RNW Staff

As the first round of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Challenge sprint races begins this weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) has plenty of reasons to get excited as the local team enters its 12th year of sports car competition at the 2.4-mile road course.

Raton Racing by Target kicked off its International GT Open campaign at the Paul Ricard Circuit claiming the PRO-AM victory in the first round of the season. Liang Jiatong and Raffaele Giammaria put their OPPO-backed outfit Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo on P5 overall in Race 2, clinching the class win, whilst their team-mates Alberto Di Folco and Christoph Lenz showed well in the other car as the Italian set the fastest lap in the second race too.

The McLaren 720S GT3 scored pole position and a triple podium on its International GT Open debut at Circuit Paul Ricard in southern France, as McLaren Customer Racing team Teo Martin Motorsport started its 2019 campaign. The team also took part in the new-for-2019 GT Open Cup Europe with a pair of 570S GT4s and claimed two Silver class wins.

KC Motorgroup Ltd. (KCMG) wound up its preparations for the Nürburgring 24 Hours with a productive VLN weekend at the Nordschleife, in which the #39 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 recorded the fastest lap and drivers Joshua Burdon, Edoardo Liberati and João Paulo de Oliveira successfully acquired their Nürburgring permits.

The second round of the 2019 CAMS Australian GT Championship will see the popular category in Western Australia for three 40-minute sprint races as part of the Perth SuperNight Supercars event, two of the races coming under lights for a spectacular return to Barbagallo Wanneroo Raceway.

BWT Mücke Motorsport are going full throttle into their third ADAC GT Masters campaign. On the weekend of 26th – 28th April, those immortal words once again rang out: “Gentlemen, start your engines!” The illustrious Berlin-based outfit responded to the call and, after months of intensive preparation, arrived at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben with motivation running high.

The Porsche GT Team tackles round four of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in Lexington (Ohio, USA) as the leader of the manufacturers’ and drivers’ championship. After scoring wins at the traditional North American racetracks of Sebring and Long Beach, the sports car manufacturer would now like to further extend its lead at the race on the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. After the long-distance races at Daytona and Sebring followed by the Long Beach sprint race, round four of the season is the first event of the year that will run over the standard 2 hours and 40 minutes.

The Ford Chip Ganassi Racing team will compete in the penultimate round of the marathon FIA World Endurance Championship Super Season this weekend. The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps is the final rehearsal before the Le Mans 24 Hours, and the perfect event to make final preparations for Le Mans as the rollercoaster-like Spa circuit is an uncompromising test of man and machine.

The title defence for Robert Renauer (34, GER) has got off to a great start. Last year’s champion and his new co-driver Thomas Preining (20, AUT, both Precote Herberth Motorsport) top the table after their victory in the Sunday race of the ADAC GT Masters opening weekend at Oschersleben. The Porsche pairing won the second of the 14 races to be contested this season ahead of runners-up Ricardo Feller (18, CH) and Dries Vanthoor (21, BEL, both Montaplast by Land-Motorsport) in an Audi and third-placed Rolf Ineichen (40, CH) and Franck Perera (34, FRA, both Orange1 by GRT Grasser) in a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo. “Definitely a very good curtain-raiser weekend,” said a delighted Renauer. “The season could not have started much better for us.”

Henrique Chaves wasn’t lucky in the start of the second race of the International GT Open’s event of Paul Ricard, as he was hit by an opponent. Nevertheless, he ended the race in a good seventh place.

Lamborghini took a clean-sweep in the opening round of the International GT Open Championship at the Paul Ricard Circuit in the South of France, with the Emil Frey Racing team claiming both race wins on the first outing for the Hurcán GT3 Evo.

Ollie Wilkinson and Optimum Motorsport teammate Bradley Ellis notched up their first International GT Open podium in the season opener at Paul Ricard, narrowly missing out on a Pro-Am class win whilst finishing within the top six overall in the Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT3.

A pair of thrilling races for the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, the fastest single marque GT racing championship in the UK, took place across two days at Donington Park. Following a win in Round Three and a podium finish in Round Four, 18-year-old Porsche GB 2018 / 2019 Junior Dan Harper (JTR) maintains his overall championship lead. Another dimension was added to the weekend with the return of former Porsche GB Scholar and 2014 Carrera Cup GB champion Josh Webster (Team Parker Racing). The former Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup driver claimed a surprise pole position and commanding Race Two victory on his comeback.

Bottas and Mercedes win at the Circuit of Azerbaijan Baku. Lewis Hamilton finished in second place followed by Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel. Mercedes have all of the opening four races this season. Full race results. Bottas Hamilton Vettel Verstappen Leclerc Perez Sainz Norris Stroll Raikkonen Albion Giovanazzi Magnussen Hulkenberg Russel Kubica DNF – Gasly DNF […]

Markus Pommer (28, GER) and Marvin Kirchhöfer (25, GER, both Callaway Competition) are the first two winners of the 2019 ADAC GT Masters. In a thrilling rain-affected race on the Saturday of the opening weekend at Oschersleben, the Corvette came home ahead of second-placed Patric Niederhauser (27, CH) and Kelvin van der Linde (22 , ZA, both HCB-Rutronik Racing) in an Audi and third-placed Jeffrey Schmidt (25, CH) and Christopher Haase (31, GER, both BWT Mücke Motorsport), also in an Audi. “A dream start,” said winner Markus Pommer. “We were aiming for a place in the Top Five and certainly weren’t expecting to actually win.”

Henrique Chaves started his GT career in a magnificent fashion, ending is first International GT Open’s race, that took place today at Circuit de Paul Ricard, France, in the second position.

Bryan Sellers, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver, took victory for a second time this season and is now leading the PRO Championship after a wet and windy Paris Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY race.

Team Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler is in the center of the battle to win both titles in Formula E. At the spectacular E-Prix in the French capital Paris, Daniel Abt and Lucas di Grassi finished in 3rd and 4th place. Robin Frijns celebrated his first win in the electric racing series in the Audi e-tron FE05 fielded by the Audi customer team Envision Virgin Racing.

António Félix da Costa (POR) and BMW i Andretti Motorsport have completed a difficult race weekend in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship in Paris (FRA) with seventh place and six hard-earned points. Starting from 14th position, Félix da Costa put on a faultless display in changeable conditions to work his way up to seventh place. Alexander Sims (GBR) retired from the Paris E-Prix after his involvement in an accident through no fault of his own.

Verstappen felt gutted after Baku qualifying for not being able to get a slipstream. “The lap itself was good but I was gutted I couldn’t get a slipstream,” Verstappen reacted to Ziggo Sport. “I lost two-and-a-half tenths in the last sector. Valtteri didn’t have a slipstream in the first run and he did in the […]