RNW Staff

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing begins its defence of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) titles, and an exciting new era of Hypercar competition, with a much-anticipated trip to Florida for the 1000 Miles of Sebring on 17 March.

The Grasser Racing Team is looking forward to an extensive program in the 2023 season. In addition to competing in the legendary DTM, the Lamborghini team from Austria will also be involved in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup this year. On their return to the prestigious endurance series, the squad around team boss Gottfried Grasser will field two brand new Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2. With Clemens Schmid, Glenn van Berlo and Benjamin Hites, the driver pairing for car number 85 is already set. The sister car with the starting number 58 will be driven by Ricky Capo, Sam Neary and Gerhard Tweraser during the official tests in France this week. A decision on the final line-up has not yet been made.

The Heart of Racing (HOR) kicked off the GT America powered by AWS season at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Friday and Saturday. Racing at the track for the second time, Gray Newell scored his highest finish at the street course, placing second in the No. 25 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 following a Friday night shootout in the dark, and then following that up with another run to second place in the second 40-minute race of the weekend. 

The 2023 GT America Powered by AWS championship began this weekend in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Flying Lizard Motorsports closed out rounds one and two with driver Jason Bell and his Aston Martin Vantage GT4 earning one win and a second podium finish. Andy Wilzoch made his circuit debut in his No. 460 Porsche 911 GT3 R (type 911.2), earning a hard-fought seventh-place finish.

PORSCHE Motorsport Australia has announced a record class of drivers taking part in the 2023 Porsche Michelin Junior Program.

The GT America Powered by AWS season starts this weekend in Florida at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, and Flying Lizard Motorsports will ring in the new season with two entries: hometown hero Jason Bell in the No. 2 Aston Martin Vantage GT4, and Andy Wilzoch in the No. 460 Porsche 911 GT3 R. The pair will each complete in the weekend’s two 40-minute races, racing on the temporary street course built for the weekend.

Like last year, the BMW Junior Team members and BMW M works drivers Dan Harper (GBR), Max Hesse (GER) and Neil Verhagen (USA) will take part in the five endurance races in the GTWC with the BMW M4 GT3 in the livery of BMW M Motorsport partner Multibank. In the second car, which will contest the GTWC endurance races at Monza (ITA), Le Castellet (FRA), Spa-Francorchamps, the Nürburgring (GER) and Barcelona (ESP), Philipp Eng (AUT), Marco Wittmann (GER) and Nick Yelloly (GBR) will take it in turns at the wheel.

Team Parker Racing is delighted to announce that it will be making a return to Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe’s Endurance Cup this year, entering one of its brand new 992-style Porsche 911 GT3 R machines.

ABT Sportsline lines up with two impressive young drivers in the 2023 DTM season. Kelvin van der Linde (26) from South Africa and Switzerland’s Ricardo Feller (22) start in the two Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II for the successful team from the Allgäu region of Germany. The two youngsters were team-mates at ABT Sportsline last season and form one of the youngest duos in the 2023 DTM. The opening weekend of the much-anticipated season takes place from 26th to 28th May at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.

This weekend, the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida come alive with the sounds of race cars for the annual professional auto racing event, the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Todd Coleman Racing, supported by Archangel Motorsports will make its team debut, racing the No. 69 Aston Martin Vantage GT4. Team principal Todd Coleman will race the car in both the GT America Powered by AWS, and in the Pirelli GT4 America with Billy Johnson. Johnson will also act as the team’s coach as Coleman contests the single-driver GT America series.

The Porsche Penske Motorsport works team tackles the 24 Hours of Le Mans with three Porsche 963. Together with the two hypercar vehicles from the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), the squad will also compete with a hybrid prototype from the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. For the major event on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the endurance classic, the factory team enlists personnel from both series. The customer squad Hertz Team JOTA has entered a fourth Porsche 963 to tackle the race on 10/11 June.

Gray Newell’s No. 24 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 is set to race the streets of St. Petersburg this weekend for the first event of the GT America powered by AWS season. The pair of street sprints will kick off the 2023 SRO season for Heart of Racing (HOR).

Decorated Omani racing driver Ahmad Al Harthy will embark on, arguably, his highest profile season of competition yet this year after officially confirming a move into the globe’s biggest endurance racing category – the FIA World Endurance Championship.

BMW has clinched its first Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli victory since 2020 after Sheldon van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts led home a Team WRT one-two at the Kyalami 9 Hour this evening.

After P1 and P3 in the Intercontinental GT Challenge season opener at Bathurst, Mercedes-AMG scores another Pro-Am class win in the Kyalami 9 Hour: Jules Gounon (AND), Kenny Habul (AUS) and Yannick Mettler (SUI) are victorious with the #75 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of SunEnergy1 by SPS. With the #20 SPS automotive performance car, Reece Barr (IRL), Miguel Ramos (POR) and Luca Stolz (GER) secure third place in the Pro-Am class. In the overall classification, the two Customer Racing cars ended up in fifth and seventh place respectively. Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing’s Maro Engel (GER), Mikaël Grenier (CAN) and Raffaele Marciello (SUI) had bad luck after having secured pole position during qualifying. In the race, a pneumatic failure in the gearbox was the reason that the trio was unable to keep the pace of the frontrunners and ended up classified in P9. In the Intercontinental GT Challenge drivers’ standings, AMG Driver Jules Gounon remains in the lead together with Kenny Habul. Moreover, Habul takes the tied points’ lead in the IGTC Independent Cup (bronze drivers). In the manufacturers’ standings, Mercedes-AMG is in the lead, tied on points with BMW after two of five rounds.

Porsche and Ferrari will be represented by top-class teams and drivers in the DTM. Former Formula 1 driver Jack Aitken (27/GB) will drive the new Ferrari 296 GT3 in the internationally popular series, while Porsche lines up with customer teams Manthey EMA, Toksport WRT, KÜS Team Bernhard and six new 911 GT3 R. In total, 13 teams and six different premium manufacturers will battle it out for the title in the 2023 DTM.

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing has revealed a revised GR010 HYBRID Hypercar for the 2023 season, when it will defend its number one status against new competitors at the start of an exciting era for the Le Mans 24 Hours and the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).

Team Parker Racing is very happy to announce Matt Armstrong will be competing in the Porsche Sprint Challenge GB for the 2023 season, aiming for the championship title after being in the mix throughout last year.

Mercedes-AMG has finalised its team and driver line-up for the 2023 DTM season. The performance and sports car brand from Affalterbach will be competing for victories and title wins in the prestigious sprint race series with a total of six Mercedes-AMG GT3s. Three Customer Racing Teams, all with extended works support, will be running the cars. Next to Haupt Racing Team (HRT) and WINWARD Racing, two outfits with previous experience in the series, Landgraf Motorsport will have its DTM premiere with Mercedes-AMG. The team from Bad Kreuznach is coming over from ADAC GT Masters in which it claimed the drivers’ championship and runner-up spot in the teams’ standings in the past season.

Exciting young driver Thomas Maxwell will join TekworkX Motorsport for the 2023 Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia Championship.