RNW Staff

Bittersweet debut for GRT in the DTM. In Saturday’s race at the season opener on the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, Mirko Bortolotti claimed a podium for the Lamborghini team from Austria in a dramatic race. In the morning, the Italian had sensationally clinched his first pole position in the DTM, which was also the first for GRT and Lamborghini. In the race, the driver of the number 63 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO was on course for victory until a safety car phase. A temporary problem cost him the lead. In the final phase, the Lamborghini works driver made his way back onto the podium in a hard fought battle with Mercedes-driver Maro Engel. With third place, he ensured a conciliatory result.

Following the team’s dominant victory in Long Beach, the Paul Miller Racing team returns to California with the all-new BMW M4 GT3 to chase down another IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship win.

Whelen Engineering drivers Pipo Derani (Brazil) and Tristan Nunez (Boynton Beach, Fla.) are set to tackle the famous Corkscrew in Round 4 of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship presented by Motul at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca April 29 – May 1.

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing aims to get back to winning ways when it makes the short journey to Belgium next week for the second round of the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.

The many fans of the DTM can look forward to a season of records: With 29 race cars – including six Audi R8 LMS from three teams – and drivers from 15 nations, the grid is larger than ever before since the series was relaunched in 2000. René Rast, three-time champion with Audi, returns to the professional racing series after a one-year break. The DTM Trophy as another league in which five Audi R8 LMS GT4 cars from two customer teams will participate completes the popular racing platform. For the season opener from April 29 to May 1, the DTM teams will travel to Portimão for the first time. The circuit on the Mediterranean coast is the first of eight rounds in five European countries. In Portugal, the TCR Europe is also part of the program with three Audi RS 3 LMS gen II cars, among others.

Audi ahead of Porsche: that was the order at the end of the first DTM test day just before the season opener at Portimão. Swiss Ricardo Feller ended up fastest in the Team ABT Sportsline Audi R8 with a time of 1m 41.573s ahead of Austrian Thomas Preining (1m 41.658s) with the Porsche 911 from KÜS Team Bernhard. With 21-year-old Feller, a DTM newcomer posted the fastest lap time, just like in the first official DTM test in early April. At Hockenheim, it had been German Marius Zug, the youngest driver in the field at 19, who confirmed his performance with the third-fastest time at Portimão on Tuesday with the Attempto Racing Audi. The 29 drivers from the record field of the 2022 DTM will continue the second official test on Wednesday afternoon. The first two of this season’s 16 races will be held at the 4.653 kilometres long track on the Algarve on Saturday and Sunday (race start 1.30pm CEST on both days).

The Spaniard of Kurdish ancestry will contest the curtain raiser event of the 2022 GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup season this weekend. Tutumlu, who has never raced at Brands Hatch before, will be sharing the GSM Novamarine-run Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo with Austrian Gerhard Tweraser.

The spectacular entry by record world rally champion Sébastien Loeb, the comeback by three-time champion René Rast, the historic entry by Porsche – DTM is writing many spectacular stories during its season opener at the Portuguese Formula 1 track of Portimão this weekend (29 April till 1 May). The 2021 season, the first year with GT3 regulations, was thrilling from the first till the final race. Now, DTM, watched all over the world, is gearing up for a record season: 29 race cars, more than ever before since the DTM’s comeback in 2000; six high-quality brands, a number last seen in the 1990s, and drivers from 15 nations, another record.

BMW M Team RLL will compete for a second consecutive IMSA weekend in California, this time in Monterey at WeatherTech Laguna Seca Raceway. The No. 25 MOTUL BMW M4 GT3 will be driven by Connor De Phillippi and John Edwards, the pair still looking for their first podium finish of the season.

British-Korean driver Jack Aitken picked up a top-five finish and valuable points from his first outing in the ADAC GT Masters championship with Emil Frey Racing at Oschersleben. Despite the familiarities of the team and its Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO, Jack arrived at Oschersleben with limited experience of the circuit, situated between the main cities of Berlin and Hanover, having only driven in the official pre-season test days a fortnight ago. Also new to the circuit and championship was the Emil Frey Racing team itself, but the pace in the car throughout the opening day’s free practice sessions was a good omen ahead of qualifying.

