RNW Staff

Lucky Khera (Graypaul Birmingham) converted his fifth pole position of the season into his fifth win, producing a storming drive to continue his domination of the Ferrari Challenge UK 2020 season.

The number three played a central role at the weekend as BWT Mücke Motorsport travelled to the third ADAC GT Masters meeting of the season at the Hockenheimring. Igor Walilko and Mike Beckhusen in the BWT Audi R8 LMS #25 and Ricardo Feller and Stefan Mücke in the BWT Audi R8 LMS #26 battled for points and trophies in a field of 33 super sports cars. After Saturday’s race, Feller won a cup for coming third in the Junior classification, having taken points overall for eleventh place along with Stefan Mücke.

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing earned a third consecutive overall Le Mans 24 Hours win with the TS050 HYBRID after a turbulent and ultimately-successful race at the Circuit de la Sarthe.

Four 24 Hours of Le Mans ended over four participations by Cetilar Racing. The only one all-Italian team in the Sport category finished for the fourth year in a row the most important event of the season, the penultimate of FIA WEC rounds.

The Ferrari 488 GTE no. 51 was second over the line in the LMGTE Pro class, while no. 83 came third in the LMGTE Am at the end of the eightyeighth edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The world’s most famous endurance marathon was held behind closed doors for the first time, with sixteen Ferraris lining up at the start.

On its 24 Hours of Le Mans debut, COOL Racing’s #42 Oreca 07 finished a fantastic seventh in the LMP2 class with Alexandre Coigny, Antonin Borga and Nicolas Lapierre.

Sunday morning at Circuit of the Americas, Flying Lizard Motorsports driver Michael Dinan unofficially secured the GT4 America Sprint Am championship in the No. 210 Aston Martin Vantage GT4, earning the team its seventh championship to date. Dinan, together with co-driver Robby Foley, celebrated another SprintX Pro/AM win in the No. 21 Aston Martin Vantage GT4. After almost a full season of technical gremlins, the No. 30 McLaren of Erin Vogel and Michael Cooper enjoyed a smooth run, finally able to run within the GT4 America pack.

United Autosports have won the 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours, after the #22 crew of Phil Hanson, Filipe Albuquerque and Paul Di Resta brought their Oreca 07 home in first place after a frantic race, which saw Phil pit the leading Oreca with 10 minutes to go for a splash of fuel, before exiting the pits just in front of the second placed car, crossing the line first to take victory.

Aston Martin has won the 88th 24 Hours of Le Mans. The British manufacturer, which was last victorious in the world famous event in 2017, recorded its best ever result at the Circuit de la Sarthe by winning both GT classes and with three crews standing on the podium. The result means that Aston Martin scored enough points to secure the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) manufacturers’ title with one round remaining.

RLR MSport finished eighth and sixth in the fraught Michelin Le Mans Cup ‘Road to Le Mans’ races (17-19 September), thanks to combative performances from James Dayson and Malthe Jakobsen at Circuit de la Sarthe.

Mission Title Defence is ramping up. After finishing as runners-up on Saturday, the Audi R8 LMS pairing of Patric Niederhauser (28, CH) and Kelvin van der Linde (24, ZA, both Rutronik Racing) chalked up their first victory of the season in Race 2 at Hockenheim. Last year’s champions now lead the drivers’ standings for the first time this year. They were followed across the finish line by two other Audis: Max Hofer (21, AUT) and Christopher Haase (32, GER, both Montaplast by Land Motorsport) took second place ahead of Rolf Ineichen (42, CH) and Mirko Bortolotti (30, ITA, both Team WRT) in third. “A mega race and a mega weekend,” was winner Kelvin van der Linde’s happy verdict. “Hockenheim is really starting to become one of my favourite circuits. In the past three years I have won each of the Sunday races here – once with my brother Sheldon and now twice with Patric.”

