WEC gets back to business this weekend from Imola
Whilst the opening round of the season and global debut of the Heart of Racing Valkyrie from Qatar back in late February is all but a distant memory, the benefits of the team running parallel programmes with the car over in the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship gives the team additional performance data coming into this six-hour round from Imola in Italy.
Having skipped the Daytona 24 in favour of additional test and development time ahead of the cars debut in Qatar, that round saw the #009 car of Marco Sorensen, Alex Riberas and Roman De Angelis take eventually take the chequered flag whilst their #007 car of Harry Tincknell, Tom Gamble and Ross Gunn was blighted by the inevitable first round technical issues.
With Qatar being an extended ten-hour affair, this six-hour round from Imola will take both the #007 and #009 cars down to just two drivers as the two IMSA based GTP drivers of De Angelis and Gunn step aside this time having raced their IMSA equivalent together last weekend in the first IMSA sprint race around the street circuit of Long Beach, California to gain the cars best finish to date.
Since Qatar, the Valkyrie has raced at both the 12Hours of Sebring and at Long Beach in addition to a twenty-four-hour test in Florida after the Sebring event with the car now also benefitting from improved Balance of Performance parameters ahead of this weekend’s event.
Joining them on track will also be the two Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3’s from both the Heart of Racing and Spirit of Leman Partner team stables as both the #27 and #10 crews look to quickly improve upon their mid class finishes from Qatar.
The entry list shows no changes within either car as Ian James returns to his #27 car alongside Zacharie Robichon and Mattia Drudi who both enjoyed a positive WEC racing debut togther to bring the familiar blue liveried Vantage LMGT3 home P6 in class.
That is the same for the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman entry for both Derek DeBoer and Eduardo Barrichello who also debuted within the championship alongside AMR factory driver Valentin Hasse-Clot from their step up from the GT3 based European Le Mans Series for a P9 result from Losail.
That is the same for the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman entry for both Derek DeBoer and Eduardo Barrichello who also debuted within the championship alongside AMR factory driver Valentin Hasse-Clot from their step up from the GT3 based European Le Mans Series for a P9 result from Losail.
Excluding success handicaps, the Vantage LMGT3 platform also benefits from an enhanced BoP with power benefits available below 200kph plus reduced base weight and additional energy being available to the drivers.
Free Practice around the 4.9km circuit will begin on Friday before the final Free Practice and Qualifying later on Saturday with a green flag wave off to the race at 13:00hrs local on Sunday.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Wednesday, April 16, 2025 |
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Two Aston Martin GT3s for the second round of the 24H Series from Spa Francorchamps
Two Aston Martin Racing powered crews this time grace the grid of Spa Francorchamps this weekend as the Creventic ran 24H Series hosts its second round of their European Series at the Belgian circuit.
Last time out from Mugello a month ago saw the Spanish based E2P Racing run their first race within the series with their new Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 Evo until gearbox and transmission issues arising after returning to the track after an innocuous looking spin off in the wet saw the #90 eventually withdrawn from the race.
Drivers Pablo Burguera, Antonio Sainero and Oliver Campos return to the #90 car for this customary two-part twelve-hour race over both Saturday and Sunday.
Joining them at the circuit for this event will also be the #40 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 Evo from the Comtoyou Racing team as they return to the Creventic family of series after their recent encounters within the Dubai 24hrs.
That car will be driven with a diverse line up of Frenchman Frederic Jousset, Mexican Sebastian Alverez and Brazilian Sergio Sette Camara amongst a mixed class entry of thirty-six cars.
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Wednesday, April 16, 2025 |
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A reduced FFSA GT4 grid still features up to two Aston Martins for Nogaro opener
Kicking off again this weekend from Nogaro, the series will witness just a sixteen strong entry for the opening two races of the season at least but at least there are (hopefully) two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 contenders from the Mirage Racing team within their midst.
