Endurance Weekly: 13th - 19th August
- DIVEBOMB Endurance Team
- Aug 20
- 7 min read
This week on Endurance Weekly, the DIVEBOMB endurance team looks ahead to the IMSA GT-only round at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) and the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) round at Spa. The team also looks back at NLS 6, and covers all of the news stories you may have missed during the week.
IMSA GT Challenge at VIR - Preview
The IMSA GTD PRO and GTD classes head to Virginia International Raceway this weekend for the IMSA GT Challenge. Qualifying is set to begin at 4:55 p.m. EST on Saturday, and the race will start at 2:10 p.m. EST on Sunday.
There are just 23 entries this weekend across the GT classes. 10 entries in GTD PRO and 13 in GTD.
The GT classes get the rare chance to fight for the overall win this weekend. This is the only race on the calendar where the GTs are truly showcased.
In GTD PRO, the No.3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports car still holds the championship lead, followed by the No.81 Dragonspeed Ferrari in second. The No.77 AO Racing Porsche finishes out the podium places.
In GTD, the No.57 Winward Racing Mercedes is leading, followed by the No.12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus and the No.27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin.
Following the wreckfest that was Road America, several teams will be seeking redemption this weekend. The No.36 DXDT Racing was pushed off the track from the lead with under ten minutes to go. Their driver pairing of Robert Wickens and Alec Udell will certainly be looking for a second chance this time out.
Both the No.3 and the No.4 Pratt Miller Corvettes will be hoping for a clean outing after being used as punching bags for the duration of the last race.
The BMW-Corvette manufacturer battle will be a prime focus of the weekend. Last time out, BMW took victory at Road America with a one-two in GTP and a win in GTD PRO. The Corvettes had a glaringly bad weekend due to bad luck, with their highest finisher at Elkhart Lake being the No.3 in fourth position. Currently, only 17 points separate BMW from Corvette at the top in the manufacturer standings.
There are a few significant changes in Balance of Performance (BoP) across the grid this weekend. The most notable change is a 16-kilo minimum weight allowance penalty to the BMWs. This is likely the direct result of their good outing at Road America two weeks ago. The Corvettes will receive a 7-kilo drop in minimum weight, which helps their chances.
With just three races remaining for the GT classes, teams will be looking to pick up some crucial points before the final two endurance races at Indy and Road Atlanta this season.
ELMS 4 Hours of Spa - Preview
It has been over a month since we've seen the ELMS take to the race track, but this weekend 44 LMP2s, LMP3s and LMGT3s will take to the historic Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps for four hours of scintillating racing.
13 of those will be LMP2s fighting for the overall win. Among the favourites are the No.48 VDS Panis and No.18 IDEC Sport cars, who are separated by just a single point at the top of the championship heading into the latter half of the season.
Charles Milesi, Esteban Masson and Oliver Gray in the former of the two cars certainly have the momentum, winning last time out in the 4 Hours of Imola with Jamie Chadwick, Daniel Juncadella and Mathys Jaubert not scoring at the event, and having a tough showing at Le Mans in June - although that isn't a championship round for ELMS/LMP2 cars.
12 points back in the championship is Jakub Smiechowski, Nick Yelloly and Tom Dillmann in the No.43 InterEuropol machine. Dillmann makes his return to racing after a scary accident while leading the IMSA round at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. The Frenchman underwent successful vertebrae surgery and is now ready to take to the track once again.
Those cars might not be able to battle all on their own however, with eight more LMP2 cars designated for the Pro/Am category. The No.99 AO by TF 'Spike the Dragon' leads that championship, with PJ Hyett, Dane Cameron and Louis Delétraz coming off the back of a win in Imola and a second at Paul Ricard.
Behind them, four cars are split by just five points heading into the weekend. The No.77 Proton has 44 points, the No.29 TDS has 42, with the No.20 Algarve Pro Racing (APR) and No.83 AF Corse on 41 and 39 points respectively.
Another 10 cars will contest for victory in the LMP3 class, with the No.17 CLX Motorsport car dominating. Adrien Closmenil, Paul Lanchere and Theodor Jensen have taken every pole position and race win, meaning they have scored 78 points out of a possible total of 78.
Victory this weekend would seal the title for the trio, with two races of the six race season still left to go.
