Latest news with #Vanthoor
NBC Sports
11-05-2025
- Automotive
- NBC Sports
2025 IMSA Laguna Seca starting lineup: Vanthoor, BMW stay perfect on the pole
Dries Vanthoor remained perfect in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship qualifying this season, putting the No. 24 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 on pole position for the fourth consecutive race. In starting first for Sunday's two-hour, 40-minute race (3 p.m., NBC and Peacock), Vanthoor became the first with four consecutive poles since 2011 (when Ricky Taylor qualified first in six consecutive events). 'For sure I'm very happy to have four consecutive poles,' said Vanthoor, who co-drives with Philipp Eng. 'A bit sad that I don't have any wins out of them, but we have a chance now to make that happen tomorrow. It's important that we put that behind us and come away from here answering a different question than: 'When are we going to win?' ' STARTING GRIDS: Click here for the Laguna Seca starting lineup l Lineup by row l Lineup by car number The first three races of the season have ended with the same winner in the Grand Touring Prototype category as the No. 7 963 of Porsche Penske Motorsport is unbeaten this year. Vanthoor and Eng finished a season-best third in the Grand Prix of Long Beach last month. 'We're very motivated and we are going to push hard tomorrow in every area and every aspect,' Vanthoor said after turning his pole lap of 1 minute, 12.854 seconds. 'Hopefully, we will get the result we deserve. ... 'It's much needed from our side, because I think it's obvious we haven't been executing flawless races. Too many mistakes, but I think we've been really working hard since the last race to come here fully prepared.' Nate Ryan, Matt Campbell qualified second in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, followed by teammate Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 963. The 11 hybrid prototypes in GTP were separated by 0.864 seconds on the 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course in Monterey, California. Here are the pole-sitters in other categories for the endurance race classic on the 17-turn, 3.74-mile road course: GTD Pro: Giacamo Altoè, No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3, 1:20.731 GTD: Kenton Koch, No. 32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG GT3, 1:20.810 LAGUNA SECA QUALIFYING ROUNDUP Starting lineup Lineup by row Lineup by car number Results Results by class Fastest lap by driver after qualifying Fastest lap by driver and class after qualifying Best sector times Fastest lap sequence Time cards Weather report PRACTICE RESULTS: Session I l Session II Watch qualifying highlights for the IMSA Monterey SportsCar Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Twelve Hours of Sebring live updates: Porsche leads after BMW pole-sitter Dries Vanthoor penalized for start
Pole-sitter Dries Vanthoor was penalized for an illegal lane change before the start of the Twelve Hours of Sebring. Vanthoor, who had qualified first for the second consecutive race to start the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, moved from the inside to the outside lane just before the green flag. The penalty was called during the race's first caution flag, and Vanthoor had to wait until the Lap 6 restart to serve his drive-through penalty in the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 for Team RLL BMW. Felipe Nasr inherited the lead in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 that has consecutive victories in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Mathieu Jaminet was third in Porsche Penske's No. 6 963. Team owner Roger Penske is seeking his second overall victory at Sebring International Raceway and first since 2008. After the penalty, Vanthoor fell to 23d in the standings behind all the Grand Touring Prototype and LMP2 cars. The first full-course yellow flag flew six minutes into the race after a crash involving two LMP2 cars (the No. 18 and No. 88) that left a fender on the track. TV/streaming: The Twelve Hours of Sebring will be streamed on Peacock from flag to flag beginning at 10 a.m. on March 15. NBC Sports' booth coverage will include announcers Leigh Diffey, Brian Till, Dave Burns, Calvin Fish and Townsend Bell. Kevin Lee, Chris Wilner and Matt Yocum will serve as pit reporters. Peacock also will carry streaming of the Ford Mustang Challenge, Lamborghini Super Trofeo, Porsche Carrera Cup and Michelin Pilot Challenge races. RADIO: All sessions live on and SiriusXM live race coverage begins March 15 at 9:45 a.m. (Sirius channel 216, XM 207, Web/App 992)
NBC Sports
15-03-2025
- Automotive
- NBC Sports
Twelve Hours of Sebring live updates: Porsche leads after BMW pole-sitter Dries Vanthoor penalized for start
