Proton with Ford in the FIA WEC

Proton Competition and Ford Performance have announced a new collaboration, as they are presenting the brand new Ford Mustang GT3. So they are throwing in their cap, to participate in the brand new GT3 category in the FIA World Endurance Championship, which is replacing the GTE category. Ford has been in and out of the sportscar world. They have had a NASCAR programme for many years, as their primary motorsport activity. But they have also had an engine programme in IMSA, in the DP category, and more recently with the…

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Alpine shows A424_β

Alpine has shown their brand new A424_β LMDh car, ahead of the very first rollout coming up next month. The car is developed in collaboration with ORECA, and do have some similarities with the Acura ARX-06 in regards to the front of the car. It will once again be Signatech running the programme, just like they have done in the FIA WEC since 2012, where it’s primarily has been LMP2 running. They got the chance to buy the Rebellion R13 towards the end of 2020, and then raced two seasons in…

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Jani hired by Proton

Neel Jani will be racing the rest of the FIA World Endurance Championship season for Proton Competition. The Swiss racer will be third driver on the new Porsche 963 LMDh car, with Harry Tincknell and Gianmaria Bruni being his teammates. The team was one of the very early takers, when Porsche announced that the model would be available for privateers. So they put in an order for two cars in the FIA WEC, and two for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. There has been a bit of backlog to get…

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UA moves to full American season

United Autosports has announced their overall plans for the 2024 season. The British-American team has been a part of the FIA World Endurance Championship for the past many seasons in the LMP2 category, but that category will disappear after the 2023 season, so their focus moves towards a full IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship campaign. They have only done selected races so far, including the Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours, but now they want to compete at all the rounds, that LMP2 cars are present at. The team will…

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LMP2 no longer part of FIA WEC

It has been rumoured for a long time, but it was made official today. The LMP2 category will no longer be part of the FIA World Endurance Championship, following the conclusion of the 2023 season. The category has been there from the very start of the championship back in 2012, and has been a platform for many drivers, to make a step up to the LMP1 or the current Hypercar category. The reason for the category to disappear is down to physical space for it in the FIA WEC. The…

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Asian LMS schedule 2023-24 revealed

The Asian Le Mans Series has revealed their 2023-24 racing schedule. The series will stick to their concept of four-hour races, but will expand to five races, on three different tracks. The season starts at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia in December, where two rounds will be run. That is the first step towards Southeast Asia, which was the original area for the series, until COVID-19 put a hold to that. All the cars and equipment will then be packed down again, and moved to Dubai Autodrome for a single…

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FIA WEC schedule 2024 announced

The FIA World Endurance Championship has announced their 2024 schedule. The series will expand from 7 to 8 race weekends, going towards the left of pre-COVID-19, which put a damper on many things. A further expansion is expected for 2025. As previous announced, the season is going to start in Qatar with the Prologue and opening round in February. That will be a race of maximum 10 hours, or 1812 kilometers. But more big changes are happening after that. The second round will be a new 6-hour race at Imola…

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Proton ready for both WEC and IMSA

Proton Competition is ready with their new Porsche 963, which they are going to race in both the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The German team was very early to put in an order for the brand new LMDh car from Porsche, who will compete in the Hypercar category in the FIA WEC, and the GTP category in IMSA. The team will run with both Gianmaria Bruni and Harry Tincknell as the two drivers for both championships. A third driver will be announced for the FIA WEC…

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ByKolles makes driver swap

The ByKolles team, who is racing under the Floyd Vanwall Racing Team banner in 2023, has made some changes to their driver line-up for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. Jacques Villeneuve is no longer part of the team, after a very problematic start to the season. The Canadian Formula 1 World Champion will be replaced by Tristan Vautier, who has plenty of Prototype experience, but none with the Vanwall Vandervell 680 Hypercar so far. He will be sharing the car with Tom Dillmann and Esteban Guerrieri, who already competed…

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Rexy goes to Le Mans

The 24 Hours of Le Mans often delivers some special liveries, that maybe, maybe not will only be seen once, and are instant iconic for the future. We saw that with the Pink Pig design at Porsche in 1971, which was revived for the 2018 race – and won the GTE pro category. Another design that has already become an instant classic is Rexy. It made its first appearance with AO Racing for the 12 hours of Sebring, and was immediately a favourite amongst the fans. Their Porsche 911 GT3…

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Jakobsen official junior driver for Peugeot

