Weekly Racing Roundup (3.30.20)

COVID-19 Impact Update

***The Goodwood Festival of Speed has been postponed from its initial July 9-12 date. A new date for what is one of the biggest events in the British motorsport calendar hasn’t been communicated yet, but organizers confirmed it will most likely take place in the late summer or early autumn.

***Super GT has delayed the start of its season for the second time with the postponement of the May races at Fuji and Suzuka. Championship organizer GTA confirmed that it will attempt to rearrange these races, along with the Okayama season-opener, to later dates in the year.  

***Super GT also called off its test at Fuji which was set to be held last weekend. The next round on the schedule is at Buriram on July 4-5.

***Further changes have been made to Ferrari Challenge schedules, including the postponement of the European series’ rounds at Mugello and Portimao from April 3-5 and May 8-10 to July and August. The season will now get underway at Brno on June 5-7.

***Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific already got underway at Bahrain at the start of March, but the next round is now Fuji on May 22-24. Another round has been moved from Shanghai to Suzuka, while Sepang and the initial Suzuka race have also been moved later in the summer.

***No new calendar has been released for Ferrari Challenge UK yet, following the initial postponement of the Snetterton opener. Motorsport UK’s suspension of all racing events until June 30 has also forced the postponement of the Donington Park race on May 16-17.

***The Ultimate Cup Series has pledged to maintain a seven-event calendar following the postponement of its first three rounds at Barcelona, Estoril and Dijon.

***One of the few series to have cars on track recently was TCR Japan, which held its pre-season test at Fuji Speedway on Tuesday. Most other regional TCR series have been forced to cancel or reschedule rounds, including the TCR Asia opener and rounds for TCR Denmark, Australia, Iberico and UK.

***Guy Cosmo has launched a new service to coach drivers’ sim racing performance through his Cosmo-Sport company, which will take data and video from sim driving sessions and provide “full analysis reviews and reports”.

***Modena Motorsports co-team principal John Shen is producing and distributing COVID-19 test kits and face masks. His company has the capacity of producing 500,000 test kits and 1.8 million masks in a week. Shen’s recent racing experience includes a partial season in GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS last year.

***French racewear manufacturer Stand 21 has also begun producing face masks in its Dijon factory.

***Kevin Estre recently donated 60 kg of candy and 10 kg of coffee to the hospital in Bregenz, western Austria.

***Pirelli has canceled plans to produce the 2021 edition of its long-running Pirelli Calendar, and will instead donate €100,000 to the fight against and research into COVID-19.

News & Notes

***Car Collection Motorsport has confirmed its return to the Nordschleife in the Nürburgring Langstrecken Serie. The German team will field an Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo for Milan Dontje and Patric Niederhauser when the season gets underway, along with a TBA third driver. The team could also run a second Audi for a Pro-Am or Am lineup.

***GetSpeed Performance has also revealed its NLS lineups, including a Pro car for a trio of Mercedes-AMG factory drivers.

***Porsche Motorsport has released a new 90-minute documentary about the brand’s attempt to run the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Nürburgring 24 back-to-back last. ‘Endurance’ is currently available on YouTube and will be added to Amazon Prime on April 3.

***A new team called Overdrive Racing by Huber will field a pair of Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsports in ADAC GT4 Germany this year. The outfit is based on a partnership between Huber Racing and Bulgarian racer Georgi Donchev, who has raced in Porsche Carrera Cup Germany and also has a handful of NLS starts to his name.

***LMP3 squad CD Sport will expand its GT operations with the scale-up from a single French GT4 entry to three cars for the coming season. The team will field Mercedes-AMG GT4s for Theo Nouet/Pierre Sancinena, Jean-Ludovic Foubert/Clement Bully and Jihad Aboujaoude/Shahan Sarkissian.

Daniel Lloyd contributed to this report