Pole-sitter Dries Vanthoor was penalized for an illegal lane change before the start of the Twelve Hours of Sebring. Vanthoor, who had qualified first for the second consecutive race to start the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, moved from the inside to the outside lane just before the green flag. The penalty was called during the race's first caution flag, and Vanthoor had to wait until the Lap 6 restart to serve his drive-through penalty in the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 for Team RLL BMW. Felipe Nasr inherited the lead in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 that has consecutive victories in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Mathieu Jaminet was third in Porsche Penske's No. 6 963. Team owner Roger Penske is seeking his second overall victory at Sebring International Raceway and first since 2008. After the penalty, Vanthoor fell to 23d in the standings behind all the Grand Touring Prototype and LMP2 cars. The first full-course yellow flag flew six minutes into the race after a crash involving two LMP2 cars (the No. 18 and No. 88) that left a fender on the track. How to watch the Twelve Hours of Sebring TV/streaming: The Twelve Hours of Sebring will be streamed on Peacock from flag to flag beginning at 10 a.m. on March 15. NBC Sports' booth coverage will include announcers Leigh Diffey, Brian Till, Dave Burns, Calvin Fish and Townsend Bell. Kevin Lee, Chris Wilner and Matt Yocum will serve as pit reporters. Peacock also will carry streaming of the Ford Mustang Challenge, Lamborghini Super Trofeo, Porsche Carrera Cup and Michelin Pilot Challenge races. RADIO: All sessions live on and SiriusXM live race coverage begins March 15 at 9:45 a.m. (Sirius channel 216, XM 207, Web/App 992)
NBC Sports
14-03-2025
- Automotive
- NBC Sports
2025 Twelve Hours of Sebring starting lineup: Vanthoor, BMW win second consecutive pole
Dries Vanthoor got off to a fast start in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, earning the second consecutive pole position for BMW in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. For his qualifying debut at Sebring International Raceway, Vanthoor turned a 1 minute, 47.091-second lap in the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 for Team RLL BMW and backed up the pole position that he won for the Rolex 24 at Daytona season opener. After Daytona, we knew we had a good qualifying car, but it's the first time here,' Vanthoor told NBC Sports' Kevin Lee on Peacock. 'So it's really cool to be on pole the first time here. The comeptition is very hard, so it's never easy to do but very happy we got a lap in and get ourselves on pole.' The No. 24 BMW, which is co-driven by Vanthoor, Philipp Eng and Kevin Magnussen, finished fourth at Daytona after leading 90 laps. The Sebring pole was another indicator that BMW is emerging as a premier class contender after winning only twice in the past two seasons of Grand Touring Prototype category. 'So far it's looking quite good but still a long ways to go,' said Vanthroor, a 26-year-old from Belgium in his first season of full-time racing in IMSA's top division. 'It's a long ways to go tomorrow, that's first on our list, and we can see after that how it goes.' Tom Blomqvist qualified second at 1:47.116 in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06, coming up just 0.025 seconds short on his final qualifying lap of knocking Vanthoor off the pole. Felipe Nasr qualified third in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 that opened the season with its second consecutive victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The GTP qualifying session was abbreviated by a 6-minute red flag after the No. 31 Whelen Action Express Cadillac V-Series.R stopped on track. That left Vanthoor and other drivers with one last shot at the bumpy and challenging 17-turn, 3.74-mile road course. 'On a normal qualifying session, you maybe get two chances, now you only had one,' said Vanthoor, whose car is sporting a special livery to celebrate the 50th anniversary of BMW North America and the automaker's 1975 win at Sebring. 'It makes a bit more pressure to get that lap together. It makes it a bit more difficult. But yeah, it makes me a bit fired up or nervous at the same time. Looks like it's working.' Here are the pole-sitters in other categories for the endurance race classic on the 17-turn, 3.74-mile road course: LMP2: Steven Thomas, No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA LMP2 07, 1:51.804 GTD Pro: Albert Cotsa, No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3, 1:59.225 GTD: Alessandro Pier Guidi, No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, 1:59.131 SEBRING QUALIFYING ROUNDUP Results Results by class Fastest lap by driver after qualifying Fastest lap by driver and class after qualifying Best sector times Fastest lap sequence Time cards PRACTICE RESULTS: Session I l Session II l Session III
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Mountain time: Counting down to the 2025 Bathurst 12 Hour
The Bathurst 12 Hour may not boast the number of manufacturers of Daytona or Le Mans, but what it does have is a classic 3.86 mile/6.213km circuit that many internationals rate as the best on the world. This year's event does not even have a huge grid, but it just may be the last showdown between the three German makes that have dominated the event. Since the race switched from a production car format to GT3 regulations in 2011, Mercedes-Benz and Audi each have three 12 Hour wins and Porsche has two. Each make is, in their own way, pushing hard for another win – and so is BMW, which ironically won the last production car 12 Hour in 2010. There is a slightly different look to this year's 23-car entry list, down seven from a year ago. Some of the names of regular 12 Hour drivers are missing, including Christopher