WeatherTech Racing drivers Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill) and Daniel Juncadella (Spain) are ready for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship Presented by Motul, April 29-30.

The past months of relentless work and intensive preparations have all been dedicated to this one moment: Next weekend, from 29 April to 1 May, the eagerly awaited DTM adventure begins for GRT in Portugal with the first of eight events. At the season opener on the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão, the Lamborghini team from Austria will face the toughest GT3 series in the world for the first time. A field of 29 GT3 cars from six manufacturers will meet for the first test of strength. The week in Southern Europe has more than its share of challenges for the newcomers to the DTM. In the run-up to the race action, the crews of the four Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVOs are scheduled for the second official test days.

Daniel Harper and the BMW Junior Team narrowly missed out on a great race victory as they secured their first podium finish of 2022 in the Nürburgring Endurance Series on Saturday (23rd April).

Japanese squad Team GMB will finally make its Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS debut this season.

A superb performance in front of packed stands in Oschersleben: after a dominant display, reigning champion Ricardo Feller (21/CH) and Jusuf Owega (20/Cologne) won the first race in the German GT Championship with the #29 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II. The Audi duo also marked a first: the pair won the first race in Germany to take place with eco-friendly fuel. This year, all supercars in the ADAC GT Masters will be running on fuel developed specially by Shell, using 50% sustainable components. In perfect, sunny conditions, Lamborghini works drivers Franck Perera (38/F) and Arthur Rougier (22/F) from Emil Frey Racing finished behind them in second place. Joel Sturm (20/Brühl) and Sven Müller (30/Bingen) from Allied-Racing claimed third position in the #22 Porsche 911 GT3 R. Jusuf Owega celebrated his first ADAC GT Masters win and also topped the Pirelli Junior standings: “The team provide me with a rocket. All I had to do was get in and put my foot down.”

The BMW M4 GT3 has celebrated a top-three lock-out at the second race of the season in the Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS). The four-hour race on the Nordschleife (GER) concluded with a spectacular finale between Augusto Farfus (BRA) and Max Hesse (GER). The result of a tight and enthralling battle was only confirmed in the closing metres. Farfus crossed the finish line in the ROWE Racing #99 BMW M4 GT3 ahead of the BMW Junior Team. The Brazilian shared the car with Connor De Phillippi (USA), who had secured pole position. Third place in the race went to the #34 BMW M4 GT3 from Walkenhorst Motorsport.

On 22nd and 23rd April, two 60-minute races in the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben get the new ADAC GT Masters season underway. Including the season finale at Hockenheimring on 23rd October, the prestigious sprint race championship will be in action again at seven circuits in Germany, Austria and The Netherlands. Like in the previous year, Mercedes-AMG will be represented by three Customer Racing Teams. MANN-FILTER Team LANDGRAF is expanding its involvement by an additional car and will be running two Mercedes-AMG GT3s in the championship in 2022. Spanish outfit Madpanda Motorsport and the newly formed Drago Racing Team ZvO will be making their respective debuts in GT Masters during the opening round in the Saxony-Anhalt region. Drago Racing Team ZvO will hit the track with two Mercedes-AMG GT3s, one of them will compete as a performance car under the name Mercedes-AMG Team ZvO.

Back in March I was at Silverstone to see and photograph the BRSCC Mazda MX-5 cars. It’s always enjoyable and close racing.

The ADAC GT Masters and its support series on the same platform are already entering their 16th season in 2022. Audi Sport customer racing has been involved in the top-class GT3 series since the beginning of the customer racing program and has already won it five times with its teams, most recently last year. With the ADAC Racing Weekend there is a second attractive motorsport stage of the Munich-based automobile club. No fewer than ten GT race cars with the four rings are competing in the current season.

Porsche Carrera Cup GB, the fastest single marque GT racing championship in the UK, enters its milestone 20th season in 2022 with a capacity grid packed with racing talent. Adding to the excitement, the 2022 season welcomes the latest generation of 911 racing car – the 510 hp ‘Type 992’ 911 GT3 Cup. 2022 also marks the arrival of Porsche Carrera Cup GB 2022 / 2023 Junior Adam Smalley who follows in the footsteps of 2020 / 2021 Junior and 2020 champion, Harry King.