Again, double stinting both the FFSA GT4 Series and the GT4 European Series sees the #7 AMR Vantage GT4 of Stanislav Safronov and Alexandr Vaintrub return for another attempt at the Pro-Am crown having finished a disappointing sixth in class at the end of last season. Whilst they had six other Pro-Am classed crews to battle against last season, this year’s deduction to just the Am and Pro-Am classes sees the workload increase at least eight other crews with one crew's race status still to be determined.
The sister #5 Mirage Racing AMR Vantage GT4 of Jodie Sloss has now been confirmed to include last seasons Am Champion David Levy. We know that Sloss entered the early rounds of the UK based GT Cup Championship last season with Forsetti Motorsport to with great results alongside Rianna O’Meara-Hunt, but we wait to see if this entry is much of the same as last season or that of a full season effort for the Scotswoman.
Like most SRO sanctioned series globally, this series will run individual qualifying ahead of race one on Saturday before the concluding race later on Sunday.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Wednesday, April 16, 2025 |
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Win some - lose some for the two ad-hoc AMR runners in GT Americas visit to Long Beach
Speaking with Max Hewitt, he confirmed that Long Beach was never upon his agenda with that venue being a street-based circuit in his first full season of GT4 racing and much was probably the case for Prosport Competition GT4 runner Tim Savage as well.
That left both AMR Vantage GT3 (SRO3) entries from both the Heart of Racing and Racers Edge stables for their bronze rated side of their GTWCAm side of things for drivers Gray Newell and Jason Bell respectively, as both drivers looked for more credible seat time within the cars ahead of their next round from CoTA.
Well, at least that was the plan as an early banker qualifying lap for race one from Newell ended up being the pole position time within a red flag affected fifteen-minute qualifying session. That saw the young man gain his first ever GT3 based pole position within his #24 car whilst Bell was scored P13 within his #2 car.
However, Bell would not start the opening forty-minute race with a clutch issue leaving Newell to fend for himself around the streets of Los Angeles as the lights went green for the first time. Losing early ground to race veteran Sofronas within his Audi. Defending hard after that, Newell maintained his P2 position for much of the race before being passed by the #29 BMW at the halfway point.
After that, Newell was able to keep hold of the final podium position despite having to deal with GT4 traffic and chasing Porsches for what we thought to be the final uneventful minutes of the race, but racing is never over till its over. Despite losing P3 to the chasing Porsche, an issue with the race leading Audi saw that car stop on track just yards away from the finish line for Newell to recover a P3 finishing position after all.
Race 2 would start according to fastest laps posted within race one which would mean a P6 start for Newell and P14 for Bell who would this time take the start but a mistake from Newell at the water fountain for the first time saw his car mount the kerb, hit the side of the Corvette to spin around to nose into the shrubbery of the water feature.
Whilst he got going again, he was still only one GT3 car place behind the #2 car of Bell who was running P12 at the time but both Astons would be forced to visit pit lane for damage at the end of the opening lap and whilst both would come back out, they had already dropped a lap to the leaders.
A further visit to pit lane for Bell would compound a sour return to a return to a series where he won two GT4 driver championships as he would eventually bale from the race with seven minutes still remaining. Despite pushing hard since his visit to pit lane, Newell was unable to recover any ground lost to finish the day P11 overall.
Photo credits – Teams / Series
Photo credits – Teams / Series
Monday, April 14, 2025 |
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D'Station Racing taken out of class contention at a rain affected Super GT opener from Okayama
After a combined qualification runs from both Charlie Fagg and Tomonobu Fujii, the P2 start within their GT300 class for this 300km opening row proved itself to be thwarted by the results of others within the rain affected opener.
Heavy and persistent rain at the start of the race lead to a rightly cautious start but even that lead to a race delaying multiple GT500 car incident on only lap five of the race that saw the race red flagged during the clear up operation.
After the restart, all was running well for the #777 crew in the lead of the class until their car was tapped into a spin and into the gravel trap by the #4 Mercedes AMG on lap 22 of the eighty-two-lap race from which they would never recover.
