Random Motorsports Discussion ***MAY Contain Spoilers***

[Everso Biggyballies]

Bottom post of the previous page:

The number of GT races in the Middle East is expanding so fast that teams can't keep up financially to do all of them.

Says it all really.

Like the F1 calendar too many is a real consideration.

[erwin greven]

Weekly Racing Roundup (1.23.23)

News including BMW factory drivers in Italian GT, Team AAI’s program latest and more…



***BMW factory drivers Bruno Spengler and Jens Klingmann will team up in the Italian GT Championship this year, sharing a Ceccato Racing BMW M4 GT3 in the Sprint series. Klingmann shared a car with former works driver Timo Glock last year. Carlo Tamburini and Francesco Massimo De Luca form the other Sprint pairing.

***Ceccato, racing under the BMW Italia Ceccato Racing banner, is also entering a pair of BMWs in the affiliated Italian GT Endurance series. Tamburini, Marco Cassara, Stefano Comandini, Alfred Nilsson and Salvatore Tavano will all be part of that program.

***FIST-Team AAI has committed to a full-season Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS program with a pair of BMW M4 GT3s. Factory drivers Jesse Krohn and Jens Klingmann have been assigned to the Pro-Am entries, teaming up with Betty Chen and Kevin Chen respectively. The Taiwanese squad last entered GTWC Asia back in 2017.

***Commenting on the entry, Kevin Chen said: “COVID-19 has restricted mine and the team’s race program since the end of 2019 but we’ve remained sharp by making the most of our opportunities closer to home. Now, with the world opening up again, it’s the perfect time to join Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia with FIST-Team AAI. We watched from the sidelines last season, liked what we saw and now cannot wait to join the grid at Buriram.”

***Before sharing a Ferrari 499P in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina will race against each other in the Asian Le Mans Series. Nielsen will team up with Johnny and Conrad Laursen in one AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, while Molina has been placed with Stefano Costantini and Simon Mann in another.

***Former ByKolles LMP1 driver Oliver Webb is set for an Intelligent Money British GT Championship program with Greystone GT, sharing a Mclaren 720S GT3 with Andrey Borodin. Both drivers appeared in the series last year, albeit in different Greystone cars.

***Another recently announced British GT entry is the championship debut of Toro Verde GT, which has raced in Porsche Carrera Cup. James Townsend and Ian Duggan will share the team’s Ginetta G56 GT4 after competing against each other in Ginetta GT4 Supercup last year.

***Inter Europol Competition has named the driver lineups for its expansion into full-time Michelin Le Mans Cup racing with two Ligier JS P320 Nissans. One car will be shared by the Anglo-American pairing of Radical racer Chris Short and Bryson Morris, who drove an ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 in the 24H Series. Daniel Ali and James Dayson form the second crew.

***Last year’s Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour runner-up Kevin Tse is returning to event next month as part of the Harrolds Volante Rosso Motorsport crew. Macanese driver Tse will share the team’s Am class Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo with Jonathan Hui and Ross Poulakis.

***Nova Race has signed 20-year-old Swiss prospect Axel Gnos to its Italian GT Sprint Championship program with a Honda NSX GT3 Evo22. Gnos is set for his sports car racing debut after contesting the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine.

***Jan Magnussen is set to return to the Michelin Le Mans Cup with Honda squad GMB Motorsport, Sportscar365 understands. The former Corvette Racing factory driver joined GMB for its three-car program last year, when it won the title and secured a 24 Hours of Le Mans entry.

https://sportscar365.com/features/round ... p-1-23-23/

[erwin greven]

This weekend in motorsports (January 25-29)

• Race of Champions: Pite Havsbad

• IMSA: 24 Hours of Daytona

• Formula E: Diriyah

• ASA: SpeedFest at Crisp

• Indoor Auto Racing Series: Atlantic City

• Lucas Oil Late Models: Golden Isles and Bubba

• King of the Motors: Hammertown

• Red Bull Ice Scramble: Okoboji

• AMA Supercross: Anaheim

• Latin American Supercross: Pinamar

[erwin greven]

