Endurance Weekly: 2nd - 8th October
- DIVEBOMB Endurance Team
- 18 hours ago
- 5 min read
This week on Endurance Weekly, the DIVEBOMB endurance team looks ahead to the IMSA Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS) 10 and the GT World Challenge Europe (GTWC EU) Endurance Cup at Barcelona. The team also recaps all of the news stories you may have missed during the week.
IMSA - Petit Le Mans - Preview
The final round of the IMSA calendar, the 10 Hours of Motul Petit Le Mans, is set to take place this Saturday from 12:00 pm until 10:00 pm track time (EST) at Road Atlanta. Qualifying is set to start at 3:15 pm track time on Friday.
There are 53 entries this weekend between all four classes. There are 12 entries in GTP; the No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche is absent once again after sustaining massive damage to their car’s chassis at Watkins Glen. The typical 12 entries in LMP2 will be competing this weekend. In GTD PRO and GTD, there are 10 and 19 entries, respectively.
The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport holds the lead in the standings of GTP, followed by the No. 7 Porsche Penske. The No. 24 BMW M Team RLL car sits in third place, but is only 14 points back of the No. 7 and could see a reversal after this race.
The No. 77 AO Racing car holds a decent lead of 85 points over the second-place No. 22 United Autosport USA for the championship in LMP2. The No. 22 has a better record at the endurance events this season, but AO Racing’s consistency is increasingly tricky to beat.
Both AO Racing cars will be sporting a special Halloween skeleton livery this weekend at Road Atlanta.
In GTD PRO, there is a close battle for the championship between the No. 3 Pratt Miller Corvette and the No. 81 Dragonspeed Ferrari. Coming into this weekend, they are separated by just 18 points after a fantastic second half of the season by the Dragonspeed.
In GTD, the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes is in the lead for the championship ahead of the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin. The Heart of Racing team will look to have a better result at Petit Le Mans after finishing in P11 from pole last time out.
The changes in Balance of Performance for GTP are minimal; however, there have been some adjustments to the Minimum Weight Allowance. Acura has been given an 8 kg addition to their minimum weight after the No. 60 had a podium outing at Indy. The Porsches were given a -6kg reduction, which will give them a slight edge after a series of unremarkable outings.
For the GT cars, both the BMWs and the Ferraris got a huge +12kg increase in minimum weight. The Ferraris in particular have had a great run of form lately, taking a double podium at Indy. This may affect the Dragonspeed’s battle for the championship in GTD PRO.
The winner of the Bob Akin award will be decided this weekend. Brendan Iribe in the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari and Orey Fidani in the No. 13 AWA Racing Corvette are currently tied for the win, and will be giving it their all to hopefully secure an entry at the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans.
NLS 10 - Preview
This weekend will host the final round of the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS) in 2025, satisfyingly with a 100 car entry list. Having been absent for the first time in NLS 9, the No.3 and No.4 Falken Motorsport Porsches will return, having been the team to beat for the rest of the season.
Racing with the Porsche 911 GT3 R has contributed to the Falken Motorsports success this season; the Porsche has won seven of the nine rounds to have taken place. Many will argue they should have won eight of these races, however Julien Andlauer crashed the No.3 car from the lead with only a handful of laps left.
Frank Stippler will once again do the double, competing with the No.6 HRT Ford and the No.8 JUTA Racing Audi. While the Falken cars have been the team to beat, Stippler has been the driver to beat - unsurprisingly considering he's won the Nürburgring 24h race three times. The SP9 class is completed by four other GT3 cars.
Like all NLS races, NLS 10 will last four hours on Saturday 11th October. Action will take place at 12:00 German time (10:00 GMT) and will be available to stream on YouTube.
GTWC EU - Barcelona - Preview
The final round of the GTWC EU 2025 will happen this weekend in Barcelona, and fans will have to wait another couple of months until the 2026 season starts. While the sprint rounds are all complete, the final round will be a three hour endurance race at 15:00 local time (13:00 GMT) on Sunday.
To watch qualifying, fans will need to tune in at 10:25 GMT. Three qualifying sessions will take place, each driver will participate in one session and an average lap time will be taken to decide the grid.
Having missed his chance to win the DTM Championship last weekend, Lucas Auer has a good chance to take the GTWC EU Endurance and Overall Drivers Championships. Coincidentally, the Austrian driver leads both championships by five points - although tied with teammates Maro Engel and Matteo Cairoli in the Endurance Cup, and tied with Engel in the Overall Championship.
The three drivers closest rivals in the Endurance Cup are Sven Müller, Alessio Picariello and Patric Niederhauser. Niederhauser and Müller are also contenders for the Overall Cup, however Charles Weerts and Kelvin Van Der Linde split the Porsche from the Mercedes drivers.
Both Championships will be decided in Barcelona during the three hour race, however with such a minute gap separating the main protagonists it is impossible to predict the winners.
The Overall Teams’ Championship is also still alive, Team WRT lead it with 165.5 points, just seven points ahead of Team MANN-FILTER. Rutronik Racing can also win it, however they’re a further 11 points behind Team MANN-FILTER.
The Endurance Cup Teams’ Championship holds a similar picture, however Team MANN-FILTER are four points ahead of Rutronik Racing and Team WRT are 16 points behind.
It goes without saying the cars to keep an eye on are the Team MANN-Filter, Team WRT and Rutronik Racing cars, who will fight tooth and nail all weekend to take the Championship’s spoils.
Like the NLS, the GTWC can be streamed from YouTube.
News Recap
Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC)
Rossi confirmed for Indy 8 Hour
BMW has announced Valentino Rossi will be participating in the Indianapolis 8 Hour for this season's Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC), set to pilot the No.46 BMW GT3 EVO alongside Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts.
The MotoGP legend-turned-Silver-rated factory driver has been allowed to compete in the finale of both Intercontinental GT Challenge and GT World Challenge America seasons mainly due to a change in the sporting regulations for this year's round.
With the elimination of the IGTC Pro class, this resulted in all IGTC teams aligning with the American counterpart that mandate a Silver driver in each car for the GT3 category.
Robichon joins THOR Indy 8 Hour lineup
Zach Robichon will complete the driver line-up for The Heart of Racing (THOR) ahead of next weekend's Indianapolis 8 Hour.
Currently competing in the team's LMGT3 program for the World Endurance Championship (WEC), plus taking up driver duties in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup in its GTD entry, the Silver-rated driver will join forces with Darren Turner and Gray Newell in the Pro-Am class No.24 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.
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