Motorsport News

The news emanating from the press conference in Mexico City was hardly unexpected. The announcement in July that Porsche would leave the WEC at the end of the season caused huge waves in the upper levels of the FIA and ACO, especially as the Stuttgart team had earlier said they were committed up to the end of 2018. Coming less than a year after Audi’s departure, the organisers were facing a barren season with just one manufacturer hybrid programme, which might not even cover

We take a look at the new proposals from the FIA WEC for the upcoming season changes from the end of the 2017 season. The organisers have been speaking about making the Le Mans 24 hour race the season closer for some time now, so no surprise that this will be the case going forward – the surprise being that in the 2018/19 season WEC will race 4 times around the clock at Le Sarthe. We have to remind ourselves that this is a transitional period and going forward the 48 hours

‘In any job, there's always going to come a day that can only be described as ‘a bad day at the office’… well today was a very bad day at the office for us at Clearwater Racing’ team Managing Director Arj Pillay Kulasegaram said after the 6 Hours of Mexico. The 61 Ferrari 488 GTE started from 4th in class with Weng Sun Mok holding on to that 4th place in GTE AM until 32 minutes into his stint when there was contact at Turn One with the 92 Porsche GTE PRO causing damage to

The Porsche LMP1 Team put on a commanding display today during the 6 Hours of Mexico Presented by AT&T, with the No.2 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber taking their third win of the season after a textbook race. The victory, which was Bernhard and Hartley’s second win in a row in Mexico, saw the trio extend their points lead to 41, with four races remaining in the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship campaign. In second place at the Aut

Both Porsche 919 Hybrids will start from the front row of the grid in Sunday’s six-hour race at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. The championship leading Le Mans winners, Earl Bamber (NZ), Timo Bernhard (DE) and Brendon Hartley (NZ) took pole position on a dry track. Grid position two for the fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) went to the crew of the reigning world champion Neel Jani (CH), André Lotterer (DE) and Nick Tandy (GB) in the s

Aston Martin Racing are poised to fight for GTE Pro and Am victory, after the team qualified on the front row in each class for tomorrow’s 6 Hours of Mexico. The #95 V8 Vantage GTE Pro of Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen will begin the fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship in second, after the pair found themselves battling throughout the session with the #71 Ferrari for qualifying honours. With the pair setting a combined average lap time of 1m39.534 – just 0.1

In a Friday afternoon press conference at the Mexican round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, series boss Gerard Neveu and ACO President Pierre Fillon unveiled the the new schedule, as well as a roadmap for the future, including revised LMP regulations for 2020. Provisional 2018-19 WEC Schedule: 5 & 6 April: The Prologue, Circuit Paul Ricard (FRA) 4 & 5 May: WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (BEL) 16 & 17 June: 24 Hours of Le Mans (FRA) 13 & 14 October: 6 Hours of F

Friday 1 September, Mexico City: Aston Martin Racing is ready to kick off the second half of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship, as the premier racing series touches down in Mexico City. After taking a GTE Pro double podium in 2016 - scoring a victory and third place - Aston Martin Racing will be hoping to claim yet another strong points-haul 12 months on. While the intense heat and 2,250m altitude of the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez challenged both the drivers and V8

There hasn't been a big change in what I'm thinking the weather will be in Mexico City this weekend for the WEC event, but my confidence is rising that the racing will be impacted by rain each day. A low pressure system will be taking shape in the Gulf of Mexico, just off the east coast of Mexico. This will produce an easterly flow through the low and mid levels of the atmosphere that will pump moisture toward the track all weekend, but especially Saturday and Sunday. With m

We’ve done it, the wait is almost over, the summer break only has a matter of hours left… ‘THANK GOODNESS’ we hear you cry! With round 5 of the FIA World Endurance Championship knocking on the garage door, we managed to sneak in 5 minutes with Clearwater Racing’s Managing Director Arj Pillay Kulasegaram as they prepare to get the second half of their debut season underway. You’ve gone into the summer break still leading the Championship. Did you think this was where you w

