News & Notes Roundup, 11.11

Photo: Mazda

***IDEC Sport Racing will enter selected European Le Mans Series races with a Ligier JS P2 next year, with the French squad also revealing plans to campaign a new Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the 24H Series. A Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 will be used for the season-opening Hankook 24 Hours of Dubai.

***MRS GT Racing will have a trio of Americans in its Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 in Dubai, with Joe Foster, Charles Espenlaub and Charlie Putman being joined by Dutchman Xavier Maassen for the twice-around-the-clock enduro in January.

***Black Falcon, which will have two of the new Mercedes-AMG GT3s in Dubai, has confirmed a partial lineup with Jeroen Bleekemolen and Khaled Al Qubaisi in one car and Hubert Haupt, Abdulaziz Al Faisal, Yelmer Buurman and Bernd Schneider in a second entry.

***Ryan Dalziel, who was signed to drive for VisitFlorida.com Racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next year, will miss the Long Beach round due to the clash with the season-opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, where he’ll return with Tequila Patron ESM.

***An entry list for next week’s IMSA-sanctioned Daytona test is not expected to be released, due to a number of manufacturer-entered cars for the two-day event. Both Mercedes and Cadillac are among the expected entrants that will run GT3 cars, mainly for Balance of Performance purposes.

***Mazda’s Road to 24 Shootout is underway this week at Carolina Motorsports Park, with eight finalists having been selected. The winner will receive a full scholarship to compete in next year’s Battery Tender Mazda MX-5 Cup.

***Christian Fittipaldi has launched a new supercar driving experience based in Texas, in the Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston and Austin markets. Fittipaldi Exotic Driving sees Christian partnering with Bill Scott, formerly with Petty Enterprises, and the two will spend nearly $1.5 million on the cars.

***CJ Wilson Racing is looking to expand to a full-time GS program in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge with Porsche, which would be a logical extension of the team’s occasional GS starts this season.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John