FIA WEC: New entry list for COTA

The latest provisional entry list for the upcoming Lone Star Le Mans at COTA is down to 30 cars after the withdrawal of Ginetta in LMP1 and the addition of Dragonspeed in LMP2. 

Ginetta pulled out both of their G60-LT-P1 cars, which are back on their wa the factory after the Bahrain round in December.  The team released a short statement on their website this morning.  

The WEC calendar is challenging, especially for any team with a new car in it’s first season and we have not had the chassis' back at the factory since before Silverstone in August.  

The cancellation of the earlier WEC race in Brazil and the new race at COTA made it impossible to do the planned work at our facility in Virginia, so the cars were shipped post race back to Ginetta UK, the cars hopefully arrive at the factory today.

This puts the LMP1 class down to just 3 cars for the Lone Star Le Mans race with both Toyota's and a single Rebellion. Although still on the provisional entry list for Sebring, it's not clear whether the Ginetta's will make the trip across the pond for the 1000 mile race in March. 

Dragonspeed is a new addition to the LMP2 class. The American team which has raced in LMP1 in the past Super season has shifted its focus back to the LMP2 class this year, winning the Daytona 24 hours last month in IMSA and planning an assault for the title in the European Le Mans Series.  Ben Hanley (who initially would race with Ginetta in LMP1) will share the car with Henrik Hedman and Colin Braun.  

It's unclear yet if this is a one-off appearance in the WEC, or Dragonspeed will run a double program in Sebring; combining IMSA and WEC.

© Richard Prince for Chevy Racing

In GTE, the brand new Corvette C8.R will make its debut in the World Endurance Championship, facing the competition of Porsche, Ferrari and Aston Martin.  Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller make an unexpected return to Corvette racing after their contracts with the manufacturer ended at the end of last year.

Magnussen raced with Corvette for 16 years, and has 4 Le Mans wins under his belt.  Rockenfeller was part of the endurance squad but would have been unable to race at Le Mans this year due to a date clash with DTM.  Jan Magnussen should be at the start of the French endurance race this season with Danish team High Class Racing in the LMP2 category.

In GTE Am, so far Thomas Preining is the only confirmed driver so far on the #88 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR.

The updated entry list can be found HERE.


Kristof Vermeulen. 

FIA WEC: First practice reports for the 1000 Miles of Sebring

As expected with the new EOT for Sebring, the Toyota’s gained a bigger advantage over the non-hybrids again. Both Toyota’s dominated the LMP1 class in both sessions, over a second clear of the non-hybrid privateer LMP1’s.  LMP2 and GTE however were very close so far, with almost all cars setting laptimes within a second, promising us some good racing into the night tomorrow. 

Kazuki Nakajima was the fastest man in Florida yesterday afternoon’s first practice session with a 1.41.957, just over half a second ahead of Jose Maria Lopez in the sister car.  The Rebellions were the quickest non-hybrids, 1.5 seconds behind the Toyota’s. Mathias Beche in the #1 Rebellion R13 (1.43.552) beating Gustavo Menezes in the #3 with just over tenth of a second. Both SMP Racing BR1’s followed the Rebellions, with Dragonspeed closing the LMP1 line-up. 

Nyck de Vries put the #29 Racing Team Nederland on top of the LMP2 sheets with a 1.47.835.  De Vries was also the quickest LMP2 driver over the test weekend ahead of race week in Sebring. Andre Negrao in the #36 Signatech Alpine was second fastest, just under half a second behind the Dutchman. Matthieu Vaxiviere in the #28 TDS Racing Oreca with both Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca’s behind him. 

LMGTE Pro was tight with all cars within one second except for the #71 AF Corse. Maxime Martin set the benchmark in his #97 Aston Martin Vantage with a laptime of 1.58.044. The #67 Ford GT of  came in second fastest after setting the quickest time early in the session, just ahead of Richard Lietz in the #91 Porsche 911 RSR. 

No Project 1 Porsche in the first session yet, having received a new car after a hefty fire on Sunday’s test session destroying the back of their 911. Pedro Lamy got round the track in just over 2 minutes (2.00.043), and pipped Matteo Cairoli with 9 thousands of a second in the #88 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche. Matt Campbell put the second Proton Porsche on third place, 36 thousands behind Cairoli.  The first five cars in the class were separated by only 0.045 seconds, it doesn’t get any closer than that !  

Times dropped during the second practice session in the evening which almost immediately went into Full Course Yellow when Anthony Davidson lost a wheel of his Dragonspeed LMP2.  It was the other way round now for the Toyota’s when Jose Maria Lopez put the #7 TS050 Hybrid on top (1.41.730), ahead of Kazuki Nakajima in the #8.  SMP Racing emerged in the non-hybrid class with Stéphane Sarrazin (1.43.009) and Brendon Hartley - who celebrates his return to LMP1 this weekend, replacing Jenson Button - in third and fourth place. 

