Weekly Racing Roundup (5.24.21)

Igoe, Keen Win British GT Opener at Brands

Michael Igoe and Phil Keen prevailed in the opening round of the 2021 Intelligent Money British GT Championship at Brands Hatch for Lamborghini team WPI Motorsport.

Igoe overtook pole-sitter Andrew Howard in the early stages and maintained his advantage through to the mid-race driver swaps, despite a pair of safety car periods keeping the GT3 front-runners in close order.

The leader was aided by a battle for second that saw Barwell Motorsport’s Leo Machitski get past Howard’s Beechdean Aston Martin Vantage GT3 at Surtees corner.

Keen inherited Igoe’s prime position around halfway and led the remainder of the two-hour contest despite initial pressure from Howard’s co-driver Jonny Adam.

The Beechdean Aston jumped the Barwell Lamborghini in the pits due to a GPS system fault that delayed the latter car and dropped it behind the No. 8 RAM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Ian Loggie and Yelmer Buurman.

Dennis Lind partly made up for Barwell’s setback by overtaking Buurman for third and setting the fastest lap, but the Dane couldn’t find a way past Adam.

GT4 honors went to Will Burns and Gus Burton who led a one-two for Century Motorsport’s pair of BMW M4 GT4s.

RESULTS: Brands Hatch

T2 Racing Takes First 24H Series Victory

Haegeli by T2 Racing beat Scuderia Praha to win the 12 Hours of Hockenheim and earn its first victory in 24H Series competition.

Marc Basseng brought the T2 Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R to the checkered flag just over 50 seconds clear of Josef Kral in the Scuderia Praha Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020.

Basseng teamed up with Manuel Lauck and Pieder Decurtins while Kral shared the runner-up spot with Matus Vyboh and Dennis Waszek.

Scuderia Praha led into the interval but lost its advantage to T2 Racing in the early stages of the second half. Different strategies meant the lead then cycled between T2, Scuderia Praha and Leipert Motorsport’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo.

The timing of the final Code 60 caution period of the race enabled T2 Racing to save time by pitting its Porsche accordingly, which decided the outcome of the lead battle.

Leipert took a podium on its first GT3 appearance since 2017 courtesy of Seb Morris, Fidel Leib, Tyler Cooke and Brendon Leitch.

CP Racing’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo finished fourth, 75 seconds behind Leipert, and ahead of three Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evos.

RESULTS: 12H Hockenheim

Other Racing Action

***Nobuyuki Oyagi, Takayuki Aoki, Kiyoto Fujinami and Natsutsuki Sakaguchi won the Super Taikyu Fuji 24 Hours in their DAISHIN Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3. That was the only GT3 car not to encounter major problems, as a KTM from the ST-1 category finished second overall. Results

***The Italian GT Endurance Championship kicked off at Enna-Pergusa where Mattia Drudi, Riccardo Agostini and Lorenzo Ferrari claimed top honors for Audi Sport Team Italia. Giancarlo Fisichella, Stefano Gai and Daniel Zampieri finished third on the road but were promoted to second after a post-race penalty for the top Imperiale Racing Lamborghini because of an overtake under yellow flags. Results

***WeatherTech Racing’s Cooper MacNeil swept the Ferrari Challenge North America weekend at Watkins Glen to continue his recent dominance in the championship.

News & Notes

***Rahal Letterman Lanigan racing last week broke ground on its new racing headquarters in Zionsville, Indiana. IndyCar’s Roger Penske and Mark Miles, IMSA President John Doonan and Zionsville mayor Emily Styron were among the guests.

***Phoenix Racing has declared its pair of privateer Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo driver lineups for the Nürburgring 24. FIA World Endurance GT champion Nicki Thiim will share a car with Michele Beretta, Kim-Luis Schramm and 2019 winner Frank Stippler. The other indepdendent Phoenix car will be driven by Jan-Erik Slooten, Max Hofer, Dennis Marschall and Vincent Kolb.

***Ricardo Sanchez is back with Madpanda Motorsport for this weekend’s Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup round at Paul Ricard. The Mexican is teaming up with full-season drivers Ezequiel Companc and Rik Breukers.

***Christian Deltombe has been appointed team manager of the Peugeot Le Mans Hypercar project. Deltombe, who was previously an engineer on the Peugeot 908 LMP1 program, most recently worked for Hyundai Motorsport in TCR and rallying.

On this weekend: Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup, GT4 European Series, Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe (all Paul Ricard)

This article was updated to reflect that the next Super GT round is due to take place at Motegi in July and not at Suzuka this weekend, as originally stated.