DSC’s Daily Notebook (15/06/2023)

Following a short break while DSC was on-event at the 2023 Le Mans 24 Hours, the Daily Notebook format returns today…

Neel Jani joins Proton Hypercar line-up for Monza

Neel Jani has been confirmed in Proton Competition’s Hypercar driver line-up for the team’s FIA WEC Hypercar debut with the Porsche 963 at Monza next month.

The 2016 Le Mans winner and former Porsche LMP1 and GTE Pro driver will race alongside previously confirmed drivers Harry Tincknell and Gimmi Bruni.

News
Very exited to join Proton Competition in LMDH prototypes in @fiawec_official from Monza onwards! I have known @GianmariaBruni & @HarryTincknell for a long time and am looking forward to teaming up with them for this challenge#fiawec pic.twitter.com/Kyx9mrwAhF

— neel jani (@neeljani) June 9, 2023

Laguna Seca resurfacing complete

The major works to the 2.3-mile Laguna Seca circuit’s race surface are now complete.

RACER.com’s Marshall Pruett has written a full piece with comments from the Laguna Seca track manager detailing the resurfacing and the circuit’s future developments.

You can read it HERE >>>

KW Automotive becomes World Challenge Asia partner

German suspension supplier KW Automotive has become an official partner of Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS.

KW’s trademarked ‘Yellow-Purple’ branding will appear on all Fanatec GT Asia entries from Fuji onwards (June 16-18).

“KW Automotive is proud to become a partner of Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS this year,” said Oliver Scherbaum, KW Automotive GmbH’s export sales director.

“We have a long and successful history in GT racing that continues to this day with Porsche and BMW whose GT3 programmes rely on the performance of KW’s homologated suspension components. We look forward to further showcasing this technology for both the road and track across Asia through our direct collaboration with SRO.”

40 cars on the World Challenge Asia entry for Fuji

A huge list of 40 cars representing 12 GT3 manufacturers are set to compete at the Fuji International Speedway this weekend in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia series.

The meeting at Fuji is the first for the Japan Cup. The number of entries tops the series’ previous high of 34 set at Fuji in 2-17, while the series believes that 36 GT3 cars is a joint record for any race in Japan.

On the entry are teams representing 12 of the 13 current GT3 manufacturers, the only missing model is the Bentley Continental GT3.

Two Toyota GT4 entries bring the total number of manufacturers to 13 – another championship record.

Race 1 is set for Saturday at 14:25 local time, with Race 2 set to get underway on Sunday at 12:00.

ENTRY LIST >>>

Bilstein sets up race team

Shock absorber supplier Bilstein has set up its own racing team for competition on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, a circuit which it has been a long-standing partner and supporter of.

The team’s drivers for this new programme, which will see the team run a BMW 330i G20 to compete in the NLS “VT2” class, features a line-up of ‘motorsport influencers’.

Driving the BMW will be Misha Charoudin (around 570,000 subscribers on YouTube and over 370,000 followers on Instagram), Jimmy Broadbent (almost 900,000 subscribers on YouTube and around 130,000 followers on Instagram) and Steve Alvarez Brown (more than 800,000 subscribers on YouTube and around 100,000 Instagram followers).

“I am bursting with excitement and after almost a year of preparation, I can finally reveal that I will be competing for Bilstein in various Nürburgring racing series and of course THE 24-hour race together with Jimmy Broadbent and Steve Alvarez Brown! Thanks to everyone who has made this possible. I can’t wait to share this epic journey with you!” wrote Charoudin on Instagram.

If the build of the car runs to schedule, the team will compete in NLS4 this weekend. Currently the team is listed on the most recent provisional entry, which features 9 SP9 GT3 cars and can be found HERE >>>

The team’s longer-term goal is to compete in the Nürburgring 24 Hours in 2024.

Images courtesy of World Challenge Asia