RNW Staff

A 29-car field will herald the return of Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS to Brands Hatch this weekend (28/29 August) for a pair of Sprint Cup races on the 3.9km Grand Prix circuit.

The 89th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the oldest and most prestigious endurance race and the fourth round of the FIA WEC World Championship, was dominated by AF Corse’s 488 GTEs, which triumphed in the LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am classes. Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Côme Ledogar at the wheel of the #51 Ferrari won the LMGTE Pro class, while Nicklas Nielsen, François Perrodo and Alessio Rovera lorded it over the LMGTE Am class. The Iron Lynx 488 GTE, crewed by Italians Rino Mastronardi and Matteo Cressoni and the Ferrari Driver Academy’s Callum Ilott, completed the podium in this category. A very special starter, Ferrari Chairman John Elkann, sent the cars on their way at 4pm on Saturday.

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing earned a historic and dramatic fourth consecutive Le Mans 24 Hours victory, overcoming adversity to become the first Hypercar winners at the Circuit de la Sarthe.

RLR MSport’s Mike Benham and Malthe Jakobsen scaled the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans podium by racing to third place in the Michelin Le Mans Cup ‘Road to Le Mans’ (Saturday 21 August).

Two key races in the Michelin Le Mans Cup took place at the weekend, with the Road to Le Mans supporting the 24 Hours of Le Mans and for Nielsen Racing, it proved to be a roller-coaster with Tony Wells and Colin Noble dominating the first 55-minute race, while forced to retire from the second. Most importantly, the #7 driver duo together take the title lead by nine points with just two rounds remaining.

Porsche has secured a podium spot in the fiercely contested GTE-Pro class at the 89th edition of the Le Mans 24-hour race. The works drivers Kévin Estre from France and Neel Jani from Switzerland as well as Denmark’s Michael Christensen achieved third place in the No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR. The No. 91 sister car driven by Gianmaria Bruni from Italy, Richard Lietz from Austria and Frenchman Frédéric Makowiecki wrapped up round four of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in fourth place. The in-house fight between the two works cars for the final podium spot was decided about an hour before the flag dropped: After sliding in the last chicane, the rear of the No. 91 had to undergo repairs and a replacement of the brakes.

Alex Albon claimed a first ever DTM triumph at the wheel of the AlphaTauri AF Corse 488 GT3 Evo 2020 at the end of Race 2, held today at the Nürburgring. Liam Lawson was less fortunate, his race hampered by two punctures.

In the fourth event of the 2021 DTM season, the Mercedes-AMG Teams again scored podium results: in the first race on Saturday, Philip Ellis (SUI) managed to end up in second place with the WINWARD Mercedes-AMG GT3 as four further cars from Affalterbach finished the race in the top ten. In the race on Sunday, GruppeM Racing’s Daniel Juncadella (ESP) took the chequered flag in second while four fellow Mercedes-AMG drivers also scored valuable championship points. Mercedes-AMG extended its lead in the manufacturers’ standings.

Aston Martin Vantage GT3 racer Ahmad Al Harthy once again delivered a fantastic drive during Road To Le Mans race two in France on Saturday, 21st August, to put Oman Racing firmly in contention for race victory – before a spin for team-mate Michael Dinan led to an eventual finish of fifth position.

The FUJIMAKI GROUP SUZUKA GT 300km RACE, Round 3 of the 2021 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series took place at Suzuka Circuit (one lap 5,807m × 52 laps) in Mie Prefecture on the afternoon of August 22 (Sun). In the GT500 class, the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli) displayed fantastic tactics to take a come-from-behind win, its third straight victory at Suzuka. In the GT300 class race, the No. 244 Takanoko-no-yu GR Supra GT (Atsushi Miyake/Yuui Tsutsumi) got their first win, for the team and the drivers.

Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill.), Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium), and Earl Bamber (New Zealand) are out of the 24 hours of Le Mans. 

COOL Racing scored podium finishes in both races at Road to Le Mans, the fourth round of the 2021 Michelin Le Mans Cup season. Matt Bell and Maurice Smith finished third in the first race on Thursday evening, before Niklas Krütten and Mathieu de Barbuat crossed the line in second on Saturday.

United Autosports finished fourth in the opening race of the Road to Le Mans weekend, when Daniel Schneider and Andy Meyrick brought the #32 Ligier JS P320 home for their best finish of the year so far. Had it not been for the race finishing under a yellow flag, Andy was on target to claim the #32 crew’s first podium of the year.

Ahmad Al Harthy and Michael Dinan secured an outstanding second place finish for Oman Racing in Road To Le Mans race one at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France on Thursday, 19th August, with a star performance from eighth on the GT3 class grid.

The qualifying for the FUJIMAKI GROUP SUZUKA GT 300km RACE, Round 3 of the 2021 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series took place at Suzuka circuit in Mie Prefecture on August 21 (Sat). In the GT500 class, Izawa in the No. 64 Modulo NSX-GT (Takuya Izawa/Hiroki Otsu) took pole position. In the GT300 class, Yamauchi in the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi) won pole position for the second time this season. These two cars will start at the front of their respective classes in tomorrow’s race starting at 2:30 in the afternoon.

Following the drama on Wednesday, team Cetilar Racing has celebrated the LMGTE Am second row as the #47 Ferrari 488 GTE is set to make its first appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans – the 89th edition of the race and the fifth consecutive for the Italian squad as well as for Roberto Lacorte and Giorgio Sernagiotto, who share driving duties with newcomer Antonio Fuoco.

The Ferrari 488 GTE #52 of Daniel Serra, Miguel Molina and Sam Bird will line up on the front row at the 89th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The six best-classified cars in each category in yesterday’s Qualifying Practice competed in the Hyperpole on Thursday to decide the starting grid.

Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill.), Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium), and Earl Bamber (New Zealand) are ready for 24 hours of racing starting on Saturday at the Circuit de la Sarthe. The WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR continues to run at the front of the ultra-competitive GTLM PRO category, with Vanthoor posting the fastest time in the last […]

Porsche customer teams have scored the perfect result in the Hyperpole of the 24 Hours of Le Mans: Dries Vanthoor turned a sensational lap in 3:46.882 minutes on Thursday evening and planted his Porsche 911 RSR fielded by HubAuto Racing on pole position in the hotly contested GTE-Pro class. The Belgian, who is the brother of the Porsche works driver Laurens Vanthoor, came out on top against strong opposition from all works teams in the cutthroat hunt for top times. In the GTE-Am category, 911 racing cars will take up the race on Saturday at 4:00 pm from the first three grid spots. At the wheel of Dempsey-Proton Racing’s No. 88 entry, Porsche Young Professional Julian Andlauer from France was over half a second faster than Benjamin Barker in the identical car of GR Racing and Matteo Cairoli in Project 1’s No. 56 vehicle.

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing will start the 89th Le Mans 24 Hours from pole position after locking out the front row to make Hypercar history at the Circuit de la Sarthe.