Spa

The 2017 Jaguar Classic Challenge season concluded at the historic Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium during the Six Hours of Spa race weekend, with the father and son pairing of Graeme and James Dodd taking their third victory of the five-race season in their 1963 E-type. A strong 33-car entry competed in the Belgian event, all pre-1966 Appendix K specification Jaguars. Andy Newall and Rhea Sautter put their 1961 E-type on pole during qualifying, more than two seconds ahead of Chris Milner and Nigel Greensall’s car. The Dodds started third, with Marcus Oeynhausen lined up alongside them on the second row of the grid.

Bentley Motorsport has finished in second place in the largest GT3 race in the world, the 24 Hours of Spa, with its #8 Continental GT3 and drivers Maxime Soulet (BE), Andy Soucek (ES) and Vince Abril (MC). With a carefully pre-determined race strategy, the Bentley Team M-Sport crew ran out-of-sync with many of the leading GT3 competitors for most of the race but the long-term gains came to fruition in the final stages of the 24-hour endurance event.

The gloves are off this weekend, as Aston Martin Racing prepares itself for its latest Spa-rring match; the 6 Hours of Spa-Franchorchamps. With the FIA World Endurance Championship field set to take on the circuit’s world-famous corners, including Pouhon, Blanchimont and the iconic Eau Rouge, Team Principal Paul Howarth is confident of a strong performance to add to the team’s vital championship points scored at Silverstone last time out.

The Jaguar Classic Challenge returns in 2017 with two brand new events confirmed in the five-race series for pre-1966 Jaguars. A new date for the Jaguar Classic Challenge calendar is the Silverstone Classic on 28-30 July. This special summer weekend will be the third round in the Challenge and is expected to draw a full grid of stunning classic Jaguar racing cars.

McLaren GT Factory Driver Alvaro Parente scored a double top-10 finish at the wheel of the K-PAX Racing 650S GT3 this weekend in the Pirelli World Challenge double-header at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. The results keep the Portuguese driver in the battle for the championship as the season now heads to Lime Rock Park in Connecticut. In Europe, fellow Factory Driver Côme Ledogar secured pole position and a podium on his championship debut as the 650S GT3 enjoyed more success at the second round of the 2016 International GT Open at Spa Francorchamps with customer team Garage 59. Parente rejoined customer team K-PAX Racing as he continued his title challenge in the 8th and 9th races of the 2016 Pirelli World Challenge season. At the historic 3.9-km Ontario-based circuit – which is notoriously difficult to overtake on – Parente qualified […]

The McLaren 650S GT3 was subjected to the most demanding test to date this weekend with two examples of the latest model from McLaren GT racing in the Total 24 Hours of Spa. Lining up against arguably the most competitive GT3 grid in the world with McLaren GT customer team Von Ryan Racing, drivers Alvaro Parente, Bruno Senna and Adrian Quaife-Hobbs brought the #59 650S GT3 home tenth in the PRO class, and 18th overall. The driver line-up announced for the 2015 season underlined the determination and commitment by Von Ryan Racing to compete in the Blancpain Endurance Series, but also to mount a viable attack on the championship. McLaren GT works drivers Rob Bell (UK), Kevin Estre (FR), Alvaro Parente (PT), Bruno Senna (BR) and Shane Van Gisbergen (NZ) join GP2 star Adrian Quaife-Hobbs (UK), and the resulting line-ups […]

The highly-anticipated Aston Martin Vulcan will attend the showpiece of the Blancpain Endurance Series, the TOTAL 24 Hours of Spa, this weekend (25 July) and will demonstrate its abilities as the ultimate track-only machine as it completes two flying laps of the world-famous circuit. With its 800-plus bhp powertrain developed in conjunction with Aston Martin Racing, the 7.0-litre V12 Aston Martin Vulcan will be driven by works driver Darren Turner (GB), who has been involved in the design and development of the car from its inception. Turner has more than 20 years experience in developing racing cars and relished the opportunity to put this track-knowledge into Aston Martin’s most extreme sportscar. “It’s been amazing to have been involved in this project from the beginning,” said Turner. “From the conceptual sketches through to working with the designers on driver ergonomics, it […]