RNW Staff

The GT4 European Series season finale promises to be a nail-biting weekend, with all three drivers’ championships set to be decided across two packed sprint races in Spain.

Following a long break, the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship and Cetilar Racing are back this week for the fourth and last event of the Michelin Endurance Cup season.

Porsche Carrera Cup GB – the fastest single-marque GT racing championship in the UK – travelled to Silverstone for its penultimate weekend of the season. Kiern Jewiss (Team Parker Racing) drove to two overall victories, significantly bolstering his championship chances. However, the Pro category title fight will go down to the wire at the season finale at Brands Hatch in October. Meanwhile, a jubilant Charles Rainford (CCK Motorsport) secured two category wins – enough to see him crowned provisional 2022 Pro-Am champion at Silverstone.

Andrea Caldarelli was all smiles when he met teammate Michele Beretta in Sebring International Raceway Victory Lane. Following a win that sealed the Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS Team Championship for K-PAX Racing, a sweep of the weekend rewarded Caldarelli with a crown of his own. K-PAX Racing earned four podiums in Rounds 11 & 12, on its way to clinch multiple titles ahead of the season finale.

Dennis Olsen (NOR) and Laurens Vanthoor (BEL) faced a difficult weekend. At the penultimate DTM event of the season, accidents and the wrong tire strategy prevented the hoped-for pursuit of points.

Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific’s teams and drivers enjoyed plenty of success this weekend, with strong showings in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS), GT World Challenge Asia and Porsche Carrera Cup Asia (PCCA).

The Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland has a new champion: Laurin Heinrich (SSR Huber Racing) took home an early crown in the German Porsche one-make cup after winning Sunday’s race at the Sachsenring. With 268 points to his credit, the 20-year-old from Würzburg holds an unassailable lead at the top of the standings. The Porsche Junior paved the way for the title decision with his victory at race 14 on Sunday on the racetrack near Chemnitz and relegated Dylan Pereira (Luxembourg/IronForce Racing by Phoenix) and Lorcan Hanafin (United Kingdom/Fach Auto Tech) to positions two and three. As his closest rival for the title, Larry ten Voorde (Netherlands/Team GP Elite) occupied fourth place. “It’s a fantastic feeling to now be the new champion. When I saw my team cheering at the pit wall at the finish, it was an indescribably wonderful moment. The fans in the grandstands at the Sachsenring applauded me too during my cool-down lap. Crazy!” said the ecstatic Heinrich.

Thrilling racing at the penultimate round of the ADAC GT Masters at the Sachsenring. Constant changes in position, a bad day for the favourites, and tragic retirements – the spectators in the packed grandstands were treated to magnificent motorsport on Sunday. After 44 eventful laps, Marvin Dienst (25/Lampertheim) was first across the finish line in the #8 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to claim his second win in the German GT Championship. “That is my second victory in the ADAC GT Masters, and both have come at the Sachsenring. I know where to overtake here, which helped me,” explained Dienst. His young partner, ADAC Stiftung Sport driver Jan Marschalkowski (19/Inning), was also delighted to get his maiden win as a rookie. Championship leader Raffaele Marciello (27/CH), who alternated with Daniel Juncadella (31/E) at the wheel of the #48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, came home second after a controlled race. In doing so, the driver from Mann-Filter Team Landgraf extended his lead in the table. Local favourite Maximilian Paul (22/Dresden) and Marco Mapelli (35/I) were third in the #71 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo. The ADAC GT Masters weekend at the Sachsenring was watched by 26,000 spectators – the sixth crowd record in a row at the sixth round of the season.

For the first time, an Austrian has won a DTM race at Red Bull Ring. Porsche driver Thomas Preining from KÜS Team Bernhard scored a commanding home win in the Sunday race of DTM Red Bull Ring powered by REMUS. The 24-year-old from Linz won from the two Germans Luca Stolz (Mercedes-AMG Team HRT) and Maro Engel (Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing). Engel had started the race from pole position, Preining was eighth on the grid. The Porsche works driver, who raced with a special helmet design in memory of motorsport legend Walter Lechner, Preining’s former team principal and friend, was able to make up positions by virtue of a good strategy and entertaining overtaking manoeuvres and racked up his second DTM race win after 35 laps, already having secured the maiden DTM victory for Porsche at Norisring back in July. “I am super happy with my performance! I was already confident prior to the start and I knew it was going to be a good race. That it would go this well and especially that I could move up so quickly was something I hadn’t expected,” Preining said right after the race.

United Autosports scored its first European Le Mans Series outright race victory of the season when Phil Hanson/Tom Gamble/Duncan Tappy steered their #22 Oreca to a magnificent 23 second win in the latest four-hour race in Belgium today (25 Sep).

If any passerby answered how late K-PAX Racing prepared its No. 1 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO Friday night at Sebring International Raceway, the word might be “unusually” late. It was dark. Most of the day’s track goers had gone home for the day. But if you were to ask the crew itself, it was simply another day-in-the-life fueled by a championship mindset that has driven them for years.