Malthe Jakobsen has been named the official junior driver for Peugeot TotalEnergies. The Dane already had the first contact with the team during fall of 2022, and did the Rookietest in Bahrain for the team, where he did such an impressive job, despite it being the very first time that he was onboard such advanced material as a Hypercar. The parties have kept in touch ever since, and that has turned into an official contract with the team. Jakobsen did several seasons of Formula 4 in both his native Denmark…

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LMP3 no longer part of IWSC

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship has chosen to no longer run the LMP3 category, once the 2023 season ends. The category was introduced in the American series for the 2021 series, where the numbers in DPi, LMP2, GTLM and GTD were getting smaller and smaller. That has changed now, with major increases in all categories – especially the GTP category, where an excess of 10 competitors is expected for the full season entry. The LMP3 category has usually delivered just shy of 10 cars, on the race weekends where the cars…

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WTRAndretti with extra car in 2024

There will be a new car on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship grid for the 2024 season. A new collaboration between Wayne Taylor Racing and Andretti Autosport was announced earlier this year, in regards to their sportscar programmes. In 2023, they would continue to run separate programmes. WTR currently competes with the Acura ARX-06 LMDh car, plus a GTD programme at the four Michelin Endurance Cup rounds, while Andretti Autosport has two programmes, where they compete with an LMP3 car for the longer races, and a GTD programme for the…

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Tire ovens allowed at Le Mans

The competitors for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans will be allowed to heat their tires after all. The FIA and ACO had originally disallowed tire ovens for the 2023 season, to save the energy that was used for all the heating, that the teams used to bring to the tracks. Since the very moment that it was announced, there were a lot of teams fearing dangerous situations, when drivers were going to exit the pit on stone-cold tires. The tires had to be stored in shade, so not…

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Porsche with special Le Mans livery

Porsche will once again run a special livery for the 2023 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The German car manufacturer has done it in previous years – including 2018, when they won with the classic “Pink Pig” livery in GTE Pro. They will compete in the Hypercar category with three works cars in total. Not only has it been 100 years since the very first 24 Hours of Le Mans, but it’s also been 75 years since Porsche made their first car, under their own brand. The…

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Rockenfeller and van der Helm at JDC

JDC-Miller Motorsports has announced the two drivers, who will debut in their brand-new Porsche 963 in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. It will super-experienced Mike Rockenfeller and the young talent Tijmen van der Helm, who will make his racing debut at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on 14 May 2023. The team was announced as one of the very first privateer Porsche teams back in 2022, but it quickly became clear, that the delivery dates of the new race cars, would be somewhere around late spring, no matter what privateer outfit…

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Lotterer: It’s a completely different animal

With the return of Porsche to the top-line category in the FIA World Endurance Championship, it also meant a return to sportscars for Andre Lotterer. The three times Le Mans Champion, and the very first FIA WEC World Champion from 2012, had a talk with Racing24-7.net, at the second round of the 2023 Championship in Portimao. First of all, good to see you back again in sportscars. Did you miss the four years away? “Yeah, for sure! The Championship changed of course, and the competition was not really there, in…

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ELMS double up in Portimao, LMC races in Aragon

The European Le Mans Series will be finishing the 2023 season off with two races at Autodromo Internacional do Algarve. That is the decision, following the cancellation of Imola, announced earlier this week. The Michelin Le Mans Cup will add a race weekend at Aragon in Spain, as a support to the ELMS – a round they weren’t meant to do originally. The cancelation of Imola is down to renovation of the pit- and paddock area, which hasn’t been finished on schedule, so both ELMS and LMC teams can’t be…

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Kvyat hired by Lamborghini

Daniil Kvyat has been hired by Lamborghini as a new factory driver, for their upcoming LMDh programme. The former Formula 1 driver started out his sportscar career at Sebring last month, being a part of the Prema Racing LMP2 outfit in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Kvyat will be part of the test- and development programme for the new Lamborghini LMDh car, which will make its race debut in 2024. He will also be one of the drivers for the IMSA and FIA WEC programmes in 2024. In addition to…

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LMEM cancels Imola round – working on a solution

The European Le Mans Series and Michelin Le Mans Cup have had to cancel their 2 and 4 hours respectively at Imola, which was meant to be run on the first weekend of May 2023. The cancellation is due to ongoing work in the pits and paddock area not being finished yet, so they won’t be able to host the ELMS and Michelin Le Mans Cup rounds. The Italian round has been a bit of an issue for ACO and LMEM, who is behind the ELMS and LMC series. The…

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