Weekly Racing Roundup (4.17.23)

Junior Team Continues BMW’s Nürburgring Form

BMW continued its recent form at the Nürburgring as Dan Harper, Max Hesse and Neil Verhagen claimed the manufacturer’s third consecutive NLS victory on Saturday.

The factory trio, racing an RMG-prepared BMW M4 GT3 under the Junior Team banner, beat ROWE Racing’s works pairing of Marco Wittmann and Maxime Martin by 16.8 seconds in a one-two result for BMW.

Three different BMW teams have now won the opening three races of the NLS campaign after ROWE prevailed in the season-opener and Walkenhorst triumphed in round two.

Audi Sport Team Land completed the podium in the latest four-hour race with its factory lineup of Christopher Mies, Christopher Haase and Patric Niederhauser.

Verhagen started from the front row but was shuffled back to fifth in the early exchanges, as Frank Stippler hit the front early on for the Scherer Sport Team PHX Audi squad.

However, the American fought back to second before handing over to Harper, who seized the lead when he overtook David Pittard in the Frikadelli Racing Team Ferrari 296 GT3 at Schwalbenschwanz.

The RMG car remained at the head of the field as the strategies played out in SP9, with Hesse steering the Junior Team to its third NLS victory and its first since July 2021.

ROWE finished second and fourth, while the best Porsche 911 GT3 R was the No. 3 Falken Motorsports example in fifth. Pittard and Felipe Fernandez Laser ended up sixth.

RESULTS: ADAC Adenauer Trophy

Nissan Wins Super GT Opener as Red Flags Reign

Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda won the opening round of the new Super GT season for the NISMO Nissan squad in a chaotic race that included three red flags.

Quintarelli and fellow NISMO driver Katsumasa Chiyo settled into an early one-two at Okayama, but the arrival of rain resulted in both drivers dropping several positions.

However, the skies cleared again causing the track to dry up, and Quintarelli was able to climb back from sixth into the lead with a move on Toyota driver Sho Tsuboi into Turn 1.

The Italian handed his No. 23 Nissan Z GT500 over to Matsuda, who reacted to the return of the rain by diving into the pits for wets just before a safety car occurred for an incident involving two GT300 cars. A red flag then came out as the weather deteriorated.

Matsuda’s rivals ahead were still on slick tires, meaning they needed to pit for wets as soon as the race resumed, cycling him back to the lead.

NISMO held on for the remainder as worsening conditions impacted the race. The second of two further red flags yielded the suspension of the contest after 59 laps, with Matsuda declared the winner ahead of Chiyo’s co-driver Mitsunori Takaboshi.

Tomoko Nojiri and Toshikio Oyu completed the podium for the Aguri Honda squad, ahead of Toyota pairing Kenta Yamashita and Kazuya Oshima.

Top honors in the GT300 class went to Takashi Kobayashi and Syun Koide in Upgarage’s Honda NSX GT3 Evo22.

RESULTS: Okayama

More Racing Action & News

***The opening round of the Chinese GT Super Sprint Challenge season kicked off at Shanghai International Circuit last weekend. Li Lichao swept the event, winning both half-hour races at the wheel of Climax Racing’s Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II. Race 1 / Race 2

***Haupt Racing Team has confirmed its driver lineups for the upcoming Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS season, which starts with this weekend’s Endurance Cup opener at Imola. DTM driver Arjun Maini will team up with Sebastien Baud and Hubert Haupt in the Bronze-class No. 79 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo for the long-distance races, while Frank Bird and Jordan Love will share the No. 77 car in Sprint Cup.

***JP Motorsport is plotting a Nürburgring 24 and NLS program next year. The Germany-based team, which now runs under the Luxembourgish flag after previously representing Poland, has not stated what car it will use for its maiden Nordschleife program. It currently operates a stable of McLaren 720S GT3s.

***JP team principal Patryk Krupinski said: “We are happy that in 2024 we will be able to tick the Nordschleife off our bucket list and finally contest our first races there. We will communicate further details on the program at appropriate times in the coming months.”

***Audi Sport factory driver Christopher Haase will compete in International GT Open this year, sharing Eastalent Racing’s Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II with Simon Reicher.

***Markus Winkelhock is contesting the Thailand Super Series with Absolute Racing, starting this weekend at Buriram. The German driver will share the No. 55 Audi with Vincente Floriendo, reprising a partnership that entered the final two rounds of the previous season.

More News

***Reigning Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe champion Loris Spinelli will race in the Pro-Am class this year, teaming up with last year’s European and global Am class champion Andrzej Lewandowski. The pair will drive a Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 run by Vincenzo Sospiri Racing. VSR’s Pro duo is Mattia Michelotto and Gilles Stadsbader.

***Leipert Motorsport has also confirmed its Super Trofeo Europe lineups ahead of this weekend’s Monza season-opener, which is part of the GTWC Europe support bill. Brendon Leitch will race in Pro as a solo driver, while Yury Wagner and Patrick Matthiasen will form a pairing. Leipert is also running three entries in the Am division.

***The Fanatec GT2 European Series opens its third season at Monza. One of the main storylines heading into the new term is reigning champion Nicolas Saelens switching from Audi to KTM machinery. The Belgian driver has joined forces with last year’s runner-up Stefan Rosina at the True Racing by Reiter Engineering squad.

***Saelens’ co-champion Stienes Longin has remained with Audi team PK Carsport and will form a new partnership with Peter Guelinckx, who finished third in last year’s Pro-Am standings.

***Elsewhere, Nürburgring 24 winner and 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner Pierre Kaffer has joined the GT2 Europe grid. Kaffer will share LP Racing’s No. 18 Audi R8 LMS GT2 with Michael Doppelmayr. LP is also running last year’s Am champion Henry Hassid, who has stepped up to the top Pro-Am class in a new partnership with Anthony Beltoise, as well as GT2 platform creator Stephane Ratel.

***A total of 52 cars are signed up for this weekend’s GT4 European Series opener at Monza. 20 of those entries are competing in the Silver Cup class.

On this weekend: Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup (Monza), European Le Mans Series (Barcelona), N24 Qualifiers (Nürburgring)