RNW Staff

The Squadra Corse Ferrari took its third SRO GT World Challenge America victory of the season Saturday, regaining the lead in the Pro Am championship in a 90-minute race at Road America.

Living up to the hype, the ROWE 6 Stunden ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen gifted spectators with a thrill-packed show as Racing One celebrated a spectacular win in the SP9 AM class, with Octane 126 scooping third place in the Pro category.

Round five of the Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS) concluded on Saturday with positions nine and ten for the two best-placed Porsche contenders. The season highlight of the NLS also served as the final test run before the 24-hour race on the storied racetrack, which has been postponed to September 26-27. Over the last few metres of today’s six-hour race on the combination of the short Grand Prix circuit and the revered Nordschleife, Dennis Olson (Denmark) in his No. 18 KCMG car managed to catch the No. 31 Frikadelli Porsche. Both benefited from a four-minute time penalty that had thrown Manthey Racing’s 911 GT3 R from fourth to 13th at the flag.

Saturday’s six-hour race of the Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS) was the final test race prior to the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring (24th-27th September). Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed crossed the finish line in fourth place with its #2 Mercedes-AMG GT3. The #17 Mercedes-AMG Team HRT entry also scored a top ten result with its sixth-place finish. BLACK FALCON Team TEXTAR scored what already was the fifth consecutive class win with the Mercedes-AMG GT4 and therefore remains unbeaten at the legendary circuit in the Eifel this year.

The Nürburgring 24 Hours (GER) will take place on 26th/27th September, several months later than originally planned. Although the 50th anniversary of the endurance classic on the Nordschleife will be held in difficult circumstances, BMW M Motorsport still fields a strong contingent as it looks for overall victory number 20 for BMW. Some of the best BMW works drivers in GT racing will be at the wheel of the five BMW M6 GT3s which will be run by BMW Team Schnitzer, ROWE Racing and Walkenhorst Motorsport. This weekend’s ROWE 6 Stunden ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen serves as a dress rehearsal for the teams and drivers.

The Eiffel Mountains will come alive to the sound of GT3 engines next weekend (5/6 September) when GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS tackles a six-hour contest at the Nürburgring.

While the 2020 calendar year seems to stretch on for an eternity, the current GT4 America season has flown by for Flying Lizard Motorsports. The GT4 series has reached its halfway point in the season, beginning the second half of the championship this weekend at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Holding the first event with fans since March. Flying Lizard Motorsports will race its three full season entries: the No. 210 Aston Martin in Sprint, and the No. 21 Aston Martin and No. 30 McLaren in SprintX.

Lamborghini Squadra Corse has unveiled the new intake of drivers into its Young Driver and GT3 Junior Programs for the 2020 season. A total of 34 drivers has been announced, making it the most comprehensive development programme in GT racing.

The European Le Mans Series returns to Paul Ricard for a second visit, replacing Barcelona as the day-to-night race and Nielsen Racing is aiming to validate the recent progress made with new Duqueine D08 with a strong showing from both crews.

Prestige Performance with Wayne Taylor Racing driver Stuart Middleton celebrated his first podium results of the 2020 Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America season over the weekend, 22nd/23rd August, with a pair of richly deserved second places at Virginia International Raceway.

Henrique Chaves achieved two podiums at Paul Ricard, where was held this weekend the second International GT Open’s event, and leads the Drivers’ Standings.

United Autosports make their way back to Paul Ricard this weekend (28-29 August) for round three of the European Le Mans Series and the Michelin Le Mans Cup.

Brandon Gdovic certainly enjoys some home cooking. For the second straight year, the Virginian won a Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America race on his home track, taking overall and Pro class honors Sunday in the second race of the VIRginia International Raceway weekend.

Team Antonelli Motorsport duo Alexander Moiseev and Alexey Nesov completed a fruitful weekend at the Paul Ricard circuit, in the Kaspersky backed-outfit Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, in the second of the six International GT Open rounds.

Porsche Carrera Cup GB – the fastest single marque GT racing championship in the UK – moved to Oulton Park in Cheshire for Rounds Five and Six of the rapid-fire 2020 season. Mixed weather conditions resulted in a wet first Practice session topped by Porsche GB 2020 / 2021 Junior Harry King (Team Parker Racing) and teammate Josh Webster (Team Parker Racing). The pair resumed their intense battle for supremacy in the afternoon’s dry second Practice, ending the session in the same order. Teammates Ryan Ratcliffe (Team Parker) and Esmee Hawkey (Team Parker) topped a session each in Pro-Am, while Justin Sherwood (Team Parker Racing) stamped his authority on the weekend as Friday’s quickest Am.

With a closely-matched field of GT-only machines taking on the two-hour, 40-minute Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway, it was a tight race to the finish for the No. 57 Heinricher Racing with Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 on Saturday. The car finished seventh in the GTD order.

The FUJIMAKI GROUP SUZUKA GT 300km RACE, Round 3 of the 2020 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series took place at Suzuka circuit (one lap 5,807m × 52 laps) in Mie Prefecture on August 23 (Sun). In the GT500 class, the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli) came through with a magnificent first win of the season in a race interrupted by three Safety Car breaks. The GT300 class race was also won by a NISSAN GT-R, the No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Katsuyuki Hiranaka/Hironobu Yasuda).

Teams and drivers in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America championship faced a long Saturday at VIRginia International Raceway. Their day was bookended by a pair of qualifying sessions early in the morning and the first of two weekend races in late afternoon.

The Porsche GT Team has concluded round five of this season’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on positions three and five. In an eventful race at the Virginia International Raceway in the east of the USA, Britain’s Nick Tandy and his French teammate Frédéric Makowiecki scored a podium result instead of the deserved victory in their No. 911 racing car. Bad luck plagued the sister car of reigning champions Earl Bamber from New Zealand and Laurens Vanthoor from Belgium. Midway through the race, a damaged diffuser threw them far down the field. The No. 912 car took the flag in the GTLM class in fifth. As at the previous two races, the 2019-generation Porsche 911 RSR was the fastest vehicle in the fierce GTLM-class competition among manufacturers. Once again, however, fortune did not shine on the North American factory squad. In the GTD category, the Porsche 911 GT3 R fielded by the customer squad Wright Motorsports finished on sixth.

 It was a full throttle sprint to the finish for Mario Farnbacher on Saturday, as he took the No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 from fourth to second in the final five laps of the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR. Farnbacher was relentless in his pursuit of the fabled VIR Michelin Man trophy, optimizing every opportunity to move froward late in the race to claim a runner-up result for the second IMSA race in a row.