Porsche Carrera Cup GB – the fastest single marque GT racing championship in the UK – entered the second half of the 2020 season with a visit to the fastest circuit on the calendar, Thruxton, for Rounds Nine and 10 of the championship. Porsche GB 2020 / 2021 Junior Harry King (Team Parker Racing) set the pace on Friday – topping both Practice sessions by lapping approximately one-second faster than his rivals. Lorcan Hanafin (JTR) showed strong form to end the day second in the combined times, teammate Sam MacLeod (JTR) was third. Esmee Hawkey (Team Parker) was the fastest Pro-Am driver in both sessions, John Ferguson (Team Redline Racing) topped Am.

COOL Racing scored its first Road To Le Mans victory and third Michelin Le Mans Cup win of the season at Circuit de la Sarthe on Saturday. Nicolas Maulini and Édouard Cauhaupé’s #37 Ligier JS P320 dominated race two from pole position after finishing second in the first race of the weekend. Maurice Smith and Matt Bell’s #69 machine made it two double podium finishes with a pair of third places.

United Autosports scored a pole position and three top-10 race finishes in the Road to Le Mans weekend after Wayne Boyd scored his third pole of the year for the opening race of the event and, alongside team mate John Schauerman, finished fifth at the end of race one.

The Porsche GT Team has just one iron left in the fire in the intensive GTE-Pro-class fight at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. After the first six hours of racing, the ca. 515 hp Porsche 911 RSR (No. 91) driven by works drivers Gianmaria Bruni from Italy, Richard Lietz from Austria and Frenchman Frédéric Makowiecki is running in sixth place. A defect in the power steering cost the No. 92 sister car shared by Michael Christensen from Denmark, Kévin Estre from France and Belgium’s Laurens Vanthoor over half an hour.

WeatherTech Racing is currently running seventh at the Le Mans 24 Hours race in France.

Different protagonists, but the result remains the same: two Ferrari crews once again finished on the Race 2 rostrum of the Road To Le Mans at the Circuit de La Sarthe. The same had previously occurred in Saturday’s first 55-minute race in the fourth round of the Le Mans Cup. In Race 2 the #74 Kesssel Racing-run Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 entrusted to Michael Broniszewski and David Perel and the #93 Sky Tempesta Racing entry with Christopher Froggatt and Jonathan Hui finished in second and third places.

Christian Engelhart (33, GER) and Michael Ammermüller (34, GER, both SSR Performance) put in a strong performance to not only secure victory in Saturday’s ADAC GT Masters race at Hockenheim but also take over at the top of the standings. Last year’s champions Patric Niederhauser (28, CH) and Kelvin van der Linde (24, ZA, both Rutronik Racing) finished second in the best of the Audi R8 LMS contingent, while Lamborghini drivers Tim Zimmermann (24, GER) and Steijn Schothorst (25, NL, both GRT Grasser Racing Team) took third place. “We had a great car again today,” said winner Michael Ammermüller with evident satisfaction. “The team has done a fantastic job again. Christian laid the foundation for our success with his overtaking manoeuvre in the battle for the lead.”

Lamborghini recorded a superb double victory in the Road to Le Mans races at the famous Circuit de la Sarthe in the hands of FFF Racing’s Hiroshi Hamaguchi and Andrea Caldarelli. The Road to Le Mans is part of the Le Mans Cup, a championship dedicated to LMP3 and GT3 machinery, and runs on the support bill of the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The organisers of the ADAC GT Masters are already planning ahead for 2021. The GT series enters its 15th season next year, and the 14 races will once again be contested over seven race weekends at venues in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. For the first time, the ADAC GT Masters championship will gain official recognition from the German Motor Sport Association (DMSB): the series will henceforth assume the status of ‘Internationale Deutsche GT-Meisterschaft’ (International German GT Championship), and the drivers and teams will compete for the title of International German GT Champion. The curtain-raiser to the 2021 ADAC GT Masters will be hosted by Motorsport Arena Oschersleben on the weekend of 14th – 16th May..