Mies, the Vanthoor brothers, and Christopher Haase. But numbers are not much shorter in the 'outright' class; 19 GT3 entries is close to the average. Where the entries have fallen away is in the Invitational and GT4 classes, which appear to be victims of their own recent expansion in Australia. The fleet of locally-made IRC or MARC cars that have bulked out Class I now have their own series down under and many competitors have opted for more, shorter races, rather than one long (and expensive) one. In GT4, providing they make the finish, all three entries are guaranteed 'podium' results, while KTM has the Invitational Class to its own with its X-Bow. Another factor in the smaller field may be the Australian GT3 competitors which are skipping the 12 Hour and participating in Middle Eastern events, which fall in the same calendar quarter, instead. Separate to that there is a view that the 2025 12 Hour is something of a watershed event – perhaps the last one in which Audi, a long-term supporter of the event, will be competitive, as the manufacturer's focus fully shifts to Formula 1. Through the other door, there is already talk that the 2026 12 Hour may feature the likes of Chevrolet's Corvette GT3.R (possibly in a link with Supercars team Triple 8, which has run Mercedes-Benzes in past 12 Hours) and Ford's Mustang GT3. The entry list may be smaller but the quality looks high. Porsche won a tense 2024 12 Hour and two 911GT3Rs line up in Class A (for GT3 cars). Double 12 Hour winner and Porsche Penske Motorsport IMSA SportsCar Championship driver Matt Campbell, Ayhcancan Güven and Alessio Picariello line up in the lead Absolute Racing entry, while Bathurst rookies and rising Porsche stars Laurin Heinrich and Morris Schuring join Bronze drivers Sam and Yasser Shahin in the Manthey entry, which won the Pro Am class last year. Last year Güven was the anchor driver in the race-winning Porsche 911 GT3R, driving 127 laps and running just as fast as his more experienced co-driver Campbell, who did 99 laps but completed the vital final stint. Look for much of the same this year. The 2025 Bathurst 12 Hours is likely to be the last time an Audi has a shot at overall victory against its German rivals on the Mountain. Audi Media Canter And the Porsche has what could be considered 'sneaky speed' at Bathurst, a track with a long uphill straight and an even longer one downhill. Campbell, who finished third overall at last weekend's Rolex 24 at Daytona, may have qualified 'only' sixth last year but the winners led 195 laps out of 275 laps a year ago. For 75 Express, the script looks the same; by entering a Mercedes-Benz AMG GT3 Evo in the Pro class, team owner Kenny Habul gets to sidestep the minimum laps he would be required to complete as a Bronze driver. Getting his laps done early leaves Luca Stolz and Jules Gounon to chase, respectively, a third and fourth Bathurst 12 Hour win. Mercedes-Benz's other contenders look like GruppeM with the eternally-unlucky-at Bathurst Maro Engel, Mikaël Grenier and Maxime Martine, and Craft-Bamboo's trio of Lucas Auer, Maxy Götz and rising Supercars driver Jayden Ojeda. Scott Taylor Motorsport is running its usual trio of Supercars drivers in Craig Lowndes, Cameron Waters and Thomas Randle; at 50, could Lowndes, a seven-time Bathurst 1000, be looking for a final win at the Mountain? Audi's hopes of a fourth 12-Hour win were significantly boosted 10 days out from the event. Up to that point the Pro Am entry of Bathurst 1000 winner Lee Holdsworth, Dean Fiore, and Marc Cini looked to be the best hope until Melbourne-based Melbourne Performance Centre/Audi Customer Sport Racing confirmed a second entry, in the Pro class, for Supercars ace Broc Feeney, reigning GT World Challenge Australia champion Liam Talbot and 2024 Nürburgring 24 Hour winner Ricardo Feller. Team WRT has entered an impressive lineup in its BMW M4 GT3s. Valentino Rossi has swept away any notions that he would be less competitive on four wheels than he was on two with a stellar performance in last year's race, and the Italian legend has already nominated Bathurst as one of his favorite circuits. Raffaele Marciello and Charles Weerts will share the No. 46 entry, while the No. 32 will feature the van der Linde brothers Kelvin and Sheldon share the driving with Augusto Farfus. If any make can upset the notion of a German win, it could be Ferrari. Arise Racing GT may not have a high profile on the global scene but in a short space of time the Perth-based team has set some high achievements, including winning the 2024 Australian title with Talbot. Its Pro 296 GT3 entry matches Risi Competizione regular Daniel Serra with Supercars Champion Will Brown and Chaz Mostert, and in the second, Pro Am entry, AF Corse regular Alessio Rovera and Supercars driver Jaxon Evans join Bronze drivers Brad Schumacher and Elliot Schutte. There is a change in the event's qualifying format this year, with the grid to be determined by two 30-minute sessions on Saturday February 1 that will be split into the slower and faster groups before the top 10 grid positions are determined by the 15-minute Pirelli Pole Battle, set for 4:05pm AEDT (12:05am ET). The race will commence at its traditional time of 5:45am local time on Sunday February 2 (1:45pm ET on Saturday February 1). Story originally appeared on Racer