After the restart, all was running well for the #777 crew in the lead of the class until their car was tapped into a spin and into the gravel trap by the #4 Mercedes AMG on lap 22 of the eighty-two-lap race from which they would never recover.
Despite being able to run at a pace comparable to that of their peers, the time lost by the car being recovered back to the track left the car back in P24 in class at the end as the team now look ahead to their local round from Fuji Speedway later in May.
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Monday, April 14, 2025 |
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Valkyries best performance so far after latest IMSA round from Long Beach
Hot on the heels of a highly-respectable ninth-place result at the 12 Hours of Sebring last month – the first points finish of any car built to hypercar regulations in the history of IMSA competition – the British high-performance brand’s all-new Valkyrie went one better by finishing eighth after a competitive showing across the event.
Aston Martin The Heart of Racing Team and its drivers Ross Gunn – an IMSA GTD Pro class winner at Long Beach – and Roman De Angelis, the 2022 IMSA GTD champion, made gains in Friday practice and then achieved a best-ever 11th place in qualifying, just a tenth of a second shy of the top 10, on what was only Valkyrie’s third start and its second in IMSA’s GTP division, but a faultless and reliable run through the 100-minute race (the shortest on the IMSA calendar) was rewarded with an eighth-place finish.
The first ‘Le Mans Hypercar’ to be produced by Aston Martin, Valkyrie is the only car in IMSA’s premier GTP category derived from a road-legal hypercar. The British contender is also the first LMH car of any kind to compete in IMSA, and the only one contesting both IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship simultaneously, having made its debut in the Qatar 1812km in February.
Valkyrie’s US debut season, masterminded by the works Aston Martin THOR team at Sebring, has already produced an encouraging pair of top-10 finishes on circuits recognised as some of the world’s most demanding.
Source material – Aston Martin
Monday, April 14, 2025 |
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Solid start to the GT4 European campaign for the four AMR Vantage entries from Paul Ricard
This season sees just four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered entries with two cars apiece from each of the Mirage Racing and Racing Spirit of Leman teams.
Working this time around the track requirements of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup six-hour opener from the circuit on Saturday, the GT4 field found themselves with race on Sunday after the dual qualifying sessions earlier on Saturday.
The #7 Mirage Racing Pro-Am entry of Stanislav Safronov and Alexandr Vanintrub were the best performing AMR car during Q1 starting from P9 on the grid with the sister #5 car of Ruben Del Sarte and Roberto Faria just behind in P11. The #39 RSLM car of Baudouin Detout and Clement Seyler was next best in P13 overall whilst the #74 RSLM car of Will Orton and David Kullmann suffered the effects of one mistake on track to drop them way down in P41 overall.
Under cloudy morning conditions, the 2025 got underway with the #7 car running well in P7 overall, second in class as the hectic pace of the opening laps finally calmed into a rhythm. Stanislav, however, would quickly be consumed by the chasing pack as he was forced to pit with technical issues even before the start of the compulsory pit stop window had begun.
By the time that window had opened, it was the sister #5 car of Faria leading the remaining three Astons from P6 with Detout just within the top ten and Orton still within his recovery drive from his earlier Qualifying mistake.
With the second driver now taking charge, there was little progress for either the #5 or the #39 cars as they become embroiled amongst equally abled silver grade drivers but there was significant progress from Kullmann who elevated his #74 car up to P16 overall at the end. The #5 Mirage would eventually finish P8 overall with the #39 RSLM P9.
Sunday afternoons second race was much of the same but this time all four Aston’s gave themselves a chance with top ten qualifying slots.
Still the sun was struggling to make an appearance as low double digit ambient temperatures and a persistent Mistral wind make their marks upon the grid as some cars took to some extra ordinary racing lines around the first three to four corners of the opening lap before the first Full Course Yellow of the season brought the proceedings to a temporary halt due to a stranded car at the end of the lap.
