Connect with us

Racing Roundup

Weekly Racing Roundup (2.19.18)

Drivex quickest in International GT Open test plus GT3 and GT4 driver announcements…

Photo: International GT Open

Drivex Quickest in GT Open Barcelona Test

Drivex was quickest in both days of the International GT Open winter test at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Friday and Saturday.

Allam Khodair and Marcelo Hahn posted the best lap time on both days in their Mercedes-AMG GT3 with a best time of 1:43.585 during the second of four sessions on Saturday.

This was an improvement of almost one second over the Spanish team’s quickest time of 1:44.466 in the opening session on Friday morning, which put the Brazilian drivers over one second clear of their closest competitors at the end of the day.

Krypton Motorsport was the second-fastest team at the test, running 0.517 seconds slower than the leader, with BMW Team Teo Martin in third.

The second and final winter test will be held at Paul Ricard on March 2-3, ahead of the season opener at Estoril on April 14-15.

RESULTS: Friday; Saturday

News & Notes

***GT Open organizer GT Sport and Michelin have extended their partnership for a further three years through 2020. A new RFID system for the Pilot Sport GT M tire range will be introduced, allowing tires to be checked electronically, while the deal also includes aspects of communications, marketing and spectator entertainment which will be revealed in the coming weeks. 

***BMW Team Teo Martin has announced it will enter one car in the Am class of the GT Open for the first time. The team is set to campaign three BMW M6 GT3s in the series in total. Brazilian drivers Marcio Basso and Beto Leite are confirmed in the Am car.

***ISR will make its ADAC GT Masters debut this season, entering a single Audi R8 LMS GT3 for Frank Stippler and Filip Salaquarda. The Czech team is a regular in the Blancpain GT Series but has yet to make any announcement regarding a return to the championship in 2018.

***ARN Racing is set to make a full-time switch to the Blancpain GT Series Asia after winning the Super Taikyu ST-X championship last season. The team will run a Ferrari 488 GT3 with team director Hiroaki Nagai so far the only confirmed driver. He co-drove with Kota Sasaki when the team entered the two Japanese rounds of the SRO-run series last year.

***Clearwater Racing will return to the Blancpain GT Series Asia with its McLaren 570S GT4 for at least the season-opener at Sepang. Richard Wee and Weng Sun Mok will drive the car which won on its single appearance at Fuji last season. It is currently unclear whether the team will continue the program after Sepang.

***Yelmer Buurman is the latest factory driver to be confirmed in a British GT Championship entry this year, with the Mercedes-AMG driver to join Lee Mowle in a new team, ERC Sport. The operation is run by established team manager Keith Cheatham, who has worked with Mowle at AmD Tuning and Triple Eight, amongst other programs including Trackspeed.

***RN Vision STS will make the switch from Porsche machinery to the new BMW M4 GT4 with a two-car GT4 European Series entry. Razvan Ubrarescu and Gabriele Piana will drive the No. 111 car in the Silver Cup while Pavel Lefterov and Miguel Christovao will compete in the No. 112 BMW in the Pro-Am category.

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.

3 Comments
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

More in Racing Roundup