RNW Staff

Rexy, the beloved dinosaur-wrapped AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R heads to the Monterey Peninsula this weekend for MOTUL Course de Monterey Powered By Hyundai N. Following an on-track incident in the FIA World Endurance Championship race at Spa-Francorchamps, full-season IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship driver PJ Hyett suffered a lumbar sprain and has decided to opt out of this weekend’s festivities at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Hyett, who will be replaced this weekend by teammate Gunnar Jeannette, will use the time to rest and recover, prioritizing next month’s running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Jeannette, who doubles as a driver and Team Manager at AO Racing, will compete alongside co-driver Sebastian Priaulx in the No. 80 Porsche 911 “GT3 Rawr.”

All good things come in threes. For the Grasser Racing Team, this old adage is the order of the day as the Lamborghini Squadra Corse supported team from Austria are adding a third top-class GT3 series to their high-caliber program for the 2023 season. In addition to their commitments in the DTM and the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, GRT will also enter the new Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 in the ADAC GT Masters. The talented Chilean youngster Benjamin Hites and Lamborghini factory driver Marco Mapelli from Italy will get behind the wheel of the team’s number 63 entry.

Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific will have 10 entries in this weekend’s Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS season opener at Chang International Circuit in Buriram, nine of which are set to race in the brand-new Porsche 911 GT3 R (Type 992).

When Wright Motorsports left WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca last season, the team departed the circuit as victors, celebrating a win in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GTD class. In Michelin Pilot Challenge VOLT Racing drivers Alan Brynjolfsson and Trent Hindman also celebrated success, claiming victory in the weekend’s supporting race. This year, the two powerhouses have become one, racing the No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R in this weekend’s race at Laguna Seca

Audi Sport customer racing will contest the 51st edition of the Nürburgring 24 Hours from May 18 to 21 with four Audi R8 LMS cars in epoch-making designs. Audi’s expressive liveries reflect its motorsport history. They remind the public of unforgettable times for the brand in racing and rallying. In sporting terms, Audi, as the most successful brand of the past decade, is already aiming for its seventh overall victory after 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2022.

The long-awaited start to the 2023 Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America season has arrived, and the four Flying Lizard Motorsports entries head into the first two races of the year with great anticipation. The weekend’s festivities at WeatherTech Raceway in Salinas, California will consist of two 50-minute races, with a field comprised of 33 Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo Evo2 race cars, competing in four different classes.

Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) looks to build on its rich heritage at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca when it returns for this weekend’s fourth round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Porsche Carrera Cup GB – the fastest single-marque GT racing championship in the UK – arrived in Kent with exciting newcomers and established names fighting for an early championship advantage. Dutchman Robert de Haan (Richardson Racing) mastered the 1.208-mile Brands Hatch Indy circuit taking two wins on the road. However, he was denied his round four victory after it was deemed he had gained an advantage under Safety Car conditions. The amended result handed a maiden victory to James Kellett (Rosland Gold by Century Motorsport).

BMW M Team RLL returns to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for the May 14th two-hour-and-forty-minute IMSA Motul Course de Monterey race hoping the success of previous years at the iconic Northern California road course will continue with the BMW M Hybrid V8 in the new GTP era.

A new season of Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS gets underway in Thailand this weekend (May 12-14) when 25 supercars descend on the Chang International Circuit for the first of 2023’s six events.

Following the cancellation of the proposed season opener at Imola this month, Lamborghini Squadra Corse can announce that a second round at the Autodromo Vallelunga has been added to the 2023 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe calendar.

2023’s Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS season looks set to be a record breaker following confirmation of the provisional entry list.

Flying Lizard Motorsports again celebrated a successful race weekend in the Big Easy, earning one win and four additional top-five finishes in GT America Powered by AWS and Pirelli GT4 America. The ten-time sports car racing champions battled through varying weather conditions to celebrate a strong championship points weekend, with drivers Elias Sabo and Jason Bell once again returning to the podium in their respective series.

Another race weekend is complete in SRO America, and Wright Motorsports leaves New Orleans, Louisiana with a stockpile of trophies, celebrating one win and two additional podium finishes with the No. 120 Porsche 911 GT3 R and No. 45 Porsche 911 GT3 R. Competing in both the GT America powered by AWS and the Fanatec GT World Challenge America championships, the team had a strong points-earning weekend, making great strides in both title efforts. 

Qualifying 2:

FIA World Endurance Championship racer Ahmad Al Harthy secured his, and Oman Racing’s, first podium finish in the globe’s biggest endurance racing category on Saturday, 29th April, during an action-packed TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.  

Porsche Penske Motorsport wrapped up the six-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps in fourth place with the Porsche 963. Michael Christensen, Dane Cameron and Frédéric Makowiecki missed out on claiming a podium result by less than three seconds. This makes the hybrid prototype again the best-placed LMDh-compliant hypercar vehicle at round three of the FIA World Endurance Championship WEC. The second racing car fielded by the works team had to retire shortly before the first driver change due to an electrical fault. The Hertz Team Jota squad brought the first customer-run Porsche 963 over the finish line in sixth place. In the GTE-Am class, Proton Competition came fourth with the Porsche 911 RSR.

The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, round three of the FIA WEC, ended with the Ferrari 499P crewed by Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi securing its first podium in the Hypercar class. In contrast, the car of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen had to retire following an accident, from which the Italian driver emerged unscathed, less than two hours before the chequered flag.

The Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli UK kicked off at Snetterton for the very first round of the new season, running with the Snetterton 300 configuration. The Norwich track has been on the calendar every year since the UK series launched in 2019, and it was the home for the weekend to a strong grid comprised of familiar Ferrari faces and exciting new contenders.

At round two of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, Loek Hartog (Team GP Elite) climbed to the top of the podium for the first time. The Dutchman scored his first one-make cup victory on Saturday at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium). “Winning has been my big goal since my first Carrera Cup race two years ago. Now I finally did it. I was under a lot of pressure on the last lap so that makes me all the more pleased with this win,” said Hartog. His compatriot and teammate Larry ten Voorde secured second place in a nail-biting championship race held as part of the FIA World Endurance Championship WEC support programme. The trophy for third place went to Morris Schuring (Netherlands) from the Fach Auto Tech team.