Motorsports

With only two race weekends left on the calendar, the 2016 season of the All-Japan Formula 3 open-wheel series is slowly coming to a close. Normally, this puts enormous pressure on drivers whose  overall standing depends on a point or two. Jann Mardenborough has managed to avoid this unpleasant position by winning the last two races at Motegi. This perfect weekend brought Jann a comfortable advantage over his rivals, and brings him one step closer to claiming the championship title.

In case you’ve been living under a particularly large rock, a little thing known as the Olympics just wrapped up in Rio on Sunday. A testament to the capabilities of the human body, the best technology available, and the relentlessness of VISA advertising, it offers a global stage for the absolute best to compete against one another.

Last weekend saw a landmark achievement for one of the most promising graduates from the GT Academy programme, as the 2011 U.S. winner Bryan Heitkotter was able to to take his first overall win in professional motorsport — which was then swiftly backed up by a second win the day after.

The 2016 Spa 24 Hours endurance event recently finished with the #99 BMW M6 GT3 from ROWE Racing team claiming the victory after 531 laps. Variable weather conditions and several unforeseen pace interruptions caused enough anxiety to make the race entirely unpredictable.

Nicolas Hamman, who won the 2014 US GT Academy, will participate in NASCAR for the first time this weekend after securing a seat for the XFINITY series race at Watkins Glen. Driving the #74 Mike Harmon Racing Xfinity Car, Hamman will make his debut at the famous circuit in a Dodge branded stock-car.

After a month-long break, the Pirelli World Challenge got underway again last weekend, with Rounds 14 & 15 taking place at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Heading in, Alvaro Parente (K-PAX Racing McLaren 650S GT3) enjoyed a 52-point lead over Patrick Long (Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R), with Michael Cooper (Cadillac Racing ATS-V.R) a further 66 points back.

Soaked weather conditions greeted drivers of the All-Japan Formula 3 open-wheel series as they entered the 9th round of the series, taking place at Fuji Speedway. Although the weather stabilized by the time the field entered the qualification round, the track still wasn’t dry enough to allow for a full-on slick tire compound. These conditions, however, did not stop Mardenborough from performing well.

As one of the most famous circuits in the world, Mount Panorama has been a daunting challenge to drivers from around the globe since it opened 78 years ago. Unlike modern auto racing complexes, it runs a single layout, with the current 6.2 km (3.8 mi) circuit hosting major events like the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour in February and the Bathurst 1000 in October. That will be changing in the future, with a second layout being added to the East of the existing circuit.

The 100th anniversary Pikes Peak International Hill Climb challenge recently finished, with French racing driver Romain Dumas taking the top spot with a time of 8’51.445 behind the wheel of the Norma M20 RD (#30) in the Unlimited class.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRg5Sp1iQMc

The PWC circus stopped at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin this past weekend to take in two rounds at one of the fastest road courses in the US: Road America. By Sunday evening, the most-decorated team in the series’ history would emerge victorious, with a display of dominance the likes of which hasn’t been seen much this year.

The battle for All-Japan Formula 3 Championship title is heating up. After a successful 6th round at Okayama International Circuit during which Jann managed to grab his first victory, an ill-fated collision penalty handed out at the 7th round at Suzuka slightly hurt his successful progress.

It’s an age-old argument that has been at the centre of attention for quite a while, but the usefulness and validation of professional racing simulators has been called into question yet again, this time by F1 World Champion Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. Last weekend’s Grand Prix took place in Azerbaijan – a new race in the calendar – and in regards to steps taken to learn the Baku circuit, Hamilton was more critical than most about the simulation suites provided by F1 teams:

With both grief and tears, supporters of the largest Japanese car manufacturer will remember this last weekend at the prestigious Le Mans festival. Toyota lost the race which was seemingly destined to be a sure victory, the first one for the ‘Land of the Rising Sun’ after a long 25 years of hovering around the podium’s top spot.

Hotel rooms are booked up, restaurant reservations are all filled, and traffic jams are occurring outside of rush hour. While this would be business as usual in any city with a healthy tourism industry, in the French city of Le Mans it can only mean one thing: it is June and another 24-hour endurance event is about to kick off, bringing a massive influx of foreigners to support the most prestigious motorsport race in the world.

2016 marks the 100th anniversary – but only the 94th running – of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado. Gran Turismo became a platinum sponsor of the event last year, and will expand that relationship by having Polyphony Digital president Kazunori Yamauchi not only attend the event, but drive one of the three Acura pace cars.

Located between Great Britain and Ireland, the small Isle of Man annually hosts one of the most dangerous and thrilling motorcycle events in the world: The International Isle of Man Tourist Trophy Race. Although the race is entirely devoted to motorcycles, for the last several years Subaru has been coming to the course in order to challenge the four-wheel lap record. Their latest entry saw a significant improvement, beating the 2014 record by more than 100 seconds!

All-Japan Formula 3 Championship is a small open-wheel series that takes place at various landmark circuits all over Japan. Each weekend drivers are required to tackle two rounds per course (for total of 16 rounds) if they want to claim the title at the end of season. Well known 2011 GT Academy graduate Jann Mardenborough is one of the drivers currently taking part in this interesting event.

What a difference a month makes. When we last caught up with the Pirelli World Challenge after Round 7 (here), Johnny O’Connell and Michael Cooper were leading the points tally in their pair of Cadillac ATS-V.R’s, followed closely by Alvaro Parente in a McLaren 650S GT3. A significant gap existed between Parente and the two Porsche drivers that rounded out the top five – Michael Lewis and Patrick Long. 2011 GT Academy winner Bryan Heitkotter sat in ninth, while his teammate JD Davison slotted in directly behind Patrick Long.

We often hear of people transitioning to professional racing thanks to video games. The GT Academy initiative is perhaps the most obvious example, but it’s hardly the only one. Slightly Mad Studios, the studio behind Project CARS, has released a documentary focusing on the inspiring story of Nicolas Hamilton’s career progression.