Gounon to make Hypercar debut, Ford Mustangs' special livery, and Rocky back in GTP
Gounon gets call-up as Habsburg substitute, Mustang celebrates 60 years, Mike Rockenfeller gets Long Beach GTP run, and more in OE Founder Tim Fullbrook's summary of the week
A busy week in the build-up to the next rounds of the major sportscar season with IMSA and FIA WEC in action this weekend.
Here’s the stories you might have missed if you’ve been too busy texting friends that you’ll busy this weekend…
Gounon to make Hypercar debut as Habsburg sub
Jules Gounon will drive for Alpine at this weekend’s WEC 6H Imola as stand-in for the injured Ferdinand Habsburg.
The GT-ace was announced as the team’s reserve driver in February, but may not have expected a call-up to the race team as soon as the second round of the season.
The 29-year-old will replace Habsburg who suffered a heavy crash during testing at Aragón, leaving the Austrian with broken vertebrae.
Alpine scored points on their return to the WEC’s top class with Habsburg and team-mates Charles Milesi and Paul-Loup Chatin crossing the line ninth overall in Qatar, before subsequent disqualifications for the #93 Peugeot and #2 Cadillac promoted their #35 car to seventh.
Gounon’s Hypercar debut is also his first non-Le Mans race in the WEC, having twice raced for Risi Competizione in the GTE PRO class in 2019 and 2020.
Ford’s special GTD PRO livery to celebrate Mustang 60th
Ford unveiled a special livery that will be worn by the two factory Mustang GT3s for the next two IMSA races, as the American auto-giant celebrates 60 years of the Mustang name.
Take a closer look at the new colours here.
The new colours will be carried by the IMSA GTD PRO cars for the Laguna Seca and Detroit rounds of the 2024 season.
The design pays tribute to some of the iconic Mustangs to have graced the track over the past six decades; from the Jaguar-beating 1964 Tour de France Mustangs, to the Daytona 24H-winning 1987 Roush IMSA Mustang, to the 1997 Mustang Cobra Trans-Am that dominated the championship with 11 consecutive wins.
Rockenfeller makes GTP return with Proton at Long Beach
Mike Rockenfeller will partner Gimmi Bruni in the #5 Proton Competition Porsche 963 at this weekend’s IMSA round at Long Beach, as the German makes his return to the top-class.
With only GTP and GTD cars racing at the Californian street circuit, the current Ford factory Mustang driver isn’t clashing with his commitments to the Blue Oval, and after racing with JDC-Miller for the majority of 2023 with the 963, could prove a vital addition to the squad for the third round of the season.
The #5 car has previously been piloted by Neel Jani, Julien Andlauer, and Alessio Picariello, however all three have clashing commitments. Jani and Andlauer are racing with Proton’s Hypercar entry at Imola, and Picariello is racing in GTWC Asia.
COOL Racing’s new trio make their mark with win at ELMS opener
COOL Racing claimed a highly impressive victory and the opening round of the European Le Mans Series season at Barcelona, with a new driver trio in the #37 holding off defending champions Algarve Pro Racing.
Lorenzo Fluxa and Ritomo Miyata took to the top step of the podium on their debut appearance in the series, as the burning young talent Malthe Jakobsen proved once again his sportscar ability by holding off Cadillac factory driver Alex Lynn in the closing stages.
The Swiss-team’s first overall win was helped by some impressive fuel saving in the final stages of the race.
AF Corse took the first win of the season in the LMP2 Pro-Am class as they aim to defend their 2023 title, Team Virage win in LMP3, and Formula Racing Ferrari claimed the first LMGT3 win in the ELMS after inheriting the lead from the Iron Dames Porsche inside the last half hour.
Vanthoor joins Leung for Silverstone British GT round
Dries Vanthoor will make his British GT debut at the Silverstone 500 in April, partnering with Darren Leung in the Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT3.
The reigning GT3 champions departed from the series to focus on their GTWC Europe Bronze Cup entry, in which the now WEC LMGT3 driver Leung features, but return for a one-off shot at the three hour race.
“I’m very much looking forward to the race weekend at Silverstone,” said Vanthoor, who is a factory BMW Hypercar driver.
“It will be my first race in British GT, so it will be special and I am looking forward to racing in the UK. Looking at last year's performance from Darren and Dan, there’s not much we can do to do better than that, so for sure we will try and do the same! Hopefully we can have some good fun and a successful weekend together.”
Porsche continue NLS dominance with Qualifier race wins
Porsche have swept all four opening races of the Nürburgring Lanstrecken Series so far in 2024, adding a double-victory at last weekend’s N24H Qualifiers to continue their dominance at the Green Hell.
The #44 Falken Motorsports Porsche won both, four hour contests that comprise the final race-running before the 24H race in June. Falken strategy calls on Saturday allowed Tim Heinemen and Sven Müller to jump the dominant #16 Scherer Sport Audi late the race, before Nico Menzel and Martin Ragginger took over duties in the car and dominated the Sunday event.
In the two races Glickenhaus would finish 18th and 17th overall as preparations continue for the SCG004C’s return to the 24 Hour.
DXDT Racing take delivery of their Corvette Z06 GT3.R
DXDT Racing have got their hands on their customer Corvette Z06 GT3.R this week, as the North Carolina team prepare to debut the car in GTWC America in May.
The multiple-race winners in the North American series were announced as one of the select customer teams for the GM brand’s first GT3 racer, making the move away from Mercedes-AMG.
They also took the car for a spin at Sebring, in a stealthy all-carbon finish.
Racing this weekend…
🇮🇹 WEC - 6H Imola: The series reconvenes for the second round of the season at a brand new venue to the championship. Traffic, tyres, and qualifying will be all-important, and you wouldn’t want to miss watching the Hypercar field try navigating a feisty LMGT3 pack through Tamburello.
FP3 will be live streamed on YouTube, before Qualifying and the race are on WEC TV.
🇺🇸 IMSA - Long Beach: IMSA’s third rounds sees the GTP and GTD classes take to the iconic Long Beach circuit for the annual 100 minute shoot out. Last year, Porsche’s bold strategy choice saw the #6 car skip tyres at the pitstop, vaulting to the lead and bagging the first win for the 963 LMDh. Qualifying is on Friday evening, very late in Europe…
BUT IT’S ALL ON YOUTUBE! See below for the links!
And if you’ve scrolled this far, why not check out this reel about Peugeot and Audi going head-to-head at Imola:
Long Beach is on YouTube as long as you're not in North America....sigh. I wish they didn't make it so hard to try to follow sportscar endurance racing.