Weekly Racing Roundup (4.20.20)

Guven, ten Voorde Double Up on Supercup Esports Wins

Porsche Junior Ayhancan Guven and Larry ten Voorde claimed their second wins of the season in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup Virtual Edition, with one win each at Silverstone on Saturday.

The pair previously claimed one win each in the opening race day two weeks ago at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, and doubled up amongst a 31-car grid in Rounds 3 and 4.

The Supercup esports series uses the iRacing platform and has a field comprising real-world Supercup drivers and other Porsche drivers such as factory ace Nick Tandy.

Guven won Race 1 from pole and survived a last-lap charge from ten Voorde, who went into a spin as the pair duelled, while Tandy battled with Max van Splunteren for third.

In Race 2, Guven initially survived ten Voorde’s attacks but lost out to the Dutchman when he had to lap a slower car. Ten Voorde held the lead to the finish line.

The pair both have 90 points in the championship standings going into the next round on Saturday, April 25 at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

COVID-19 News & Notes

***A group of British racing drivers have raised more than £32,000 ($39,850) for the NHS by completing half-marathons on Saturday morning. The initiative was led by Sam Bird and included the likes of Andy Priaulx, Will Stevens, Olly Jarvis, Harry Tincknell, Jonny Adam, Andy Meyrick, Seb Morris and more, all of whom completed the 21.1 km distance solo, near their own homes.

***Multi-faceted motorsport engineering firm QEV Technologies is working with Hospital de Sant Pau, Nissan and technology center Eurecat to develop the Q-Vent respirator, which will supply developing and third-world countries. The Catalan partnership has developed a model which has already been authorized by the Spanish authorities. It will serve as an alternative to conventional respirators in countries with less sophisticated healthcare systems.

***The International GT Open round at Hockenheim has been postponed following the German government’s announcement of a ban on  “large events” until Aug. 31.

***ADAC GT Masters, which races predominantly in Germany, is still aiming to run a full seven-round season despite the new federal measures. The series said in a statement that it’s “consulting with various parties and examining all options”.

***The Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres has been canceled following a ban on all sporting events this summer by the Quebec government. The event was set to host the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama as part of the NASCAR Pinty’s Series weekend on Aug. 7-9.

***FFSA GT4 is aiming to hold its Spa event on Jul. 17-19 behind closed doors. The French series is awaiting further details from the Belgian government after “mass events” were banned in the country until September.

***Ultimate Cup does not expect to start its season until September. The series for LMP3 and GT3 machinery is “working on a new version” of its calendar which was originally set to start at Navarra on June 26-28.

Keep track of the latest sports car racing calendar updates with Sportscar365’s definitive guide.

Esports News & Notes

***The Trans Am esports round at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, which was supposed to take place on Sunday, has been postponed by one week to Saturday, April 25, due to an unexpected server issue that ended the event prematurely after qualifying. Round 2 will still follow on Sunday, April 26.

***The Laguna Seca race will be the first round of a new eight-race Trans Am by Pirelli Esports Championship, which follows on from a successful pilot esports race held a couple of weeks ago. All competitors will use identical Corvette C7.R GTLM cars on the Assetto Corsa Ultimate Edition platform.

***After the rescheduled Laguna Seca round, Trans Am esports races will take place every Sunday at 3 p.m. EDT until June 7. Round 2 (April 26) will run on Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, and the May 3 race is scheduled for Lime Rock Park, but the locations for following events are TBA.

***Three-time Turismo Carretera Argentina champion and occasional IMSA DPi racer Agustin Canapino won the third round of the virtual Nürburgring Langstrecken Series at the weekend. Canapino and his Audi co-driver Alex Arana claimed victory after the BMW pairing of Philipp Eng and Laurin Heinrich received a 60-second time penalty for an irregularity in the pits.

***The penalty meant that second ultimately went to David Pittard, Sam Michaels and Scott Michaels, while Bruno Spengler, Nils Koch and Kay Kaschube finished third. Watch a replay of the three-hour race here.

Other News & Notes

***Land Motorsport’s ADAC GT Masters lineup includes Audi factory drivers Christopher Mies and Christopher Haase alongside Max Hofer and Kim-Luis Schramm in a pair of Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evos. The lineup was announced on Sunday on the new GT Masters talk show presented by Patrick Simon.

***The Gulf 12 Hours, held in December at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit, will no longer be open to LMP3 and Porsche Cup cars. It is now planned to cater only to GT3, GT4 and Lamborghini Super Trofeo entries.

***RN Vision STS Racing has confirmed drivers for its pair of BMW M4 GT4s in the GT4 European Series: Gabriele Piana and Bas Schouten in one car, and Mark van der Aa and Koen Bogaerts in the other.

***Two teams have confirmed Mercedes-AMG GT4 entries for ADAC GT4 Germany. Breitmotion will run two cars, one for the father-son duo of Oliver and Lukas Mayer and the other for Jan Philipp Springob and Maximilian Mayer. Dupre Motorsport will join the series with a single Mercedes for 19-year-old Jacob Erlbacher and a yet-to-be-announced second driver.

***Revolution Race Cars is running an art car contest, giving fans the opportunity to design the color scheme for one of the Revolution A-Ones that will compete during the FIA World Endurance Championship weekend at Spa on Aug. 15. The Revolution class of the UK Sports Prototype Cup will share a grid with the Britcar Dunlop Endurance Championship as a support race to the WEC event. Art car designs can be submitted on the Revolution Race Cars Facebook page.

Daniel Lloyd contributed to this report