Welcome back to the new edition of World Grand Prix!
I would like to wish you all a Happy Chinese New Year! The Year of the Tiger!
In the past period, the highlights are below!
Vol.142 - 60th Daytona 24 Hours – Fierce battle to the last minute
On the eve of the Chinese New Year, the 24 Hours of Daytona, the traditional opening drama of the North American racing industry, began at the Daytona International Circuit in Florida. In extremely cold weather as low as 0 degrees, up to 61 cars in 5 categories competed fiercely for the victory of the 60th edition.
The 24-hour long race became a full-strength sprint with only 30 minutes left after the last safety car, and the Acura ARX-05 of the Meyer Shank Racing Team's No. 60 Helio Castroneves/Simon Pagenaud/Oliver Jarvis/Tom Blomqvist team stood out in the fiercely contested DPi category, winning the highest honor in the prototype category with a lap of 761 laps. Another ARX-05 car operated by defending champion Wayne Taylor Racing finished second only 3.028 seconds behind, and Acura managed to win the first place in this year's race. Third place went to JDC-Miller MotorSports' No. 5 Cadillac DPi-V.R., who was only 1.392 seconds ahead.
The battle for the throne in the GT category continued until the final moment of the competition. In the new GTD Pro category, Porsche factory players Mathieu Jaminet and Laurens Vanthoor flew the No. 9 Porsche 911 GT3 R of the Canadian team Pfaff Motorsports respectively and the No. 2 Porsche 911 GT3 R of the Chinese Hong Kong team KCMG. After a match-and-win round, the No. 9 car still stood ahead of the No. 2 car when it entered the final lap of the race, vanthoor's desperate overtaking before the Deceleration bend at Le Mans failed, and after the two cars made a slight contact, the No. 2 car slid out of control on the grass, and the thrilling showdown ended.
Pfaff Motorsports 9 finished the race in the lead, Jaminet shared the victory with Porsche colleagues Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasr, while Risi Competizione 62, which was looking behind the tiger, took advantage of the Porsche Civil War to complete the promotion, and the Ferrari 488 GT3 EVO, which was driven by the full Prancing Horse lineup, finished second in the group 2020 behind 2.185 seconds; KCMG The No. 2 car group ended up with hatred and finished in the third place of the group. The gt-D group also belonged to the Stuttgart manufacturer, and Wright Motorsports 16 Ryan Hardwick/Jan Heylen/Richard Lietz/Zach Robichon also won the Porsche 911 GT3 R.
DPi category champion
Meyer Shank Racing - Number 60 Acura ARX-05
Helio Castroneves/Simon Pagenaud/Oliver Jarvis/Tom Blomqvist
Winner of the LMP2 category
DragonSpeed USA - 81号Oreca 07
Colton Herta/Pato O’Ward/Devlin DeFrancesco/Eric Lux
Winner of the LMP3 category
Riley Motorsports - 74号Ligier JS P320
Kay van Berlo/Michael Cooper/Felipe Fraga/Gar Robinson
GTD Pro category champion
Pfaff Motorsports - Porsche 911 GT3 R No. 9
Matt Campbell/Mathieu Jaminet/Felipe Nasr
GTD Category Champion
Wright Motorsports - Porsche 911 GT3 R 16
Ryan Hardwick/Jan Heylen/Richard Lietz/Zach Robichon
Vol.143 - Late arrival of IGTC South Africa Kayalami 9 hours
The 2021 Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC) finale of the 2021 Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC) in South Africa was postponed due to the outbreak of the pandemic, and the 9-hour endurance race was revived last weekend. In this race, mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP No. 89 Raffaele Marciello/Jules Gounon/Timur Boguslavskiy, driving the Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, is clearly better at absolute speed, and the No. 89 team did not miss the opportunity to complete the Pole to Win with a near-perfect posture.
The Ferrari camp, represented by AF Corse, is in a mixed mood. The No. 51 Alessandro Pier Guidi/Miguel Molina/C me Ledogar team finished second in the game with solid performances, and although they did not beat the powerful Mercedes, this result was enough to crown Pier Guidi and Ledogar the driver's championship of the year for the 2021 season. Before the race, to ensure that the champions were not wiped out due to accidents or breakdowns, Audi and Ferrari dispersed the members of the leading groups of their respective camps into two groups. Danish teenager Nicklas Nielsen, who originally shared a car with Pier Guidi and Ledogar, was transferred to Ferrari 488 GT3 EVO 2020, partnering Alessio Rovera and Antonio Fuoco. The hapless 71 was out of the line after a third of the race due to a transmission failure, when the car was in third place.
Audi's performance in Kayalami is obviously unable to touch the first two manufacturers, but Audi Sport Team Sainteloc's Patric Niederhauser/Markus Winkelhock/Kelvin van der Linde still drove the No. 25 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO to bring back a third place for the Four Rings brand. The exit of Ferrari No. 71 also means that Audi directly won the manufacturer's honor of the year in this season's IGTC.
This issue of "World Grand Prix" has come to an end
Looking forward to seeing you next time
*Images are from the web