GT News Notebook

NLS test disrupted by snow

This weekend’s NLS pre-season test has been affected by heavy snow in the area surrounding the Nordschleife (above).

“Due to the current weather conditions, there will be no test and set-up session today,” the Nürburgring social media channels revealed in a statement.

“However, the Nordschleife premiere in 2023 is only postponed. Tomorrow, driving is scheduled to take place on the Grand-Prix track and Nordschleife from 9 am to 5:30 pm.”

Multiple teams, including Falken Motorsports, opted to skip this weekend’s action once it became clear that adverse weather would be a factor.

Greystone signs Hopton and Hankey for McLaren Trophy

Greystone GT has announced that Mark Hopton and Euan Hankey will contest the all-new McLaren Trophy in 2023 aboard an Artura race car.

The all-British line-up are the third pairing to be named by Silverstone-based Greystone GT, joining Ron Trenka/Jon Lancaster and Iain Campbell/Oli Webb in the five-event series that will support the GT World Challenge Europe at some of the continent’s best-known circuits.

“Our McLaren Trophy line-up continues to go from strength to strength with Mark and Euan the third crew to be revealed,” said team principal Mark McLoughlin. “Mark’s progress has been extremely impressive to come from total novice to fighting for podiums and wins regularly in the GT Cup and in Euan he has a professional co-driver who’s probably driven more laps in McLaren racing cars than anybody else over the past few years. Together they make an extremely formidable combination that is more than capable of challenging for top results across the season.”

Heart of Racing expands programme

Heart of Racing will return to SRO with an expanded race programmne for the season, fielding two Aston Martin entries in Pirelli GT4 America, as well as a third Aston Martin in the 2023 GT America powered by AWS championship campaign.

The newest additions to the team’s programme are Rianna O’Meara-Hunt and Hannah Grisham, who will co-pilot the #26 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 in Pirelli GT4 America Am class. The GT4 campaign is the first full season of racing at this level for the young rookie lineup.

Team regulars Gray Newell and Ian James meanwhile will share the #24 Heart of Racing entry in Pirelli GT4 America, which features two 60-minute races each weekend with a two-driver format. The 2023 season marks the third for Newell and James, having earned two Pro/Am class podiums together in their 2021 campaign.

In addition to his Pirelli GT4 America program, Newell will kick off his third season in the #25 Heart of Racing entry in GT America. His first two seasons (2021 and 2022) saw the Washington native race to nine top-five finishes in GT America including his first win in 2021’s season finale at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Bonaldi joins GT Open pack

Bonaldi Motorsport will make its debut in the GT Open this season and campaign the full season with two Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2s.

The well-known Italian squad, based in Bergamo, was founded in 1992 and has been active and successful in many series, including the Italian GT, the Lamborghini Super Trofeo, and the ADAC GT Masters.

The two cars will be entered in the Pro-Am category. The first one is entrusted to the Croatian pair formed by Sandro Mur and Martin Kodrić. In the other car Serbian Miloš Pavlović and Pek Sanporn Jao-Javanil from Thailand will share the wheel.

Getspeed reveals Bronze trio

Getspeed’s Bronze category Mercedes AMG Gt3 will be driven by Patrick Assenheimer, Alex Peroni and Florian Scholze
in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.

Rutronik confirms NLS and N24 campaign

Rutronik Racing is set to compete in the NLS this season with a brand new 992 Porsche 911 GT3 R alongside its World Challenge Europe campaign.

For its campaign, which includes a commitment to NLS 1, 2 and 3 as well as the Nürburgring 24 Hours, it has signed Tobias Müller, Julien Andlauer, Matteo Cairoli and Dennis Olsen.

“The 24h race at the Nürburgring is one of the highlights on the German motorsport calendar,” says the team’s sporting director Klaus Graf. “We are very motivated to tackle the 24h at the Hatz with the new Porsche 992 GT3R. The preparation will be very intensive, as there is a lot to learn in just a few races in order to optimally prepare the car for the Nordschleife. Our very homogeneous driver quartet will give us a lot of support in this task.”