Due to that Safety Car restart, that left just a twenty-minute dash for the drivers aboard before the pit window again came into play as Luxembourger Seyler lead the AMR powered field from his P7 position at the end of his stint. Coming out the other side of the pit window, none of the Aston Martins would figure within the top five in each of their two classes but only just with Detout in P6 within silver.
Racing out their final laps would see the #39 car finish top in P7 overall and with their sister #74 car just behind in P9. The P5 Mirage car would round off the top ten within silver whilst the #7 Pro-Am Mirage car finished P18 overall but P5 in class this time around.
A good start to the season with plenty of learning points to move along with as the series looks at its ahead to its next round from Zandvoort in a months’ time.
Photo credit – Team / Series
Monday, April 14, 2025 |
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Another positive showing for one but point lost for the other as IMSA went to Long Beach California
The second round of the IMSA championship for the GTP classed Valkyrie (having skipped the season opener from Daytona) saw the HoRT set about their first sprint race of the season with their parallel GTP and GTD programmes as the #27 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTD looked to continue its podium winning string of success enjoyed over the opening two rounds.
Being just a one-hundred-minute race on Saturday, both #23 Valkyrie and #27 GTD cars ran with just a pair of drivers as Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis took charge again of the GTP whilst Tom Gamble and Casper Stevenson again piloted the #27.
Both cars set off slowly within the opening Free Practice session whilst the #27 picked up the pace slightly in the second, with the #23 still about 2.5 seconds off the pace as Gunn and Gamble took their cars into Qualifying. That set the grid with the Valkyrie again sitting at the back of the GTP class whilst Gamble would benefit from a second row P3 starting position.
Under near clear blue skies and warming sunshine, the split grid got underway for its third-round race with (surprisingly) no significant incident or accident on the opening laps. Whilst Gunn would hold station in P11, Gamble would at least have the opportunity to move up to second in class before the race settled into its natural rhythm amongst the twenty-seven-car entry.
Ten minutes in and the faster GTP cars were already catching the GTD cars, but Gunn had to be cautious as Race Control had already warned the team that their car was exceeded its maximum power availability within those opening laps.
Under near clear blue skies and warming sunshine, the split grid got underway for its third-round race with (surprisingly) no significant incident or accident on the opening laps. Whilst Gunn would hold station in P11, Gamble would at least have the opportunity to move up to second in class before the race settled into its natural rhythm amongst the twenty-seven-car entry.
Ten minutes in and the faster GTP cars were already catching the GTD cars, but Gunn had to be cautious as Race Control had already warned the team that their car was exceeded its maximum power availability within those opening laps.
Twenty minutes in and the first Full Course Yellow was thrown as a GTD car nosed itself into the tyre wall at turn eight. Despite the car eventually freeing itself and continuing, this period of caution would again become another long-drawn-out affair that eventually (once the pit lane was opened) allowed most of the GTP cars to pit for fuel and driver change as that crucial part of their strategy had already been met time/distance wise.
That placed De Angelis behind the wheel of the #23 in P8 with a fuel only stop whilst the GTD cars circulated a few more times to burn up their minimum drive times. Having been circulated P2 prior to the FCY, Gamble was kept out for one further lap relative to his peers but that and a delayed stop placed Stevenson down to P9 when he eventually emerged.
Back to green just before the hour remaining mark and whilst De Angelis would be struggling for traction out of the corners, Stevenson would have the #85 GTP car cut across him – putting himself into a spin and into the tyre wall and leaving the Aston Martin with query steering damage (although he continued). That incident brought out a second FCY.
Getting back to green with just over half an hour left, the #23 was valiantly holding onto P8 in class whilst the #27 was still down in nineth with little chance of either catching or passing the respective cars in front. With the chequered flag, it was another job well done within the Valkyrie camp as everything continued their pathway along the cars learning curve with another finish, but it was point lost for the #27 crew having ran so well in the opening phase of the race as they drop down to third within the Driver’s Championship standings.
