DSC’s Daily Notebook (19/05/2023)

Maezawa Racing joins World Challenge Asia

A new Japanese team, Maezawa Racing, will contest this year’s four Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS rounds in Japan with drivers Piti Bhirombhakdi and Naoki Yokomizo.

The team, which is entering a Ferrari 488 GT3 at Fuji, Suzuka, Motegi and Okayama, has been established by the country’s well-known entrepreneur and philanthropist Yusaku Maezawa. The 47-year-old Start Today CEO shot to global fame in 2021 when he visited the International Space Station but is also a serial art collector who has invested heavily in contemporary works.

Now another of his passions, the MZ Supercar Project, has led him to form his own motorsport team.

“As a way to further understand the performance and possibilities that is enhanced through the craftsmanship behind car building, and to share that knowledge with everyone, I’ve decided to step foot into the racing industry and participate in my first race as a team,” said Maezawa.

The team’s Pro-Am driver line-up is not eligible to score Fanatec Japan Cup points but will be a contender for overall victories given its pedigree and championship experience.

Team BRIT adds to McLaren Trophy field

The entry for the new-for-2023 McLaren Trophy Championship continues to grow with the addition of Team BRIT.

Drivers Bobby Trundley and Aaron Morgan will represent the ambitious team, as they switch its their focus from the British GT Championship.

The team says it has been “forced to re-consider” its 2023 season plans after its incident in the British GT Silverstone 500, which resulted in extensive damage to its modified McLaren 570S GT4.

The team, which continues to be a pioneer for hand control technology for disabled drivers in motorsport, also admitted that by running the 570S GT4 it has been suffering a performance disadvantage compared to the teams running the new Artura.

Team BRIT therefore feels the McLaren Trophy is therefore a better fit, as it offers separate categories for teams running the 570S.

“We’re really excited about this new direction for Bobby and Aaron,” says team founder Dave Player. “We want to give them the best possible platform from which to continue to develop and grow as drivers, and for many reasons, the British GT Championship does not provide that for us this year.

“Our experience with British GT has been nothing but positive. Organisers SRO, along with all other competitors, have welcomed us with open arms, and our drivers and crew have learned an incredible amount from every race we have completed over 2022 and into 2023. We certainly intend to return and may still compete in one of the remaining rounds this year.

“Looking ahead, the McLaren Trophy will offer huge opportunities for our team, our drivers and our sponsors, racing at five of Europe’s most iconic circuits, alongside the World Challenge Europe. It will be fantastic to meet so many new teams and racing organisations to demonstrate our huge progress in disability racing.”

Racing With Giants trailer released

With the centenary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans quickly approaching, Mobil 1 is celebrating by releasing a documentary titled “Racing with Giants: Porsche at Le Mans,” which will explore the past 100 years of Le Mans.

The documentary further brings Porsche’s dominant racing history to the big screen, and is narrated by actor and racer, Patrick Dempsey.

A trailer, below, has been released ahead of the documentary’s full release on June 1st

Positive feedback from Isotta’s Monza test

Isotta Fraschini completed plenty of laps at Monza this week during a two-day test for its Tipo 6 Competizione LMH. The car shared the track with multiple LMP2 teams preparing for Le Mans and set times in the same ballpark, impressive considering the car is still at a very early stage in its development.

Marco Bonanomi, who drove the car in the test, revealed that that the team lost a lot of time on the first day, but did manage to complete plenty of laps on the second day.

“It was a positive test after a somewhat difficult first day in which we covered only a few kilometers.,” he said. “Today however we had a very productive second day, in which we did many laps and tried many different systems configurations and car balances, all of which gave good results.

“Considering that it was the second test for the team and car, we managed to lap consistently and at an interesting pace in the afternoon. I think we can all be happy because the car seems to be starting well, even though there is still a lot of work to do and data to analyze. A good start!”