RNW Staff

Three Porsche customer teams head into the 2023 DTM season this coming weekend (26 to 28 May) in Oschersleben. Manthey EMA, Team75 Bernhard and Toksport WRT each field two 992-generation 416 kW (565 hp) 911 GT3 R racing cars. A total of 28 drivers will tackle the 16 races. Each of the eight racing weekends features two sprint events with the finale contested at the Hockenheimring.

Experienced sportscar racer Xavier Maassen will round out Team Parker Racing’s line up for the Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa, joining Derek Pierce, Kiern Jewiss, and Andy Meyrick in the squad’s Porsche 911 GT3 R.

This weekend marks the end of the long wait for the start of the new DTM season. Motorsport Arena Oschersleben (GER) will host the first two races out of a total of 16. Sheldon van der Linde (RSA) and Team Schubert Motorsport aim to defend their titles in the driver and team championships.

The Heart of Racing (HOR) team returned to SRO action this weekend at the F1-grade Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Though the team ran into some bad luck in Pirelli GT4 America competition, Gray Newell was able to score two podiums in GT America powered by AWS. 

After an action packed season opener in Thailand, Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS’s attention now switches to Fuji International Speedway where a record-breaking provisional 40-car entry will assemble for the first of this year’s Fanatec Japan Cup events on June 16-18.

Flying Lizard Motorsports had a highly successful weekend at Circuit of the Americas over the weekend in rounds five and six of the Pirelli GT4 America championship and seven and eight of GT America Powered by AWS. With five entries between the two series, the Lizards reveled in two wins and an additional two podium finishes.

After capturing hearts all over the world through competition in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the livery of Rexy the GT3 Rawr will make its international debut next month at the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans. The No. 56 Project 1/AO Racing Porsche 911 RSR will transform its look from the white, orange, and blue livery into the Porsche 911 RSRawr: an adorable yet intimidating green tyrannosaurus rex, complete with a ferocious mouth, little arms, and feet for stomping.

The Fanatec GT2 European Series heads to the breath-taking Styria mountains this weekend, 26-28 May, for the second outing of the 2023 season at the Red Bull Ring.

KC Motorgroup Ltd. (KCMG) finished second in class after an eventful race at the ADAC TotalEnergies 24h Nürburgring, with a late puncture while leading ending their hopes of victory.

Porsche Sprint Challenge GB traveled to Norfolk for its second weekend of the 2023 season, racing on the Snetterton 300 circuit in support of the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). Toby Trice (Redline Racing) drove to victory in the weekend’s first race while Marc Warren (Raceway Motorsport) made history in the second encounter, becoming the first Am category racer to take an overall win, a feat he repeated in round six.

Anticipation is half the pleasure, but Steve McQueen once taught us: Racing is life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting. For GRT, the long wait is finally over this weekend. From May 26 to 28, the Lamborghini Squadra Corse supported Team from Austria will kick off the 2023 DTM season. The races at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben mark the first of eight stops on this year’s calendar of the legendary championship. For Grasser Racing, the season opener does not only mean the next chapter of their DTM journey. The two Austrians Clemens Schmid and Mick Wishofer will also complete the DTM premiere of the new Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 sporting the colours of GRT.

The Wright Motorsports Porsches dominated the race weekend at Circuit of the Americas, sweeping both GT World Challenge America powered by AWS victories, and earning an additional three podium finishes at the Austin, Texas- area track. Drivers Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer won the two headlining races of the weekend, followed by second and third-place finishes by Charlie Luck and Jan Heylen in the No. 45 Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Porsche Sports Cup China got its fifth season underway last weekend at Ningbo International Circuit, with Porsche enthusiasts from all over China gathering for the first event of the campaign.

The stage is set for a new era: This weekend (26th to 28th May), the DTM kicks off its 39th year with not one but two firsts at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. The popular racing series will kick off the season in the Magdeburger Börde region for the first time, and is also organised by the ADAC for the first time. After an absence of eight years, Motorsport Arena Oschersleben returns to the DTM calendar. With its winding layout, the circuit demands the upmost concentration from the drivers, as they battle for the first two wins of the new campaign. A total of 14 teams, with drivers from eleven countries and cars from six premium manufacturers – Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche – will go head to head in the new season.

A Respectable 235,000 spectators and excellent conditions throughout the event provided an ideal situation for a spectacular 51st running of the ADAC TotalEnergies 24h-Rennen at the Nürburgring in the past four days. 135 cars across 20 classes and drivers from 36 different countries also delivered an attractive and varied field of participants. With a total of 162 laps, this year’s marathon in the Eifel goes down in history as the fastest to date. The endurance racing classic at the 25.378 kilometres long traditional track, marked by numerous incidents, didn’t bring the desired victory for Mercedes-AMG, but still ended in a successful way. In the fastest 24-hour race, the three customer sport teams were able to celebrate third place, a fourth place and success in the SP9 Pro-Am and SP-X classes.

Audi Sport customer racing achieved sixth place in the 2023 Nürburgring 24 Hours. Audi Sport Team Land achieved this result after a flawless drive by the three Audi Sport drivers Christopher Haase/Christopher Mies/Patric Niederhauser in the number 39 Audi R8 LMS. The brand also thrilled the 235,000 fans off the track throughout the weekend with many activities surrounding the birthday of its subsidiary Audi Sport GmbH.

The Porsche 911 GT3 R fielded by the Rutronik Racing customer team has wrapped up the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring in fifth place. In an intense competition with many incidents and collisions, Julien Andlauer from France, Dennis Olsen from Denmark and Matteo Cairoli from Italy gave a flawless performance at the wheel of the best-placed 911. The identical model campaigned by Falken Motorsports with the starting number 44 achieved tenth place after suffering several setbacks. At the 51st running of the endurance classic in Germany’s Eifel region, a total of 32 GT3 cars headed into the battle for overall victory on Saturday afternoon.

The ROWE Racing team finished on the podium at the 51st staging of the Nürburgring 24 Hours (GER). Dries Vanthoor (BEL) crossed the line in second place in the number 98 BMW M4 GT3, 26.911 seconds behind the winning Ferrari. Vanthoor had alternated at the wheel with Maxime Martin (BEL), Sheldon van der Linde (RSA) and Marco Wittmann (GER) on their way to completing 162 laps. For BMW M Motorsport, this was the first podium with the BMW M4 GT3 at the endurance classic in the Eifel Mountains.

In an exceptional setting with 235,000 spectators in the stands, Ferrari wrote a page in motorsport history by winning its first 24 Hours of Nürburgring, one of the world’s most prestigious endurance races, now in its fifty-first year. The Frikadelli team’s 296 GT3, crewed by David Pittard, Felipe Laser, Nick Catsburg and Earl Bamber took the chequered flag in triumph after 162 laps, the longest distance ever completed at the German event.

In Friday’s Top Qualifying for the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring (GER), Augusto Farfus (BRA) was the best-placed BMW M4 GT3 driver for ROWE Racing. The Brazilian set a personal best of 8:11.921 minutes in car #99