Next stop for IMSA will be from Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Sunday, April 13, 2025 |
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D'Station Racing this time fully prepared for the start of the 2025 Super GT Series this weekend
Last season saw a new car with the AMR Vantage GT3 Evo, a non-regular driver pairing as well as racing in amongst the most competitive tyre battle between manufacturers that any main series can offer today and whilst there were many signs of success, the overall package lacked the required level of consistency.
For this year’s eight round season, the team’s #777 Vantage GT3 will again be driven by team manager Tomonobu Fujii and their former World Endurance Championship silver ace Charlie Fagg – the pairing that saw out most of last season togther which also saw them secure their first, class win.
Starting this weekend from Okayama, the #777 will compete amongst twenty-seven other GT300 class runners as well as the small but much faster GT500 runners for this 300km race.
Starting this weekend from Okayama, the #777 will compete amongst twenty-seven other GT300 class runners as well as the small but much faster GT500 runners for this 300km race.
Changes to the qualifying sessions on Saturday will now see the larger GT300 class split into two session of fourteen cars, for which the #777 will be in Group B this weekend ahead of Sunday’s race.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Thursday, April 10, 2025 |
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GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup starts this weekend with six AMR Vantage GT3 crew amongst it (UPDATED)
For the majority, two of the teams are returning members of the 2024 campaign that saw the then new AMR Vantage GT3 Evo take to the track for the first time during which the #7 Comtoyou Racing entry of Mattia Drudi, Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen upset the ‘applecart’ by securing the overall win at the Spa 24.
This trio returns this season to lead the charge again for the Belgian ran team and Aston Martin Racing within the Pro class whilst also offering two further entries in both the silver and bronze classes for two young and exciting driver line ups.
Matisse Lismont and Kobe Pauwels also return to the team and series where this time, their #21 silver class car will be partnered alongside last season’s AMR Drivers Academy Winner and British GT GT4 Silver Champion in Jamie Day. He has spent the winter months improving upon his limited GT3 racing experience to great effect within both the Dubai 24 and Asian Le Mans Series.
The team’s third car is an all-new bronze affair as last season’s Beechdean AMR British GT racer and Aston Martin F1 Ambassador Jessica Hawkins gets her first European flavoured GT3 experience alongside SRO GT4 graduate Antoine Potty alongside SRO GT2 graduate Alexandre Leroy.
The German based Walkenhorst Motorsport also return to the Endurance Cup with a 2025 two car effort in both Pro and silver with Henrique Chaves and David Pittard again pairing up within the #34 Pro entry but with Christian Krognes taking the place of Ross Gunn whilst the team’s #35 silver entry will again see Romain Leroux within the car but this time alongside FFSA GT4 silver Champion Matteo Villagomez and Lamborghini Super Trofeo runner up Oliver Soderstrom.
Both cars enter the 2025 with a complete livery change to last season, something first seen at the opening round of the NLS a few weeks ago.
The sixth car will probably be the one that grabs most of the opening headlines that’s to its association with a certain F1 driver as the 2 Seas Motorsport prepared AMR Vantage GT3 Evo from the Verstappen.com racing stable makes their GT World Challenge Europe debut.
Having already embarked up an intensive winter test programme, the team finally came back to confirm drivers Thierry Vermeulen, Chris Lulham and Harry King will compete within the #33 gold class entry in this opening adventure.
Their track action will begin on Friday with bronze testing, Free Practice and pre-qualifying before moving onto individual qualifying sessions on Saturday morning before the start to their four-hour race at 18:00hrs local.
UPDATE
Today sees Lismont now confirmed with the Stellar Motorsport Corvette, so his place within the #21 Comtoyou Racing AMR Vantage GT3 has been taken up by Nicolas Baert alongside Kobe Pauwells and Jamie Day.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Wednesday, April 09, 2025 |
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Just four Aston Martin GT4s take the start within this weekends 43 car strong GT4 European Series opener
Unlike the heady days of years gone by when Aston Martin powered participation within the series featured entries in the low double digits, this season sadly sees just four crews from two teams take the plunge into this six round season that starts in France before moving across to Zandvoort, Spa Francorchamps, Misano, the Nurburgring before concluding at their more customary circuit of Catalunya near Barcelona.
