGO circuit in Miyagi Prefecture on September 11. In the GT500 class qualifying, was won by Fukuzumi in the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri/Nirei Fukuzumi) for their first pole position of the season. In the GT300 class, Yamauchi took the class pole in the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi) for their second straight pole and the team’s third of the season. These two cars will start from the front of their class grids in tomorrow’s race set to start at 1:30 in the afternoon.

The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is back in action this weekend, and Paul Miller Racing is heading to Laguna Seca for the first round of the two-race ‘California swing.’

Lamborghini set the tempo at the start of the German GT Championship weekend at the Lausitzring: two Huracán GT3 belonging to the GRT Grasser Racing Team topped the timing sheet in the first free practice. In the final seconds of the session, Franck Perera (37/F) set the fastest time, just 0.1 seconds ahead of team-mate Mirko Bortolotti (31/I).

SRO Motorsports Group has confirmed plans to stage its inaugural GT1 Sports Club Powered by Curbstone Events next month, bringing together an incredible collection of hyper-sports cars from the world’s leading manufacturers.

Whelen Engineering Cadillac drivers Pipo Derani (Brazil) and Felipe Nasr (Brazil) are on a winning streak and look to make it three in a row at this weekend’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship at Laguna Seca.

The Porsche Sportscar Together Fest at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a celebration of the modern Porsche culture with motorsport at its center. Highlighting the three-day weekend are three, 45-minute Porsche Carrera Cup North America. The 28-car field will provide the event-going public an opportunity to see the continent’s top one-make race series in action on the 2.592-mile, 14-turn road course of the historic Speedway, Indiana-race track. Rounds 9, 10 and 11 mark the first time the series will run three events in a single weekend. Joined by the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yohohama and select run groups of the Porsche Club of America (PCA), the three-class championship utilizing the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car will anchor the Sportscar Together Fest between September 10 – 12.

Following their race win in the LMP2 class at Road America last month, Dwight Merriman and Ryan Dalziel will race as co-drivers again at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, on Sunday, September 12 in the No. 17 Era Motorsport Oreca. Despite missing one race this year, the two-time IMSA race winners are fourth in the championship standings. The sixth event in the 2021 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, this weekend’s race at Laguna Seca will act as the penultimate race for the LMP2 class.