RNW Staff

BMW i Andretti Motorsport was unable to back up the strong performances last time out at the team’s home race in Berlin (GER) as the European leg of this season’s ABB FIA Formula E Championship drew to a close in Bern (SUI). António Félix da Costa (POR) and Alexander Sims (GBR) finished 12th and 14th at the Swiss E-Prix.

At the first E-Prix in the Swiss capital Bern, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler scored points with both cars. However, in the Formula E title race, the team suffered a setback.

The Porsche customer teams have started successfully into the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. The nine-eleven (#911) fielded by Manthey-Racing with Kévin Estre (France), Michael Christensen (Denmark), Earl Bamber (New Zealand) and Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) had taken up the race from position three and have now settled in amongst the leading pack. The No. 31 Porsche 911 GT3 R campaigned by Frikadelli Racing initially dropped out of the top ten. However, the crew consisting of Matt Campbell (Australia), Mathieu Jaminet (France), Romain Dumas (France) and Sven Müller (Germany) put in fast lap times to rejoin the top group. Bad luck plagued last year’s winners Patrick Pilet, Frédéric Makowiecki (both France), Richard Lietz (Austria) and Nick Tandy (Great Britain). While leading, their 500+hp Manthey-Racing nine-eleven with the starting number 1 lost 4:30 minutes due to a puncture. They are now battling their way back up through the field. 

Anderson Tanoto and Mark Williamson took their Absolute Racing-entered Audi R8 LMS GT4 to a debut podium finish in today’s round five of Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia. Tanoto crossed the line third in class following a strong fightback from the pair after falling to dead last on the first lap of the race at the legendary Suzuka Circuit in Japan.

Tanart Sathienthirakul and Philip Hamprecht led an Absolute Racing one-two and podium clean sweep for Porsche in this weekend’s first Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia race at Suzuka earlier today.

Martin Rump and Alessio Picariello secured Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia pole positions for Audi Sport Asia Team Absolute and Craft-Bamboo Racing at Suzuka earlier today, while BMW Team Studie’s Takayuki Kinoshita and Sunako Jukuchou topped the GT4 times on home soil.

The best Porsche customer team takes up the 24-hour classic on the Nürburgring from position three on the grid. At the Top Qualifying session, Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) lapped the 25.378 kilometre racetrack in the No. 911 Porsche 911 GT3 R fielded by Manthey-Racing in 8:11.567 minutes. With this, he and his teammates Earl Bamber (New Zealand), Michael Christensen (Denmark) and Kévin Estre (France) have secured a very good starting baseline to tackle the race.

Strakka Racing is pleased to announce it has signed up Britcar Dunlop Endurance Champion Matt Greenwood and Belgian Kart Cup Champion Esteban Muth to its Junior Driver Development Programme.

Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe returns to centre stage next weekend (28-30 June) when a 27-car grid will contest a pair of one-hour races at Misano World Circuit.

Mercedes-AMG is further expanding its programme for Customer Racing Teams and introduces the new Mercedes-AMG GT3. The car is a consequent further development of the globally successful customer racing car from Affalterbach. Next to its new looks, it comes with numerous optimisations that are taking the characteristics of the current GT3, appreciated by drivers and teams, to a new level. At the same time, they contribute to further reduction of the running costs and allow for the motorsport involvement of the Customer Racing Teams to be set up in an even more effective and profitable way. The new race car will be shown in public for the first time during the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. After an intense test and trial phase, delivery of the new Mercedes-AMG GT3 to the teams will start at the end of 2019. In 2020, the tenth anniversary of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing, the car enters its first season of competition.

Giti Tire Motorsport by WS Racing has entered an Audi R8 LMS GT4 for this weekend’s Nürburgring 24 Hours, with four drivers from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong SAR preparing to take on one of the world’s most prestigious 24 hour races on June 22 to 23. He Xiaole, Li Fei, Sunny Wong and Andy Yan represent the rising force of the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong SAR in international motorsports and have, between them, a wealth of experience across multiple disciplines.

Craft-Bamboo Racing showed strong pace in the opening 2 rounds of the 2019 Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia season, which saw Craft-Bamboo Racing scoring a victory and podiums at the opening round of the season in Malaysia and two pole positions in Thailand, the first time in the team’s history. Craft-Bamboo Racing heads to Japan with the aim of fighting for victory, and no stone has been left unturned in the preparation for rounds 5 and 6 at the famous historic track, the Suzuka Circuit.