This weekend in motorsports (February 2-5)

Nascar Cup: Clash at the Coliseum

Intercontinental GT Challenge: Bathurst 12 Hour

Formula Regional Oceania: New Zealand Grand Prix

All Star Circuit of Champions: Senoia

Lucas Oil Late Models: All-Tech & East Bay

HKP: King of the Hammers

AMA Supercross: Houston

X-Trial World Championship: Barcelona

Sands World Cup: Enduropale du Touquet

Bajas World Cup: Saudi Baja

[acerogers58]

Three men, including a driver were arrested at Southern Raceway following an altercation that stemmed from an on track incident. Reports from those at the track suggest the father of one of the drivers involved attempted to gain access to the other drivers hauler while carrying a hammer.

The on track incident:

The scuffle:

Charges laid by police:

[acerogers58]

[Cheeveer]

Huge flip in Porsche Sprint Challenge at Anderstorp earlier today:

https://embed.viaplay.com/social/se/b7c ... 8d7cc23f96

[erwin greven]

Aurum 1006km is this weekend too. On one of the strangest street courses.

[Cheeveer]

Yesterday, I took the time to watch the Trophee Andros. Have to say, that was one of the worst shows I've ever watched through. First there were two qualifying sessions, before a half an hour break or so ahead of the first category. A 5 lap race, 45 seconds per lap, so a race of a about 4 minutes. Then another half an hour break before the motorcycles. They got to race for 6 laps at least, so about 5 minutes of action. Another 30 minutes before the main category. Another 5 lap race. That was it.

And oh, there were pretty much zero overtakes, barely any at the start even. Dorian Boccolacci lost one position at the start of the super finale, other than that, zero overtakes in any of the car categories.

This is supposedly the 35th and final season of the Trophee Andros, and although it is a shame that such a legendary event is on its way out, I don't think I will watch any of the remaining events, because it was so boring.

[DaleJuniorFan]

The CARS Tour got a rather... interesting sponsor for their caution periods this season:

[MonteCristo]

The wild 2000-horsepower all-electric van went close to the record this morning, driver Romain Dumas falling just over a tenth short of the new benchmark set by Mercedes and Jules Gounon in an unrestricted GT3 car last weekend.

That led to Ford successfully bargaining for another run with Supercars, during which the van scorched to a new record with a 1m56.28s (according to Ford's data) – almost four-tenths clear of Gounon's effort.

Speedcafe understands that the run included a top speed of in excess of 300 km/h down Conrod Straight.

https://speedcafe.com/ford-supervan-sma ... t-attempt/

[Everso Biggyballies]

The wild 2000-horsepower all-electric van went close to the record this morning, driver Romain Dumas falling just over a tenth short of the new benchmark set by Mercedes and Jules Gounon in an unrestricted GT3 car last weekend.

That led to Ford successfully bargaining for another run with Supercars, during which the van scorched to a new record with a 1m56.28s (according to Ford's data) – almost four-tenths clear of Gounon's effort.

Speedcafe understands that the run included a top speed of in excess of 300 km/h down Conrod Straight.

https://speedcafe.com/ford-supervan-sma ... t-attempt/

It out-accelerates an F1 car, WRC, Moto GP you name it. There is one of those horrible "shorts" youtube portrait phone clips on it doing that in a back to back. There are some similar short vids of the Supervan at Bathurst. Just search Supervan Bathurst on YT.

Im sure something will come up before long in proper video format, becauseI am sure it was shown on the TV broadcast. I heard them talking about it in the background.

Here is the Van v F1 v WRC thing
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FgcX8bUF ... ture=share

[DaleJuniorFan]

Skip Barber Racing Schools has bought SRX and plans to go ahead with a 2024 season:

https://racer.com/2024/03/22/skip-barbe ... xperience/