Weekly Racing Roundup (3.14.22)

News & Notes

***Schubert Motorsport will run a pair of BMW M4 GT3s in ADAC GT Masters as well as the DTM. The Oschersleben-based team has retained Jesse Krohn for its GT Masters lineup, with Nicky Catsburg coming in to partner the Finn. LMP3 ace Niklas Kruetten and DTM Trophy champion Ben Green form the other pairing.

***Reigning GT Masters champions Ricardo Feller and Christopher Mies have been split up for their title defense. Both Audi Sport factory drivers remain with Land-Motorsport, but new works signing Feller is now teamed up with Jusuf Owega and Mies is with Tim Zimmermann. A third Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II will be driven by Christopher Haase and Salman Owega.

***Land-Motorsport team principal Christian Land commented: “We have three cars on the grid in the ADAC GT Masters for the first time, and three strong duos who can support each other and also push each other to perform to their best. We are obviously thrilled that we can count on our two champions.”

***Patric Niederhauser, the 2019 GT Masters champion, will team up with fellow Audi Sport factory driver Luca Engstler for the upcoming ADAC season. They will share one of two Rutronik Racing Audis. The other is to be driven by the returning Dennis Marschall and Kim Luis Schramm. Niederhauser ran with Jusuf Owega in 2021.

***BMW M Motorsport partners will back the manufacturer’s DTM entries from Walkenhorst Motorsport and Schubert Motorsport At Schubert, Sheldon van der Linde returns to his old Shell colors while Philipp Eng has a RoboMarkets livery. At Walkenhorst, Marco Wittmann’s BMW M4 GT3 is supported by Schaffler while Esteban Muth’s car carries CATL and iQOO logos.

***British GT4 graduates Jamie Caroline and John Ferguson will move up to the top GT3 category this year driving for RAM Racing. The Silver-Am duo first competed together with Toyota Gazoo Racing UK at Oulton Park last season.

“It’s great to have both our cars full this year and have a chance to fight for both the drivers’ and teams’ titles, but in John and Jamie we feel we’ve got a real future-proof pairing,” commented RAM Racing team principal Dan Shufflebottom.

***Leipert Motorsport has finalized its Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup driving squad with the signing of Jordan Witt. The 2019 TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa Silver class winner joins Brendon Leitch and Dennis Fetzer in the full-time crew, while Max Weering is due to come on board for Spa.

***Leipert’s Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe squad will be spearheaded by 18-year-old Romanian driver David Serban who is the team’s only Pro-class entrant for the 2022 season. In Pro-Am, Leipert is running two Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2s for Kerong Li/Jean-Francois Brunot and Brendon Leitch/Gerhard Watzinger. Gabriel Rindone races in the Am class along with Juergen Krebs/Tim Mueller.

***Super GT held a two-day test at Okayama where defending champion Sho Tsuboi set the pace on both days aboard the No. 36 TOM’S Toyota GR Supra. Tsuboi posted his fastest lap of 1:18.150 on the opening day of running. GT500 and GT300 both took to the track.

***Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe aces Raul Guzman and Daan Pijl (pictured) will team up with IMSA racer Mateo Llarena for an Italian GT Endurance Championship program with Imperiale Racing. Llarena drove for Imperiale in the Sprint series last year.

***Matias Salonen is the second confirmed driver in T3 Motorsport’s DTM Trophy lineup, in addition to John Paul Southern Jr. Salonen raced a CV Performance Mercedes-AMG GT4 last season but has switched to the T3-prepared Audi R8 LMS GT4.

***True Visions Motorsports Thailand has become the first team to confirm a GTC-class entry for the 2022 GTWC Europe Asia campaign. The team’s long-term amateur driver Suttiluck Buncharoen will drive a Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo at all six rounds.

***American radio personality and racing enthusiast Adam Carolla will drive in Trans Am this year, representing Showtime Motorsports in an 850 horsepower Chevrolet Camaro. On a previous Trans Am outing at Willow Springs in 2017, Carolla took a class podium in a Corvette C7.R.

On this weekend: FIA World Endurance Championship (Sebring), IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (Sebring), Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS (Phillip Island)