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Saturday 27 August - Morning news...

27 Aug. 2022 • 12:00

L. Mercier & T. Villemant

DTM Due to the fog in the Eifel Mountains this morning, the DTM had to cancel the qualifying for Race 1 of the fifth round of the 2022 DTM season. It is therefore the championship classification that determines the starting grid. Mirko Bortolotti (Lamborghini / GRT) will start on pole ahead of Sheldon van der Linde (BMW / Schubert Motorsport), René Rast (Audi / Abt), Nico Müller (Audi / Rosberg) and Lucas Auer (Mercedes / Winward). Yesterday, the best time in free practice was set by Dennis Olsen (Porsche / SSR Performance).

WEC Competitors in the GTE Am class will use the 2021 Michelin tyre range at Fuji next month. Due to major disruptions at Michelin's production facilities, the Clermont-Ferrand-based firm has no choice but to supply the entire GTE Am class with last year's specification for the Fuji 6 Hours.

ELMS 32 cars had some of their times cancelled in the European Le Mans Series during the first practice session in Barcelona. The reason was the same for everyone: track limits.

ELMS Absolute Racing is running a Porsche 911 RSR this weekend in the European Le Mans Series in Barcelona, again with the support of Proton Competition. Fabien Fior and Ingo Matter's team is also in the Thailand Super Series with two Audi R8 LMS GT3s on the Buriram circuit, one for Sandy Stuvik and Akash Nandy, the other for Pierre Kaffer and Vincent Floirendo.

ELMS Andy Soucek is in charge of driving the Leading Car this weekend in Barcelona. Former driver Pedro Couceiro is driving the Safety Car.

Super GT The Japanese GT championship has a different rule than Europe regarding driver infractions. Instead of the car being penalised on the grid, a driver who is found guilty of several offences is banned from running for part of the practice session. This is what happened this weekend to Roberto Merhi (Audi R8 LMS GT3/Team LeMans), who was unable to drive for the final hour of the practice session.

Super GT The Nissan Z GT500/NISMO of Quintarelli/Matsuda will start the Suzuka meeting on pole. The #23 car will be joined by the Honda NSX-GT/Astemo of Tsukakoshi/Matsushita. The fastest Toyota GR Supra was that of Kunimoto/Sakaguchi (WedsSport), fourth behind the Honda NSX-GT/Red Bull of Sasahara/Oyu. Nissan has now won four times at Suzuka. Note the 15th time of the Impul Nissan of Baguette/Hiramine. In the GT300 class, the pole went to the Nissan GT-R/Gainer of Tomita/Okusa/Shiotsu.

Supercar The McLaren Solus GT took to the track at the Portuguese track of Estoril a few days ago. The first of the 25 Solus GTs will be delivered later next year.

GT Open Equipe Vitesse will enter its Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the next round of the International GT Open at the Red Bull Ring. The German team managed by Jil Herbst made several appearances in the championship last season. Mario Hirsch and Dominik Schraml will share the wheel of the car in Austria.

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