D’station Racing’s Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii led every lap from pole and set fastest time at Okayama en route to their second victory in three races earlier today. However, this year’s Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS champions are Takeshi Kimura and Kei Cozzolino (CarGuy Racing, Ferrari) who survived a first lap collision with title rival Nick Foster to win the crown by three points.

Laurin Heinrich (Germany/SSR Huber Racing) clinched his fifth win of the season at race 13 of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland at the Sachsenring on Saturday. The Porsche Junior beat Bastian Buus (Denmark/Allied-Racing) and Morris Schuring (Netherlands/SSR Huber Racing) to the flag. With three races remaining on the 2022 calendar, Heinrich leads the championship standings with 243 points ahead of Larry ten Voorde (Netherlands/Team GP Elite), who has 203 points. Dylan Pereira (Luxembourg/IronForce Racing by Phoenix) ranks third with 191 points.

Dream comeback for Jules Gounon (27/F): After a break for an injury, it was uncertain for a long time whether the 2017 champion would start at the Sachsenring. Only on Wednesday did the Frenchman receive the all-clear from his doctor. From that point on, however, Gounon has been unstoppable on his return to racing. He and his driving partner from Drago Racing Team ZVO, Fabian Schiller (25/Troisdorf), produced a commanding display in Saturday’s race to claim their third win of this season’s German GT Championship at the wheel of the #4 Mercedes-AMG GT3. “I am really happy. The Sachsenring is my favourite circuit. It is fantastic to win here three times and to claim the third win of the season for our team.” Fabian Schiller had two reasons to be delighted, as he also won the Pirelli Junior competition. Pole-sitter Raffaele Marciello (27/CH) and Daniel Juncadella (31/E) from Mann-Filter Team Landgraf finished second in the #48 Mercedes-AMG GT3. In doing so, Marciello extended his lead at the top of the table. Third place, after an inconspicuous but extremely efficient performance, went to Kim-Luis Schramm (24/Meuspath) and Dennis Marschall (26/Eggenstein) in the #27 Rutronik Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II.

Second DTM race win in a row: Nick Cassidy has won the Saturday race in DTM at Red Bull Ring powered by REMUS. Having started from pole position, the New Zealander with the Ferrari of the Red Bull AlphaTauri AF Corse team was able to bring home a commanding lights-to-flag win by virtue of a good strategy and despite success ballast. Just a fortnight ago, the 29-year-old had scored his maiden DTM race win in the Sunday race at Spa-Francorchamps. “A really great day. Winning here at Red Bull Ring with AlphhaTauri and Red Bull is simply fantastic,” a buoyant Cassidy said at the finish. At the 4.318 kilometres long track in Styria, René Rast (GER) finished second with the ABT Audi. As a result, the three-time DTM champion scored further valuable championship points and took over second place in the drivers’ standings with 117 points. In the morning, Rast had already been fastest in qualifying and therefore scored three additional points but had to start the race from fourth place following a grid penalty from Spa-Francorchamps. Third place in the race went to Austro-Italian Mirko Bortolotti with the Lamborghini in the home round of the Grasser Racing Team.

Three crews will go head-to-head for the Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS drivers’ title at Okayama on Sunday after Naoki Yokomizo and Kiyoto Fujinami took theirs and Yogibo Racing’s second win in three races earlier today.

Tyrolean Clemens Schmid with the Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini and South African Sheldon van der Linde with the Schubert Motorsport BMW set the pace in the two free practice sessions on Friday, the opening day of DTM Red Bull Ring powered by REMUS. The lap time of 1m 28.565s set by local hero Schmid in the first session was the fastest time of the day at the 4.318 kilometres long track in Styria. Behind Schmid and DTM points’ leader Sheldon van der Linde (1m 28.574s), another Austrian, Thomas Preining (1m 28.594s) ended up in the top three of the day with the KÜS Team Bernhard Porsche. In bright sunshine, the 27 drivers from DTM participated in the practice day in preparation for the 13th and 14th race of the season. In the process, margins were small: in the morning, the times of the first 21 drivers were within one second, in the afternoon, it was even the first 25.

Porsche Motorsport GB has revealed its plans for the 2023 Porsche Carrera Cup GB season at the Porsche Experience Centre, Silverstone. As the championship’s 20th anniversary year entered its penultimate weekend, teams, sponsors and guests were given an insight into what lies ahead for the fastest single marque GT racing championship in the UK – a successful blend of initiatives that will support the healthy grid and continue to promote close racing. 

The BMW M Hybrid V8 has arrived in North America and was presented to the public in its racing colours for the first time at a launch event at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles (USA). The first prototype developed by BMW M Motorsport in 25 years will sport an avant-garde livery which leverages the iconic BMW M colours when it competes in the GTP class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2023. The four core drivers who will take their place at the wheel of the two BMW M Team RLL cars were also announced at the Petersen Museum. They are BMW M works drivers Connor De Phillippi (USA), Philipp Eng (AUT), Augusto Farfus (BRA) and Nick Yelloly (GBR). When the car makes its race debut at Daytona (USA) in January 2023, they will receive big-name support from IndyCar series driver Colton Herta (USA).

The curtain falls on the 2022 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS season next weekend (30 September-2 October) when a three-hour Endurance Cup race at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya will decide the final championship battles.