Weekly Racing Roundup (12.27.21)

***Earl Bamber and Piti Bhirombhakdi won the Thailand Super Series title with a victory and a pair of second places at the Buriram season finale. The drivers of the EBM-assisted Singha Motorsport Team Thailand Porsche 911 GT3 R claimed victory in the second of two 60-minute races on Christmas Day, in between finishing behind the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Chariya Nuya and Parasit Promsombad.

***Loris Spinelli and Steven Aghakhani will line up in Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS next year, sharing a USRT-prepared Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in the Pro class. Both drivers were in Lamborghini Super Trofeo last season but also have prior experience in AMG machinery.

***Another team to announce a GTWC America program for 2022 is ST Racing, which is stepping up from the GT4 ranks following its purchase of a BMW M4 GT3. “Half the battle is knowing and understanding the sporting regulations as well as pit strategy and since that will not change with the move up to GT3 Pro-Am, I am cautiously optimistic we will have a good run,” said team owner Kenneth Tan.

***GT America powered by AWS has added a second street course to its 2022 schedule with the addition of a support slot at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The series was already confirmed to return to the Music City Grand Prix in Nashville, but will now open its campaign on the streets of St. Pete on Feb. 25-27.

***2020 ADAC GT Masters champion Christian Engelhart will race for a third different Porsche team in as many seasons when he lines up for the Joos Sportwagentechnik outfit alongside Ayhancan Guven. Engelhart drove for SSR Performance during his title run before moving to KÜS Team Bernhard this year.

***Two Mercedes-AMG teams have firmed up their GT300 lineups for the coming Super GT season. K2 R&D Leon Racing has signed Takuro Shinohara, who has previously driven Audi and Aston Martin machinery in the class. He will partner Naoya Gamou, who previously shared driving duties with Togo Suganami. Goodsmile Racing, meanwhile, has opted for the unchanged lineup of Tatsuta Kataoka and Nobuteru Taniguchi.

***Team Parker Racing will run its first GT4-class program in British GT since 2019 following its acquisition of a new Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport. The British squad has entered a Porsche 911 GT3 R for Scott Malvern and Nick Jones in recent seasons. Ginetta Junior graduate Seb Hopkins, who turns 16 on New Year’s Day, is the first driver to be confirmed for the GT4 crew.