RNW Staff

The official qualifying for the opening round of the 2021 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, the “Takanoko Hotel OKAYAMA GT 300km RACE,” was held on April 10 at the Okayama International Circuit (one lap 3,703 m) in Okayama Prefecture. The SUPER GT qualifying is run in a knock-out style format, and in the GT500 class the No. 37 KeePer TOM’S GR Supra (Ryo Hirakawa/Sena Sakaguchi) was fastest in both the Q1 and Q2 sessions, and as the driver in Q2, Sakaguchi took his first GT500 pole position. In the GT300 class, the No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Katsuyuki Hiranaka/Hironobu Yasuda) won the class pole. With this result, these two cars will start from front position on their respective class starting grids in tomorrow’s final race on April 11.

Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS will launch its 2021 season next weekend (16-18 April) when a 44-car field featuring nine brands contests a three-hour Endurance Cup race at Monza. 

United Autosports’ European racing season begins next week as the team prepares for the opening rounds of the 2021 European Le Mans Series and Michelin Le Mans Cup at Barcelona, Spain as well as the opening round of the GT4 European Series in Monza, Italy. 

A strong duo for Schubert Motorsport: The team from Oschersleben will line up in the German GT Championship with BMW works drivers Nick Yelloly (30/GB) and Jesse Krohn (30/FIN). Schubert Motorsport is one of the most successful teams in the series, in which it runs a BMW M6 GT3. This season, the team will also start in ADAC GT4 Germany for the first time. Marcel Lenerz (23/Bad Hersfeld) has already been confirmed as the first driver. Oschersleben hosts the opening round of this season’s ADAC GT Masters from 14th to 16th May.

Successful British racing driver Jordan Witt will make a welcome return to action on the continent this year after today, Thursday, 8th April, confirming he will compete in the inaugural season of the brand new Fanatec GT2 European Series with Toro Verde GT.

Trivellato Racing and Villorba Corse strengthen their partnership and launch a new motorsport challenge for the 2021 season. The Italian team, known as Trivellato Racing by Villorba Corse and led by Raimondo Amadio, will line up two Mercedes-AMG GT4s in the GT4 European Series. In addition to representing the scenario of the return of the legendary Trivellato brand in international racing, the series promoted by SRO Motorsport Group will be a new test bench for the team after last year’s brilliant results in the Italian GT Sprint Championship. The names of the drivers involved will be announced soon.

Porsche Motorsport GB enters what could be its most exciting season to date with two established championships welcoming a mix of familiar names and exciting newcomers – including two new teams. Porsche Carrera Cup GB, the fastest single marque GT racing championship in the UK, enters its 19th season which also marks the final year of the 485 hp second-generation ‘Type 991’ 911 GT3 Cup. A battle royale looks set to rage for title glory between reigning champion Porsche GB 2020 / 2021 Junior Harry King and one of the championship’s most successful drivers, 2015 and 2016 champion Dan Cammish. 

Performance Tech Motorsports driver Dan Goldburg raced up the prototype ranks reaching his next benchmark during the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

 Lamborghini is celebrating the production of its 400th Huracán model from its headquarters in Sant’Agata Bolognese, where all Lamborghinis, both road and racing, have been produced since 1963. This milestone was recognised at a special event, which was attended by Stephan Winkelmann (President and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini), Maurizio Reggiani (Chief Technical Officer), Ranieri Niccoli (Chief Manufacturing Officer) and Giorgio Sanna (Head of Motorsport). They were joined by the various technicians who build both the Huracán Super Trofeo Evo and GT3 Evo every day.

Pietro Peccenini and team TS Corse will make their debut in the ACO / Le Mans events taking part in the 2021 Le Mans Cup, which kicks off from the opening round of Barcelona on April 16-17. The Italian driver from Milan will get back racing for this new season behind the wheel of the LMP3 Duqueine D08 powered by Nissan that he will share with 26-year-old Irish driver Cian Carey, coming from F3 Cup and British F3.

ByKOLLES Racing will rely on a lot of experience and top performance in the cockpit when developing the new Hypercar for the FIA WEC Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Long-time LMP1 driver Tom Dillmann from France and Argentine Esteban Guerrieri, class winner in the 24-hour race on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife 2020, share the test and development work in the team’s new Hypercar project. As part of the PMC Project LMH, the first tests are expected to take place soon. An extensive test program is planned for the coming months and the name of the car will be announced in due course.

Stuart Middleton, one of Britain’s very best aspiring professional racing drivers, is set to embark on his most important season to date this year after making the deserved step-up to full GT3 action with top Lamborghini squad Imperiale Racing in the Italian GT Endurance Championship.

Sky Tempesta Racing will make a welcome return to the GT World Challenge Europe series for 2021, contesting both the Endurance Cup and Sprint Cup with the aim of defending its hard-earned Pro-Am Cup titles secured during the disrupted 2020 season.

A big-name addition to the ADAC GT Masters: the return of Phoenix Racing to the German GT Championship sees one of the most successful German teams of recent years make its comeback in the series. The team from Meuspath will field one Audi R8 LMS on its return. The car will be driven by former champion Patric Niederhauser (29/CH) and rookie Jusuf Owega (18/Cologne). Oschersleben hosts the opening round of this season’s ADAC GT Masters from 14th to 16th May.

SRO Motorsports Group has revealed the GT4 European Series full-season entry list for 2021. At least 37 cars are confirmed for all six weekends, while additional race-by-race entries will bolster the grid for the opening round at Monza and subsequent events on the calendar.

Damiano Fioravanti joins Alessandro Bressan and Andreas Laskaratos behind the wheel of the #18 1AIM Villorba Corse Ligier JS P320 Nissan for the whole 2021 European Le Mans Series campaign, starting from Barcelona in mid-April.

Cetilar Racing has unveiled at the AF Corse headquarter in Piacenza, its 2021 FIA WEC campaign. The team headed by Roberto Lacorte will compete again in the World Endurance Championship, the most important series for Sportscars and GTs, fielding the #47 Ferrari 488 GTE supported by AF Corse that will be marked by usual light blue/green livery.

Montaplast by Land-Motorsport has a new look: Christian and Wolfgang Land’s racing team lines up with a bright yellow Audi R8 LMS in the ADAC GT Masters for the first time. The mid-engine sports car with the “snake design” of new sponsors Mann-Filter will be driven by Audi Sport driver Christopher Haase (33/Kulmbach) and newcomer Luca-Sandro Trefz (19/Wüstenrot). Oschersleben hosts the opening round of this season’s ADAC GT Masters from 14th to 16th May.

BMW Junior Team ace Daniel Harper unfortunately saw his planned debut race in his new BMW M6 GT3 car cancelled on Saturday (27th March) due to heavy snowfall on the Nürburgring Nordschleife.

Newly signed Sainteloc Racing driver Finlay Hutchison says he is looking forward to the 2021 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS season like no other before, following a superbly competitive outing at Circuit Paul Ricard in France during two days of official pre-season testing.