RNW Staff

BMW M Team WRT competed its first race in the 2023 Intercontinental GT Challenge, the Bathurst 12 Hour (AUS). The endurance classic also marked the first official outing of the team together with BMW M Motorsport. After twelve hours of racing, held in sunny summer weather, the #32

SunEnergy1 and Mercedes-AMG defended their LIQUI MOLY Bathurst 12 crown in epic fashion and made the perfect start to this year’s Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli campaign by beating Manthey EMA and GruppeM Racing to victory in Australia’s International Enduro.

As many as four Audi Sport customer teams were on the podium at the Bathurst 12 Hour 2023: After a strong recovery, the three Australians Chaz Mostert, Fraser Ross and Liam Talbot won the Pro-Am class in the Audi R8 LMS. Close behind, Audi Sport drivers Christopher Mies and Ricardo Feller with privateer driver Yasser Shahin for The Bend Motorsport Park finished second. In the Silver Cup standings, Daniel Gaunt, Dylan O’Keeffe and Andrew Fawcet prevailed, with third place going to David Crampton/Trent Harrison/Glen Wood. The three Audi Sport drivers Mattia Drudi/Christopher Haase/Patric Niederhauser lost any chance of a good overall result as early as on lap 13 when an opponent hit their Audi R8 LMS hard, causing it to crash into the barrier.

GruppeM Racing and Mercedes-AMG’s Maro Engel clinched his second Allan Simonsen Pole Position Trophy by setting the fastest lap ever recorded at the LIQUI MOLY Bathurst 12 Hour during this afternoon’s Pirelli Top-10 Shootout.

Porsche New Zealand and Earl Bamber Motorsport have announced that Callum Hedge is confirmed to drive for Team Porsche New Zealand for another Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia season in 2023.

The longest and possibly the most challenging race on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship concluded on Sunday afternoon, and new sports car racing team AO Racing took great pride in facing adversity to finish the Rolex 24 At Daytona. In some ways, the team faced a stacked deck with challenging regulations, but also, the normal demands of the endurance race came into play, giving the team quite the dose of adversity in their series debut.

Season eight of Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli gets underway Down Under this weekend when the globe-trotting GT3 series visits Mount Panorama and the LIQUI MOLY Bathurst 12 Hour (February 3-5).

Mount Panorama is calling. Next weekend (3rd to 5th February), BMW M Team WRT will make its first official appearance together with BMW M Motorsport at Bathurst, Australia. The team, led by principal Vincent Vosse, will be competing in the classic Bathurst 12 Hour endurance race at the Mount Panorama Circuit with two BMW M4 GT3s. A strong line-up with six BMW M works drivers will alternate in the cockpits of the two cars.

After a grueling 24 hours of competition, the Wright Motorsports Porsche closed out the first race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with a successful debut at the Rolex 24 At Daytona. The No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R (type 992) ran a mistake and penalty-free race, driven by 2022 Michelin Pilot Challenge champions Alan Brynjolfsson and Trent Hindman, with Max Root and Kevin Estre. The WeatherTech rookies finished the endurance event 11th out of 23 cars, in the largest of the five classes in the Rolex 24.

It was a hard-fought eighth-place finish for the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 in the 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona as the team battled pace issues in the opening round of the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

The ADAC GT Masters kicks off the 2023 season with an extraordinary event in Hockenheim from 9th to 11th June. The two races will be held at the “Festival of Dreams”, a Porsche event, at which the sports car manufacturer will celebrate its 75th anniversary. As well as the ADAC GT Masters, Hockenheim will also host two races in the both the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland and the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux.

Just 598 days after the BMW Group board decision and 188 days after the roll-out, the new BMW M Hybrid V8 has completed its first endurance test at the 24 Hours of Daytona (USA). After a brief development period, the first BMW M Motorsport race car with a hybrid powertrain took on the great challenge of the classic endurance race – and both prototypes competing for BMW M Team RLL crossed the finish line. The #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 secured sixth place overall and in the GTP class. Having been forced to take a long break for repairs in the early part of the race, the #25 car finished ninth in the GTP category. Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of the BMW Group, visited Daytona as the car made its race debut.

Aston Martin’s multiple championship-winning Vantage has added another glittering accolade to its growing legacy as one of the sport’s most successful GT cars by recording an emphatic class victory in the 61st Rolex 24 at Daytona on Sunday. A faultless performance by reigning IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar GTD class champions Heart of Racing [HOR] and drivers Roman De Angelis (CDN), Ian James (GBR), Darren Turner (GBR) and Marco Sørensen (DEN), underlined a winning start to the team’s title defence for the Seattle-based Aston Martin Racing partner team.

The 61st edition of the 24 Hours of Daytona, IMSA’s inaugural round, ends with Triarsi Competizione’s Ferrari 296 GT3 crossing the finish line tenth in the GTD class. The endurance race, during which the Maranello company’s new racing car made its debut, goes into the archives with a result below expectations. The consequences of three contacts caused retirements for the Ferraris of Risi Competizione, Cetilar Racing and AF Corse.

Despite not getting the results that Porsche Penske Motorsport would have liked in their debut event, both Porsche 963 show considerable pace at the season-opening 24 Hours of Daytona at the historic Daytona International Speedway.

Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) with Curb-Agajanian ushered in a new era in American sports car racing, taking its second-consecutive victory in the Rolex 24 At Daytona with the hybrid-powered No. 60 Acura ARX-06. Tom Blomqvist crossed the checkered flag, winning from the pole position and making history with the first GTP victory alongside teammates Colin Braun, Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud. 

The two Porsche 963 fielded by the Porsche Penske Motorsport works team head into the final phase of the Daytona 24-hour race with mixed prospects. During the night, the No. 6 car at times led the field, only to lose ground in the early morning hours. After sunrise, the vehicle is running three laps behind the leading group. After a battery change on Saturday evening, the sister car is 18 laps down on the leader. In the two GTD classes, the customer teams are struggling with the poor BoP classification of the new Porsche 911 GT3 R.

WeatherTech Racing is competing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Rolex 24 At Daytona and is currently leading in GTD Pro with six hours to go.

The official racing debut of the new Porsche 963 began on Saturday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway as the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship began with the annual 24 Hours of Daytona. The two cars from Porsche Penske Motorsport started second and ninth in the new GTP class.

Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) got off to a strong start in the opening hours of the 61st Running of the Rolex 24 Hours At Daytona which saw Tom Blomqvist take the lead in the No. 60 Acura ARX-06 LMDh after starting from pole position. After nearly nine hour of racing, the MSR Acura has led 117 laps as the 24 hour classic heads into the overnight hours.