Stéphane Richelmi was fastest in the dark in LMP2, setting a 1.47.716 in the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca.  Despite a suspension failure, the #29 Racing Team Nederland Dallara claimed the second fastest time again, Nick de Vries just 0.119 seconds behind Richelmi.  The car suffered a suspension failure though,  and despite Frits Van Eerd making it back into pitlane, it didn’t come out anymore for the rest of the session, only managing 10 laps.  Nico Lapierre in the #36 Signatech Alpine was third fastest, the first six cars finishing within one second. 

If you thought LMP2 was close, all cars in the GTE Pro class managed to finish within a one second margin, except for the Corvette being 1.003 seconds off the pace of the Alexander Lynn’s Aston Martin.  Lynn set a fastest time of 1.57.792, 0.033 seconds ahead of Harry Tincknell in the #67 Ford GT. The second Ford of Stefan Mücke was third quickest. 

A similar story in the GTE Am class, with all cars bar one (TF Sport) also within a second. Ben Barker in the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche got under the 2 minute mark in 1.59.327.  Giancarlo Fisichella in the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari was second fastest (1.59.407), just ahead of Matteo Cairoli in the #88 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche. 

The third and final practice session and night qualifying will be run later today. 

Results FP1

Results FP2

Jacky Ickx announced as Honoree for the 2019 Amelia Island Concours d'élégance

"Monsieur Le Mans", Jacky Ickx has been announced as the Honoree for the 2019 Amelia Island Concours d'élégance in Florida.

In his biography of Enzo Ferrari, Brock Yates summed up Jacky Ickx in one perfect phrase writing Jacky Ickx has " . . . the heart of a lion".

"There is something heroic about Jacky Ickx," said Bill Warner, founder and Chairman of the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance. "When things are at their worst Ickx is at his best. Grace under pressure doesn't begin to describe him. He's a racer whose abilities, reputation and record stand with the greatest of all time." "It is an honor to have 'Mr. Le Mans' as our 2019 honoree," said Warner, "Especially on the 50th anniversary of the first of his six Le Mans victories."

Five-time Le Mans winner and 2007 Amelia Honoree Derek Bell said of Ickx, "For me he was the Ayrton Senna of his time".

The centerpiece of Ickx's racing career is six victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Yet that's just the headline. His versatility is legendary. Ickx is the 1967 European Formula 2 Champion and owns eight World Championship F1 victories (and three non-championship wins) plus second place in the 1969 and 1970 F1 World Championships. Ickx scored 37 individual race victories in the World Sports Car Championship and back-to-back World Sports Car Championships in 1982 and 1983. In America he won the 1979 Can-Am Championship, the 1969 Sebring 12 Hours with Jackie Oliver and the 1972 Daytona "24" with Mario Andretti. The versatile Ickx also logged victory in the 1977 Bathurst 1000 and the 1966 24 Hours of Spa, a class win and second overall in the Nurburgring's grinding 84-hour Marathon de la Route plus his legendary victory in the brutal 10,000-kilometer 1983 Paris-Dakar Rally -- "the war without bullets" -- for Mercedes-Benz.

The 2019 Amelia Island Concours d'élegance is scheduled for March 8-10, 2019; exactly one week ahead of the FIA WEC's return to Sebring and the Sebring 12 hours, and an event not to miss if you're in the area !  

Kristof Vermeulen.  

IMSA 12 Hours of Sebring: Pole position for Cadillac (P), BMW (GTLM) and Ferrari (GTD)

Tristan Vautier has secured pole position this afternoon in his #90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Cadillac DPi for tomorrow's Sebring 12 Hours.  

It's the first pole position for the team in its new DPi prototype, and the first pole for the Frenchman in the WeatherTech SportsCar Series.  Vautier held off fellow Frenchman Olivier Pla in the #2 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan Dpi with 0.160 seconds after an exciting duel. Third fastest was Ricky Taylor in the #7 Acura Team Penske Dpi, 0.341 seconds behind pole position. 

After a disappointing 24 Hours of Daytona where the brand new M8 GTE showed its reliability but a lack of pace, BMW now dominated the LMGTE class, scoring pole and third position at the end of the qualifying session. Both BMW were in top of the timetable, until James Calado managed to squeeze in its #62 Ferrari 488 GTE. Connor de Philippi was the fastest man on track, clocking in a record breaking 1.55.893 for the GTLM class with his #25 BMW M8 GTE. Calado was a (very) close second, just 0.058 seconds behind the BMW. The #24 BMW of Jesse Krohn set the third fastest time. 

