RNW Staff

As North American sports car racing says goodbye to the final days of summer, the Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS enters the penultimate weekend of the 2022 season at Sebring International Raceway. Eighteen entries are set to compete in the pair of races this Saturday and Sunday, racing on the infamous track, known through the racing community for its bumpy surface and demanding layout. DXDT Racing earned a second-place finish at the Sebring, Florida track in 2021, and will be strong contenders to return to the steps again.

Lamborghini Squadra Corse has unveiled the first technical specifications of its LMDh project for its upcoming venture into the Hypercar class of the FIA World Endurance Championship and the GTP class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Takeshi Kimura and Kei Cozzolino head to this weekend’s Okayama season finale tied on points with Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS title rivals Prince Jefri Ibrahim and Nick Foster, while the GT4 championship will also be decided when Brian Lee and Hideto Yasuoka square off against Hiroaki Hatano and Shinya Hosokawa.

Team WRT capped a title-winning Sprint Cup season in spectacular style at Valencia by snatching one of the most dramatic race wins in Fanatec GT history, wrapping up a ninth overall teams’ championship in the process. 

The Fanatec GT2 European Series Pro-Am battle will roll on to the final round of the season after Audi and KTM shared the Pro-Am race honours during the series’ debut at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia this weekend.

Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts are celebrating a third successive Fanatec GT Sprint drivers’ title after the #32 Team WRT Audi duo finished P3 in Saturday’s race at Valencia, which was won by the #52 AF Corse Ferrari of Ulysse De Pauw and Pierre-Alexandre Jean.

Qualifying for the penultimate round of the Fanatec GT2 European Series produced four different class pole position winners from three manufacturers – Audi, Brabham, and KTM, in Valencia

Porsche Visit Cayman Islands Sprint Challenge GB returned following a summer break, rejoining the British GT package for its second triple header weekend of the season at Brands Hatch in Kent. Harry Foster (Team Parker Racing) took pole position and a hat trick of wins, his perfect weekend propelling him into the lead of the championship for the first time this season with just three races remaining.

Rising star Harry King enjoyed a fine end to his first full campaign in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup with a starring role in the season finale at Monza, which resulted in a fourth podium finish of the year.

The Fanatec GT2 European Series title fight is set to reach boiling point this weekend, 16-17 September, as the penultimate round of the season plays out at Circuit Ricard Tormo in Valencia, Spain.

Falken Motorsports claimed a historic victory last weekend in the inaugural NLS 12-hour race on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. Joel Eriksson, Sven Müller, Jaxon Evans and Alessio Picariello steered Falken’s #3 Porsche 911 GT3 R to first place in the new season highlight of the Nürburgring Endurance Series season, while Ayhancan Güven, Côme Ledogar, Klaus Bachler and Martin Ragginger claimed sixth in the sister #4 car.

New Zealander Nick Cassidy took his maiden race win in DTM. The 28-year-old Ferrari driver from the Red Bull AlphaTauri AF Corse team always came out on top in the Sunday race at the Spa-Francorchamps Grand Prix circuit in extremely exciting two-way battles at the front of the field. Having started from third place on the grid, Cassidy emerged as the delighted race winner from Sheldon van der Linde with the Schubert BMW and Thomas Preining with the KÜS Team Bernhard Porsche. South African Sheldon van der Linde got his race off to a good start, immediately overtook pole-sitter René Rast (ABT Sportsline Audi) and led the field until he came in for his mandatory pit stop at the end of lap nine. During his stop, there was an issue with the left front wheel, extending it to over eleven seconds and costing him the lead. Subsequently, Nick Cassidy had to work had on several occasions to defend the lead.

The two 911 RSR fielded by the Porsche GT Team have finished the 6 Hours of Fuji (Japan) in positions three and four. Works drivers Michael Christensen from Denmark and Kévin Estre from France achieved a podium result at the wheel of the No. 92 car. In the manufacturer’s classification, Porsche is just one point behind the leader and is still in contention for the title as they head to the final round of this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship WEC in Bahrain on 12 November. No decision has yet been made in the drivers’ world championship.

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing achieved a perfect one-two victory in the 6 Hours of Fuji to celebrate the return of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) to Japan in impressive style. 

With a lights-to-flag victory, Dennis Olsen secured his maiden win in his still fresh DTM career with the SSR Performance Porsche. In qualifying in the morning, the Norwegian had secured the best starting grid position with a lap time of 2m 30.488s. After a pair of second places at Norisring and Nürburgring, it is the long-awaited maiden DTM race win for Olsen. Classified second and third respectively, reigning DTM champion Maximilian Götz (GER, Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD) and Olsen’s fellow Porsche driver Thomas Preining (KÜS Team Bernhard) joined him on the podium. Götz had started from fourth on the grid and was able to make up two places over the race distance of 50 minutes plus one lap to score his first podium finish of the season. Austrian Thomas Preining had good chances of victory following a good qualifying result in second place, but temporarily dropped back to ninth following contact and a spin on the opening lap, then still claimed back third place. The second DTM race at Spa-Francorchamps gets underway on Sunday at 1.30pm CEST.

Harry King turned the fastest lap in a Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup qualifying session for the first time in Monza, Italy. However, due to a penalty incurred at the previous race in Zandvoort, the UK driver will tackle the last race of the 2022 season from the fourth grid spot. Instead, pole position goes to the second fastest qualifier, Frenchman Marvin Klein. The three favourites for the title, Luxembourger Dylan Pereira, Larry ten Voorde from the Netherlands and Porsche Junior Laurin Heinrich from Germany, secured positions three, five and seven on the grid. The final round of the Supercup season is contested as support to the Italian Grand Prix and gets underway on Sunday (11 September) at 11:50 am.

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing locked out the front row on home ground for the penultimate round of the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) to earn its first-ever 6 Hours of Fuji qualifying one-two.

With Thomas Preining (AUT, KÜS Team Bernhard) and local hero Laurens Vanthoor (BEL, SSR Performance) a Porsche driver came out on top in each of the two DTM free practice sessions at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on Friday. Preining’s time of 2m 17.786s in second free practice was the fastest time of the day among DTM’s 27 world-class drivers at the 7.004 kilometres Grand Prix track in the Belgian Ardennes, the venue for the sixth and third-to-last race weekend of the current season.

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s challenge for home victory got underway with an intense and productive first day of practice for the 6 Hours of Fuji as the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) returned to Japan for the first time since 2019. 

Laurens Vanthoor (BEL) and Dennis Olsen (NOR) are ready for the next challenge in the DTM. At Spa-Francorchamps, the two Porsche 911 GT3 R drivers will be chasing points. Olsen had recently celebrated the second place at the Nürburgring.