RNW Staff

Porsche Penske Motorsport faces a busy schedule in Sebring on the third weekend in March. The works team heads to the US state of Florida fielding two Porsche 963 in the season-opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and another two in the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The new ca. 500 kW (680 PS) hybrid prototypes from Weissach will contest the 1,000-mile FIA WEC race on Friday, 17 March. This is the first time they face their Hypercar rivals from Ferrari, Peugeot and Toyota, among others. The tradition-steeped IMSA race over twelve hours takes off the following day. In the GTE-Am (WEC), GTD-Pro and GTD (both IMSA) vehicle classes, Porsche customer teams campaign a fleet of 911 RSR and 911 GT3 R.

This weekend, Sebring, Florida becomes a hotbed of racing action as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship resumes the 2023 championship with the Twelve Hours of Sebring. Entering the second round in the full-season championship, the drivers and crew of the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R are ready and eager to return to the top step, after celebrating a win in 2020, and finishing second in 2021.

Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) takes momentum to this weekend’s 71st running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, the second race of the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. This Saturday’s 12 hour will be MSR’s 10th consecutive year competing in the annual day-to-night event.

As Samuel L. Jackson’s character Ray Arnold said in 1993’s Jurassic Park, hold on to your butts. After racing under a special one-off livery at Daytona International Speedway, honoring the 1983 Rolex 24 At Daytona race winners, AO Racing has retired their Swap Shop livery in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for their full season livery. The No. 80 Porsche 911 GT3 R has transformed into the GT3 Rawr, ferociously dominating the competition as a Rexy Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Porsche Penske Motorsport’s WEC squad have wrapped up preparations for the maiden outing of the new 963 hybrid prototype in the World Endurance Championship. During the FIA WEC prologue at the Sebring International Raceway, the two ca. 500 kW (680 PS) racing cars from the new top hypercar class covered more than 2,600 kilometres. The priority during the two test days was on tyre testing and finding the best possible setup for the upcoming season opener, which will be held at the same venue on 17 March. In the GTE-Am category, customer teams performed impressively with the Porsche 911 RSR, setting fast lap times over long distances.

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing is ready to take on an exciting field of Hypercar challengers for its FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) title defence following a productive two-day Prologue test in Florida ahead of Friday’s 2023 season-opening 1000 Miles of Sebring. 

The Sebring circuit hosted the FIA WEC Prologue, two days of testing prior to the opening round of the championship, the Sebring 1000 Miles, scheduled to take place on the same track on Friday, 17 March. The two Ferrari 499Ps entered in the Hypercar class amassed a total of 313 laps, gathering valuable data ahead of the race, in spite of the fact that the programme of the no. 51 499P was prematurely interrupted following damage sustained after crashing off-track on the first lap of the Sunday session.

KC Motorgroup Ltd. (KCMG) are set to tackle the full Nürburgring Langstrecken Serie (NLS) in 2023, with Josh Burdon, Edoardo Liberati and Martin Rump driving a Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO in the SP10 class.

The 2023 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS season is officially underway following two days of extensive running at Circuit Paul Ricard. 

Next week a new season is set to begin at Sebring International Raceway for the Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America. Wright Motorsports will contest a pair of full-season entries with the return of Varun Choksey and John Goetz to the single-make series.

The countdown is over, and half a century of waiting is coming to an end. Ferrari is returning to the top class of the FIA World Endurance Championship, after fifty years since its last appearance at the stage for the most prestigious of endurance races. The historic occasion is set for Friday, 17 March when the Ferrari 499P will make its debut at the 1000 Miles of Sebring, the opening event of the 2023 WEC.

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing begins its defence of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) titles, and an exciting new era of Hypercar competition, with a much-anticipated trip to Florida for the 1000 Miles of Sebring on 17 March.

The Grasser Racing Team is looking forward to an extensive program in the 2023 season. In addition to competing in the legendary DTM, the Lamborghini team from Austria will also be involved in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup this year. On their return to the prestigious endurance series, the squad around team boss Gottfried Grasser will field two brand new Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2. With Clemens Schmid, Glenn van Berlo and Benjamin Hites, the driver pairing for car number 85 is already set. The sister car with the starting number 58 will be driven by Ricky Capo, Sam Neary and Gerhard Tweraser during the official tests in France this week. A decision on the final line-up has not yet been made.

The Heart of Racing (HOR) kicked off the GT America powered by AWS season at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Friday and Saturday. Racing at the track for the second time, Gray Newell scored his highest finish at the street course, placing second in the No. 25 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 following a Friday night shootout in the dark, and then following that up with another run to second place in the second 40-minute race of the weekend. 

The 2023 GT America Powered by AWS championship began this weekend in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Flying Lizard Motorsports closed out rounds one and two with driver Jason Bell and his Aston Martin Vantage GT4 earning one win and a second podium finish. Andy Wilzoch made his circuit debut in his No. 460 Porsche 911 GT3 R (type 911.2), earning a hard-fought seventh-place finish.

PORSCHE Motorsport Australia has announced a record class of drivers taking part in the 2023 Porsche Michelin Junior Program.

The GT America Powered by AWS season starts this weekend in Florida at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, and Flying Lizard Motorsports will ring in the new season with two entries: hometown hero Jason Bell in the No. 2 Aston Martin Vantage GT4, and Andy Wilzoch in the No. 460 Porsche 911 GT3 R. The pair will each complete in the weekend’s two 40-minute races, racing on the temporary street course built for the weekend.

Like last year, the BMW Junior Team members and BMW M works drivers Dan Harper (GBR), Max Hesse (GER) and Neil Verhagen (USA) will take part in the five endurance races in the GTWC with the BMW M4 GT3 in the livery of BMW M Motorsport partner Multibank. In the second car, which will contest the GTWC endurance races at Monza (ITA), Le Castellet (FRA), Spa-Francorchamps, the Nürburgring (GER) and Barcelona (ESP), Philipp Eng (AUT), Marco Wittmann (GER) and Nick Yelloly (GBR) will take it in turns at the wheel.

Team Parker Racing is delighted to announce that it will be making a return to Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe’s Endurance Cup this year, entering one of its brand new 992-style Porsche 911 GT3 R machines.

ABT Sportsline lines up with two impressive young drivers in the 2023 DTM season. Kelvin van der Linde (26) from South Africa and Switzerland’s Ricardo Feller (22) start in the two Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II for the successful team from the Allgäu region of Germany. The two youngsters were team-mates at ABT Sportsline last season and form one of the youngest duos in the 2023 DTM. The opening weekend of the much-anticipated season takes place from 26th to 28th May at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.