Perrinn appear to have called a halt to their LMP1 programme, favouring a Garage 56 entry in 2019 with a full electric car with autonomous mode. The Dacia branded LMP1 project looks to have been shelved as Perrinn, who had sold 2 LMP1 chassis for 2018 to ART Racing Services move instead towards a full electric car with an autonomous mode. Plans are for the car to run in the 2019 24hrs Le Mans race under the Garage 56 entry for alternative technologies. From what Perrin

IF…. and that’s a big ‘IF’ Porsche decide to leave the World Endurance Championship at the end of 2017, does this really mean the end of the Championship as some people are predicting? We at Prescott Motorsport think not! And if you are reading this post any announcement having been made from Stuttgart either to continue with their LMP1 programme or not, we still think not! We always knew in the back of our minds that this period of time prior to new regulations coming i

Last week’s three-day test at the Lausitzring (GER) heralded the next phase in the development of the new BMW M8 GTE. Following the roll-out on 1st July at BMW Plant Dingolfing, this was the first test outing for the BMW M8 GTE. BMW works driver Martin Tomczyk (GER) alternated at the wheel with BMW DTM driver Maxime Martin (BEL). BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt also attended the test. “To see the BMW M8 GTE on the racetrack makes me very proud. Everyone involved has d

Clearwater Racing leave the Nurburgring still leading the WEC in the GTE-Am class by finishing 4th in class!! Our race can only really be described as fraught....we lost 20 seconds during our first pit stop with a sticking seat belt. Unfortunately Weng then had his first off in more than 6 years at the high speed turn 5 but fortunately the car, very cooperatively, bounced harmlessly off the soft barriers and Weng was able to continue unscathed but we dropped more than a mi

Porsche put another hat trick in the record books by winning their third in a row 6 Hours of Nürburgring having taken the top spot in both 2015 and ’16. Timo Bernhard (DE), Earl Bamber (NZ) and Brendon Hartley (NZ) put the #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid into the lead for the final time after a quick splash and dash on lap 197, but in all honesty either of the 919’s could have won the race. Finishing a mere 1.606 seconds ahead of the sister, a 1-2 for Porsche on home soil can only be

Irish Racing Driver Matt Griffin is en-route to Germany for this weekends round 4 of the 2017 World Endurance Championship being held at the iconic Nurburgring circuit. Griffin returns with team mates Mok Weng Sun and Kieta Sawa in their Clearwater Racing entered, number 61 Ferrari 488 GTE. This weekend see the final round of the European leg of the World Endurance Championship, the rest of the championship will see races being held in Mexico, The USA, Japan and China, be

The opening day of on track action at Nurburgring will likely have some rain. A cold front will be moving across the area in the morning, but a high chance of rain will continue through the day as the upper level trough moves through. There is pretty good model agreement on this general pattern, so I have a high chance of rain at 70%. Rain amounts at this time appear to be between 0.15 and 0.3 inches, or between 4 and 8 mm. The upper level trough will be east of the area by

In just over a week’s time the FIA World Endurance Championship will begin its fourth round at the Nürburgring in the Rhineland-Palatinate region of Germany. Porsche will be looking for yet another hat-trick after winning here in both 2015 and 16, and looking to extend their lead in the Championship before the WEC family heads off for its summer break! Toyota will be hoping they’ve left the gremlins behind in France and can pick up on their pre-Le Mans winning streak by b

So the 85th edition of the Le Mans 24 hour race has been and gone! It was my 11th time at the race but my first time the other side of the fence. Whilst we are a growing website with some great news articles and images, even if I do say so myself, this does not guarantee your application to the ACO for media accreditation will be successful. However, after building a very good relationship with Clearwater Racing our application went in to the ACO and we waited…. Then, 18 da

The 85th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours was a crazy old race, and the shenanigans didn’t finish after the chequered flag either! At more than one stage throughout the 24 hours the possibility of an overall all LMP2 podium was looking like it might happen! Having spent over an hour in the pits during the 4th hour with a front axle drive issue, the #2 Porsche of New Zealander’s Earl Bamber and Brendon Hartley, and Germany’s Timo Bernhard most definitely looked like it’s race