Motorsport Series News for July 13, 2022-Ferrari Hypercar Hits the Track

In the Motorsport Series News roundup this week, Ferrari starts testing for their Hypercar return, an update on the new GTP manufacturer testing plans, a new North American Endurance series, Radical racing return to France, S5000 changes and more.

• Ferrari driver Alessandro Pier Guidi fired up the engine of the new Ferrari Le Mans Hypercar (LMH), which the Maranello-based company will use in the 2023 FIA WEC season at the legendary Fiorano circuit as testing has begun for Ferrari’s return to prototype sportscar racing. As reported in Sportscar 365, officials described the rollout as positive. “We are only at the start, and much work is ahead of us, but it feels very positive.”

• Racer brings us an update on the development status of the new IMSA GTP manufacturers that are scheduled to race in 2023. “Despite having a brief respite with on-track competition, the race between major manufacturers to ready their new-for-2023 IMSA GTP hybrid entries continues to ramp up in private testing.”

• A new endurance sports car series is set to race in 2023 as the new Masterclass of Racing (MCoR) was unveiled this week. It will feature “well developed and logical classing with opportunities for homologated factory cars including but not limited to: GT3, GT4, TCR, LMP3, TCA, and NP01. MCoR will finally serve as the development ground for those drivers and teams who wish to graduate to the pro level without the pro level cost. Factory homologated cars are starting to find their way out of the “pro” paddocks and MCoR will keep those cars racing.” More details can be found here.

• The new MG5 XPower TCR has been unveiled at the Chongqing Auto Show in China ahead of its planned debut in the 2022 TCR Asia series season. The MG5 model features a new engine, based on the MG5 road car equivalent.

• The Toyota Corolla TCR model has completed its homologation procedure and has received official TCR certification. The car is built by Toyota Gazoo Racing Argentina and is set for its racing debut during the TCR South America round at Termas de Rio Hondo on August 27-28.

• In the video above, Grassroots Motorsports looks at “what differentiates a hopped-up street car from a full-time GT racer can involve a bit more than just super-sticky tires and fancy aero work.”

• Mazda Motorsports has announced a new process for claiming contingency awards. Each year, hundreds of racers are paid contingency money from Mazda Motorsports for high finishing positions. Mazda’s goal is to make that process as streamlined and stress-free as possible, which is why they have announced a new and improved solution. “Today, we are introducing the newest way we are distributing payment, which is replacing the old prepaid debit cards. This change will only apply to any payouts made since May 2022; any unspent funds from before this date will remain on the old prepaid cards.”

• French/Swiss Radical dealer Acqua Rossa Motorsport has resumed the Radical France CUP dedicated to cars of the Radical brand. In partnership with the Trophée Tourisme Endurance (TTE), Acqua Rossa Motorsport has made eligible all models of modern open-top Radicals to race in the Free Proto races. The Free proto fields all open-top prototype cars. Eligible Radicals will be classed separately into three classes (1340 – 1500 – SR8/SR10/Spyder). Radical RXC Coupé owners can field their cars during the same meetings in the GT class. They can enter either the 4-hour endurance races or the Free Saloon/GT races with a format similar to the Free Proto format.

• Racer reports that there is early support for IMSA’s new LMP3/GT4 series. “An exercise in mixed-class racing is surely a good thing for those who seek to perform, or at least race safely, in a higher-level multi-class series, and that option has been available elsewhere in a sprint format. But at the same time, though, a 45-minute sprint race removes the pit stop aspect for the LMP3 teams – a blessing in that it saves money, but a negative in that it denies teams a chance to practice stops, and drivers the opportunity to learn driver changes.”

• Speed Cafe reports that Australian Racing Group co-owner Barry Rogers has flagged technical changes aimed at repositioning S5000 in the national motorsport landscape. “The problem we get there is, you get guys step back down into these – and this isn’t anything against them – but if they’re not winning and they’re getting beaten by some of these young guns like Cooper Webster and Blake Purdie, they feel like it harms what people think about them so they don’t stick at it. So maybe it is more about getting some younger ones into them and we’re planning on some changes to the car that will make them potentially a little bit less intimidating for the younger guys.”