Endurance Weekly: 1st - 7th August
- DIVEBOMB Endurance Team
- Aug 7
- 5 min read
Written by the DIVEBOMB Endurance Team
This week on Endurance Weekly, the DIVEBOMB endurance team looks back to the GT World Challenge Europe (GTWC EU) Sprint Cup at Magny-Cours and the previous IMSA event in Road America, as well as reporting on all of the breaking news stories you may have missed.
IMSA Review - Road America
The No.93 Meyer Shank Acura led from pole to start the race, Nick Yelloly weaving to get heat into his tyres. Straight away, the No.22 United Autosports USA car got into a high-speed crash that threw out the first caution of the day.
Soon after the green flag was waved, the No.70 Inception Racing Ferrari caught too much curb and spun into the barriers in turn seven, bringing out a full-course yellow once again. The strategic games began with this yellow, with the BMW and Corvettes splitting their strategy in GTD and every single LMP2 car coming into the pit.
Yelloly retained the lead on his second restart of the day, same as polesitter PJ Hyett in the No.99 AO Racing machine. After just a short stint of green, the yellow flags were waved once more when the No.52 PR1 Mathiason spun unassisted in turn 10.
On the restart, the leading No.3 Corvette was helped into a spin by the No.48 Paul Miller BMW in turn one. The No.4 Corvette was spun three corners later in a series of unfortunate events for the Corvettes.
After some scrambling in the pit lane, the No.6 Porsche Penske led the GTP field on the restart. With the return of the green flag following the short yellow, a slew of drive-through penalties were served by the following: the No.48 BMW, the No.60 Acura, and the No.9 Lamborghini.
The No.99 “Spike the Dragon” AO Racing car still led, piloted by Dane Cameron after their driver change.
After just 25 minutes of green-flag running, Nick Tandy in the No.7 Porsche Penske car ran Ricky Taylor in the No.10 Cadillac off the track. Although Taylor got back going shortly after with no damage, a full-course yellow came out once again.
The timing of this caution worked perfectly in the hands of the two BMW GTPs who had pitted to go to the end during green flag running. They cycled up to the top of the timing sheet, as all the other GTPs had to pit.
Huge battles in GTD Pro and GTD punctuated the end of a hectic Road America Sportscar Grand Prix. The winner of the GTD class was decided by a ballsy bout of contact with less than ten minutes to go by the No.021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari on the No.36 DXDT Racing Corvette.
After five full-course cautions and a total of one hour and 12 minutes behind the safety car, the BMWs took victory in both GTP with a 1-2 for the No.24 and 25 cars, and a maiden win for the No.1 Paul Miller in GTD Pro.
Spike the Dragon, the No.99 AO Racing car, took a second commanding victory in as many races in LMP2, now leading the championship standings. The Triarsi Competizione No.021 Ferrari took home victory, winning out in the battle with the No.36.
Read the full review here.
GTWC EU Review - Magny-Cours
The car to beat this weekend was the No.63 Grasser Racing Lamborghini, driven by Luca Engstler and Jordan Pepper. The car won the first race and finished second in race two, with the next best Lamborghini finishing 11th in race one and 16th in race two.
Across the weekend, Lamborghini had 25kg added to the Huracan as balance of performance (15kg before race one and 10kg before race two). Despite this, they nearly achieved a double win.
The No.63 led race one from pole, but sacrificed its lead with a slow stop. Having followed the No.96 Rutronik Porsche for most of his stint, Pepper made his move during a safety car restart with 12 minutes left. Although this was the No.63's first win in the Sprint Cup this season, they recently won the 24 Hours of Spa in the IGTC series.
The No.59 Garage 59 McLaren took pole for race two and its driver Marvin Kirchhöfer nailed the start. A comfortable lead in the first half of the race diminished when Ben Goethe took over. The Lamborghini challenged the McLaren for the next 30 minutes, but a solid defence prevented Lamborghini taking its second win.
Overtaking had proven to be difficult, but Engstler may have botched his best shot at winning, when the two cars went side-by-side into the first chicane.
The car on the outside (Goethe) went deep and cut the chicane, meaning he would have had to sacrifice the lead for gaining an advantage by leaving the track, however the Lamborghini also made a smaller cut - resulting in the McLaren not handing over the position.
Race two at Magny-Cours was the eighth sprint of the season, but the first time a car won two sprint races in 2025 - a testament to the series competitiveness.
The Overall Championship is now led by the pilots of the No.32 Team WRT BMW (Charles Weerts and Kelvin van der Linde). The Sprint Cup is also led by Weerts and van der Linde, but they're only a point and a half ahead of Goethe and Kirchhöfer.
GTWC EU action will return on the 29th August in the Nürburgring.
Breaking News
WEC
Nick Cassidy teases switch from Formula E to WEC
A collaborative Instagram post showing Direct Messages (DMs) between Peugeot and Nick Cassidy has teased a now-likely partnership between Nick Cassidy and Peugeot.
Although the DMs are an imitation of reality, it is clear talks between the two parties are far enough advanced for this to be a highly likely deal.
The 'flight to Austin' which Peugeot have booked for Cassidy is in reference to the Lone Star Le Mans race at the Circuit of the Americas on the 7th September.
Unsuccessful Lamborghini SC63 Programme 'paused'
Having competed in one season of WEC and a season and a half in IMSA, the Lamborghini SC63's time on track is coming to an end.
Before retiring, the car will compete in the final two IMSA Endurance rounds this year, however it is unclear if this will mark the end of the cars career, of if it could appear again in future years after 2026.
In its most recent race, the car took its best result to date at the 6 Hours of Glen, when it finished in seventh.
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