Spirit of Race took pole position in the GTD class with Daniel Serra behind the wheel of the #51 Ferrari 488 GT3. Serra also set a record qualifying lap in 1.58.710. Chistopher Mies in the #29 Montaplast by Land Motorsport Audi R8 GT3 was second fastest, over half a second behind Serra. Just 0.022 seconds slower was Jack Hawksworth in the #15 Lexus RCF GT3.  The #93 Michael Shank Lexus is still undergoing repair works after yesterday's crash and didn't take part in qualifying. 

Qualifying results can be found here

The 66th annual 12 Hours of Sebring will start on Saturday at 10h40 local time (14h40 UK time, 15h40 CET).

Saturday's (very) cold and foggy morning practice saw Helio Castrovenes fastest in the #7 Penske Acura in 1.47.076 in the Prototype class, both BMW's setting the pace in GTLM and the Land Motorsport R8 fastest in GTD. 

Mazda dominated yesterday's night practice, putting both Joest run Mazda DPi's on top of the timetable.  Oliver Jarvis in the #77 beating Jonathan Bomarito in the #55 with 0.457 seconds. The Ford GT of Joey Hand was fastest in the dark, ahead of the #25 BMW and the #911 Porsche of Laurens Vanthoor.  In the GTD class the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW was fastest. 

Kristof Vermeulen. 

All pictures © JellyBaby.Media

IMSA 12 Hours of Sebring: Penske Acura fastest in first two practice sessions

Action started today for the 66th annual 12 Hours of Sebring in Florida.  43 cars went out for today's first two practice sessions under sunny skies, but with bitter cold temperatures in the morning.

The #7 Penske Acura DPI's was fastest overall so far, Helio Castrovenes topping the timetables in the first session, Ricky Taylor in the second session.  The Joest Mazda seem to like the track at Sebring better than Daytona in January, setting second and fourth best times in the second session of the day.

In GTLM its's Ford vs Ferrari so far, the Risi Ferrari sandwiched inbetween both Fords today. The #66 Ford set the fastest time in the first session, #67 in the afternoon.  The #93 Michael Shank Acura set the quickest time in GTD during the morning session, in the afternoon it was the #15 3GT Racing Lexus who was fastest.

The second session was red flagged early when Justin Marks went hard into the tyre wall at turn 13, even moving the concrete wall a few foot behind.  Marks got out of his #93 Michael Shank Acura but with heavy damage to the car it's unsure whether they will be able to participate in the night practice session.

 

 

Porsche announces Rennsport Reunion VI to be held September 2018

Today Porsche Cars North America and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca announced the next Porsche Rennsport Reunion will take place at the famed California racetrack in 2018. The upcoming world's fastest class reunion expanded to four days and will be held September 27-30, 2018.

In what has become a tradition, Rennsport Reunion VI will bring together an extraordinary gathering of significant Porsche racecars, as well as those who have designed, engineered, and driven them to victory in the world’s most famous sports car races. Hosted by PCNA, the four-day program of on-track competition will be complemented by a Concours d’Elegance, which is open to invited race participants.

After staging the first three events in the east, with the inaugural at Lime Rock Park in 2001, followed by two events at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida in 2004 and 2007, Rennsport Reunion IV moved west in 2011, tapping into a vast array of west coast car aficionados and Porsche enthusiasts. Returning to a three year interval, this incomparable event has turned into a world-wide happening. 57.000 spectators participated in the last edition in 2015. 

“Choosing the Monterey Peninsula once again for our unique Porsche family reunion builds upon what we learned from previous Rennsport Reunions,” said Klaus Zellmer, President and CEO of Porsche Cars North America. “We had close to 60,000 fans, enthusiasts and owners come through the gates of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca to

celebrate with us in 2015, and California’s picturesque central coast provides an ideal backdrop. The Golden State as a whole has always been like a second home to Porsche.”

“We are honored to have been selected once again as the host circuit for Porsche Rennsport Reunion,” said Gill Campbell of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. “This prestigious event has created a tremendous impact on motorsports

around the world in the past and we are eager to bring it back to life again in partnership with Porsche. It is truly the most rewarding event I have ever had the pleasure of being involved in.”

During Porsche Rennsport Reunion V in 2015, over 1,300 Porsche Club of America member-owned Porsche models helped fill the show fields, race classes, and parking lots of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca to overflow capacity. For the upcoming sixth rendition, the PCA will once again play an integral role in the festivities.

Relive the 2015 edition of this extraordinary event here: Automotive heaven in Monterey

Kristof Vermeulen.