Behind them however, it is all to play for. The next five cars in the championship are split by just 7 seven points, with three of those tied on 30 points. The No.88 InterEuropol crew hold a slim lead in the battle for second, with the No.68, No.31 and No.11 hot on their heels.
With the open nature of the battle behind the CLX car so far this season, a good result for any of the other nine squads could propel them up the order.
Finally we come to the last 13 cars in the LMGT3 class. We have yet another tight battle on our hands in this class, with the top six cars split by 10 points. The No.55 Spirit of Race Ferrari has a six point lead, and interestingly no wins or second places to their name yet.
The No.82 TF Sport Corvette is second after their win in Imola, tied with the No.85 Iron Dames Porsche. The No.51 AF Corse Ferrari is just a point back from those two, with the No.50 Ferrari a further point back. The No.60 Proton Porsche is another two points back in sixth.
Early weather forecasts show a small chance of rain for qualifying on Saturday, with little to no chance for rain during the race. However, the weather in the Ardennes region can be unpredictable at the best of times, so drivers and teams will have to come ready to tackle all weather conditions.
Qualifying gets underway at 12:30 local time on Saturday, with the green flag falling for the 4 Hours of Spa at 13:00 on Sunday.
NLS 6 - Review
The NLS 6 weekend got off to a typical Nürburgring start, as heavy fog lingered over the track during the morning. Qualifying for the six hour event was due to take place early in the morning, but due to the lack of visibility is was postponed to midday.
This meant the race had to be rescheduled and shortened to four and a half hours. Once the race did get underway, for much of the first stint it looked like we had a four way battle for the win on our hands between the two Falken Motorsports Porsches, the Black Falcon Porsche and the HRT Ford Mustang.
However, once Dan Arrow and Frank Stippler stepped out of their respective cars in the second stint, the No.3 and No.4 Falken cars began to pull out a lead at a rapid rate. Before the halfway point in the race the two cars lead over the No.6 Ford was over 90 seconds.
The No.4 of Dennis Marschall and Nico Menzel led for most of the early parts of the race, but soon Klaus Bachler and Sven Müller caught them. The two sister cars were separated by just metres on some of the tightest parts of the Nordschlife.
The No.3 eventually did get by, and won the race in the end by just over five seconds. The No.6 Ford completed the podium another four and a half minutes back. They were in turn almost two minutes ahead of the No.48 Black Falcon car. Those four were the only cars to finish on the lead lap.
News stories
WEC
Genesis complete first shakedown of GMR-001
Genesis Magma Racing has completed the first shakedown of its GMR-001 car, which is set to debut in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) in 2026.
Though the exact testing dates have not been revealed, it will conduct its early development work at Circuit Paul Ricard in the south of France.
IMSA
Logan Sargeant set to return to racing in IMSA
Former Williams Formula One driver Logan Sargeant will return to racing in the PR1 Mathiasen in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar championship.
In the LMP2 category, the 24-year old American will join forces with Naveen Rao and Benjamin Pedersen in the No.52 Oreca 07 for the final two rounds of the championship at Indianapolis and Road Atlanta.
Will Stevens and Norman Nato join WTR for Petit Le Mans
Norman Nato and Will Stevens will race in the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillacs for Petit Le Mans.
Nato will join forces with Louis Delétraz and Jordan Taylor in the No.40 Cadillac. This also marks the French driver's first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship start in seven seasons, having last raced at in 2018, also at Petit Le Mans.
Stevens, meanwhile, will pilot the No.10 Cadillac alongside Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor, as the Brit is set to make his Road Atlanta debut.
Currently teammates at Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA in WEC, Nato and Stevens will make their appearance at the final race of the season at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
IGTC
Suzuka 1000km entry list released
The latest edition of the Suzuka 1000km entry list has been released, with a number of updates boosting the grid to 33 cars for the Intercontinental GT Challenge fixture.
The most notable change from the provisional entry is the last month's addition of two BMW M4 GT3 EVOs for Team WRT. The German marque will now enter three cars in total.
SRO Japan Cup regulars Runup Sports and K-tunes Racing have included single entries each.
Porsche remains the largest manufacturer with 11 cars on the grid, followed by Mercedes-AMG with seven. Three Corvettes and a single Audi make up the remainder of the list.
Out of all 33 cars on the grid, the Bronze class has the biggest amount of entries with 12, only one entry ahead of the Pro division. The Pro-Am, Silver and Am classes feature six, three and one entries respectively.
Comments