RNW Staff

United Autosports won the final round of the 2021 European Le Mans Series at Portimao, Portugal yesterday.

Hypercar history will be written when the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) titles are decided in a Bahrain double-header, and four-time Le Mans winner TOYOTA GAZOO Racing is ready for a duel in the desert.

Leon Köhler (Nebulus Racing by Huber) celebrates a perfect end to the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland season: The German scored his second win of the season on Sunday at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg. “The start was a bit turbulent and I managed to benefit from that. I was determined to win another race. The fact that it happened on home turf was of course fantastic,” said Köhler, who lives in the town of Kleinwallstadt not far from the racetrack. Second place at race 16 of the season went to Saturday’s winner and newly crowned champion Larry ten Voorde (Netherlands/Team GP Elite), followed by Bastian Buus (Denmark/Allied-Racing) in third. At the season finale, the last remaining title decision was made: Loek Hartog (Netherlands/Black Falcon Team Textar) won the rookie class of the 2021 season. A total of 29 drivers tackled the event run as support to the ADAC GT Masters in their 510 PS Porsche 911 GT3 Cup racers.

COOL Racing took a second consecutive LMP2 Pro-Am victory in the European Le Mans Series season finale in Portimao, securing a runner-up finish in the standings. Charles Milesi made it two overall poles in as many races with a fantastic lap in qualifying on Saturday, with the LMP3 crew finishing a strong season second in the championship.

Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill.), Christian Ried (Germany), and Gianmaria Bruni (Italy) finished fifth in today’s running of the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) season finale race at the Algarve Circuit in Portimao, Portugal. 

Porsche Carrera Cup GB – the fastest single marque GT racing championship in the UK – travelled to Brands Hatch for its season finalé where champions would be crowned in all three categories – Pro, Pro-Am and Am. Four drivers arrived in Kent fighting for Pro category honours, separated by just 22 points; Dan Cammish (Redline Racing), Lorcan Hanafin (JTR), Kiern Jewiss (Team Parker Racing) and Porsche GB Junior Harry King (Team Parker Racing). In Pro-Am Ryan Ratcliffe (Team Parker) took a points advantage into the final weekend of the season while Justin Sherwood (Team Parker) was ahead in Am.

The AUTOPOLIS 300km RACE, Round 6 of the 2021 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was held at the AUTOPOLIS (one lap 4.674 km x 65 laps) in Oita Prefecture on the afternoon of October 24 (Sun). In the GT500 class race, the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri/Nirei Fukuzumi) started from 4th position on the grid […]

After scoring his eighth win this season, Larry ten Voorde (Team GP Elite) has become champion of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland for the second time in a row. At the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg, the Dutchman won race 15 on Saturday and thus holds an attainable lead with 306 points before the final race on Sunday. “That was a tough season. I’m absolutely thrilled. During the race, I focused totally on my performance, but when I drove through the final corner the emotions kicked in,” says ten Voorde. Positions two and three in the race run as part of the ADAC GT Masters support programme went to Laurin Heinrich (Germany/Van Berghe Huber Racing) and Morris Schuring (Netherlands/Team GP Elite). The duel in the ProAm classification has also been decided: The overall victory goes to Carlos Rivas (Luxembourg/Black Falcon Team Textar).

Mirko Bortolotti (31/I) and Marco Mapelli (34/I, both GRT Grasser Racing Team) took victory in Hockenheim to claim Lamborghini’s first success in the German GT Championship since 2019, while the title contenders finished in the top five and the title race took another step towards its thrilling conclusion. The two Lamborghini works drivers took the chequered flag in front of a big crowd in the Motodrom, just 0.521 seconds ahead of championship leaders Ricardo Feller (21/CH) and Christopher Mies (31/Düsseldorf, both Montaplast by Land-Motorsport). Second place was enough for the two Audi drivers to extend their lead by nine points. Third place went to Porsche works driver Mathieu Jaminet (26/F) and defending champion Michael Ammermüller (35/Rotthalmünster, both SSR Performance). “I am overjoyed. We have waited a long time for that win, and finally everything came together,” said the victorious Bortolotti. “We showed character and that we are always a force to be reckoned with.”

The official qualifying for the AUTOPOLIS GT 300 km RACE, Round 6 of the 2021 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was held at the AUTOPOLIS circuit (lap = 4.674 km) in Oita Pref. on the afternoon of October 23 (Sat.). In the GT500 class, the No. 16 Red Bull MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT (Ukyo Sasahara/Toshiki Oyu) won pole position driven by Sasahara in his first-ever pole win. In the GT300 class, the pole position went to the No. 31 TOYOTA GR SPORT PRIUS PHV apr GT (Koki Saga/Yuhki Nakayama) for the first time since Round 3 of last year driven by Saga.

An impressive start for Lamborghini at the penultimate race weekend of the German GT Championship in Hockenheim: No fewer than three Huracán GT3 made it into the top five in the first practice session, which took place in perfect conditions, with glorious sunshine and blue sky. Lamborghini works driver Franck Perera was the fastest man in FP1. He was followed by three title contenders, in the form of former champion Jules Gounon (26/F, Team Zakspeed Mobil Krankenkasse Racing), Lamborghini works driver Mirko Bortolotti (31/I, GRT Grasser Racing Team) and Mathieu Jaminet (26/F, SSR Performance) in a Porsche.

IndyCar veteran and reigning Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona LMP3 champion Spencer Pigot will join Jr III Racing for the November 13th Petit Le Mans in the No. 33 Airbnb Ligier JS P320. Pigot joins Ari Balogh and Garett Grist for the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship season finale. 

Autowerks B-Quik Racing is pleased to announce that it will enter two Porsche 991 GT3 Cup in Thailand Super Series 2021 – Super Car GTM, which kicks off at Chang International Circuit next weekend (29-31 October).

Seven-time World Rally champion Sébastien Ogier is ready for his first taste of the Le Mans-winning GR010 HYBRID Hypercar following a successful two-day simulator session with TOYOTA GAZOO Racing.

Action Express Racing (AXR) today announced that Pipo Derani (Brazil) and Tristan Nunez (Boca Raton, Florida) will be the full-time drivers in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R for the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship season. Mike Conway (Britain) will join the team for the four endurance events.

A strong season finale with a positive result is the target of 1 AIM Villorba Corse for the sixth round of the 2021 European Le Mans Series in Portugal. Italian team led by Raimondo Amadio will be back in action on the 4.68 kilometres of the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimao, where racing drivers Alessandro Bressan, Damiano Fioravanti and Andreas Laskaratos will share the #18 Ligier-Nissan LMP3.

As Flying Lizard Motorsports concluded the 2021 GT America Powered by AWS championship at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last weekend, the team’s effort in the Yokohama Drivers Cup raced to the year’s end as well. The season finale was a success, with drivers Chris Bellomo and Mike Gaulke winning their respective championships in the Platinum and Silver classes. Between five drivers in eight events, the Lizards celebrated a total of 22 wins and an additional 29 podium finishes.

RLR MSport is going for broke by targeting the 2021 European Le Mans Series (ELMS) 4 Hours of Portimao victory (22-24 October) with Malthe Jakobsen, Alex Kapadia and Mike Benham, aware that third place in the LMP3 championship remains a distant possibility. 

Four time Indianapolis 500 winner and reigning IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Champion, Helio Castroneves will join Meyer Shank Racing’s (MSR) Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya for the Motul Petit Le Mans November 10-13. 

Talented 19-year-old racer, Tom Sargent, has revealed his racing plans for the 2022 season, announcing he will compete in the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge national series with the CHE Racing Team.