French based Mirage Racing were the first to confirm their quartet of drivers as Ruben Del Sarte returns to both team and series, this time alongside Roberto Faria within the silver class as well as Pro-Am pairing Stanislav Safronov and Alexandr Vaintrub returning to what they know best from last year too.
Those two AMR Vantage GT4 Evo entries will now be complemented by a similar pair from the Swiss based Racing Spirit of Leman team who now return with two silver class entries for both Baudouin Detout, Clement Seyler and David Kullmann and Will Orton.
Whilst both Detout and Kullmann are team/series returnee’s, Orton makes the natural progressive step up from the British GT Championship where he drove the Forsetti Motorsport AMR Vantage GT4 alongside Marc Warren to narrowly miss out upon the class title at the end.
Seyler, we remember from his early GT4 European Series days within the Street Art Racing Vantage GT4 where he and Pascal Bachmann secured the Am class title. Since then, the Luxembourger has competed within both GT4 and GT3 series within the SRO Europe family.
Going into this opening two race weekend, the likes of Faria, Detout and Kellmann come race ready having already participated within the Iberian Supercars Series, GT4 Winter Series and Ultimate GT Series respectively over the previous couple of months.
The forty-three strong entry will hit the Le Castellet track for the first time tomorrow with private testing before Free Practice on Friday, Pre-Qualifying and Qualifying on Saturday before two, one-hour races on Sunday.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Wednesday, April 09, 2025 |
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Back to the ADAC GT4 Germany Series for a Prosport Racing two car effort
This news sees former and multiple GT4 Germany Series champion Hugo Sasse back behind the wheel of one of Christoph Esser’s older 17A variant of the Vantage GT4 alongside that of Roman Fellner-Feldegg.
The second car sees one of the team’s more regular Nurburgring Langstrecken Serie racers Marek Bockmann swap the team’s Vantage GT3 in favour of the GT4 to pair up with Anton Abee within the sister car.
Both Fellner-Feldegg and Abee have already seen racing action together after the team entered a Vantage GT4 for them within the final round of the GT4 Winter Series from Barcelona at the beginning of March.
Both Fellner-Feldegg and Abee have already seen racing action together after the team entered a Vantage GT4 for them within the final round of the GT4 Winter Series from Barcelona at the beginning of March.
This news comes alongside their three car AMR entry within the NLS as previously confirmed.
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Tuesday, April 08, 2025 |
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A change in entry for the AMR powered GT America Series for the visit to Long Beach this weekend
Having just started the 2025 campaign at what was a rain swept race weekend from just up the road in Sonoma a couple of weeks ago, a twenty-one strong mixed GT4, GT2 and GT3 entry is something to look forward to as the solo bronze rated driver races always brings along a certain degree of excitement.
For this round, there has been a change to the entry list of Sonoma with just the #39 Van Der Steur Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 of Max Hewitt remaining the constant after his P2 and P1 finish in class at his series debut. Whilst having practised for the likes of Sonoma within his earlier GT4 Winter Series races, the demands of a street circuit will take the young American back to his karting and single seaters days as reference.
We do not see the #007 Prosport Competition AMR Vantage GT4 of Tim Savage (he tends to stay away from events that do not interest him) but we do this time welcome two AMR Vantage GT3 entries from both the Heart of Racing and Racers Edge Motorsport teams.
Both drivers, Gray Newell and Jason Bell respectively take a step back to their GT racing routes within the GT America Series as they continue to develop and build up racing seat time within the early parts of their 2025 GT World Challenge America Series commitments that continues from the Circuit of the Americas in two weeks’ time.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Tuesday, April 08, 2025 |
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