Lester persky

Volkswagen announced three of its four drivers last month, revealing that double World Rallycross champion Johan Kristoffersson would switch to WTCR to race alongside SLR's 2018 drivers Rob Huff and Mehdi Bennani. Leuchter's addition makes Volkswagen the third brand to announce a full roster of drivers, with new rules for 2019 stipulating a maximum of four cars can be entered by each brand and must be split across two entries. The 31-year-old, who Volkswagen describes as a Nurburgring Nordschleife "expert", played an part in the original development of Volkswagen's Golf GTI TCR car in 2015. He campaigned the car in TCR Germany in 2016 and '18, finishing fifth and eighth respectively. “Benny [Leuchter] has been part of the Volkswagen family for years and was involved in the development of the Golf GTI TCR right from the start," said Volkswagen motorsport director Sven Smeets. "His results speak for themselves and he did a fantastic job during the testing – both on the … [Read more...] about Volkswagen finalises 2019 WTCR line-up

Ma, who tested for the HRT and Caterham F1 teams and has been a some-time Formula E driver in recent years, was twice a race winner with the all-conquering Citroen World Touring Car Championship squad. He did not secure a full-time seat for the first season of the WTCR world cup last year but contested three of the final four rounds in a Boutsen Ginion Honda Civic. Ma was also one of four drivers to test one of Team Mulsanne’s Alfa Romeo Giuliettas at Vallelunga in December, alongside fellow WTCC race winner Tom Coronel, GT driver Jono Lester and the team's 2018 driver Kevin Ceccon. He has since secured the team's second seat and will partner Ceccon, who has been retained after an impressive first half-season in touring cars last year. Kevin Ceccon, Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR Photo by: WTCR “I already drove the Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR by Romeo Ferraris last season and the feeling was good since the beginning," said Ma. "I think it has a big … [Read more...] about Ma joins Alfa Romeo WTCR squad for 2019

Three-time Super GT champion Yuji Tachikawa set the pace in qualifying, topping the timesheets with a time of 1m27.825s. His teammate Hiroaki Ishiura, a former Super Formula champion, was second-quickest in Q1. Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli broke Lexus’ hegemony by qualifying the #23 Nissan GT-R on the front row of the grid, despite the latter lapping over three tenths slower in Q2. The #6 Wako and #36 au TOM’S cars were separated by just 0.005s, with Kazuya Oshima upsetting Daisuke Ito, who is subbing for Toyota WEC driver Kazuki Nakajima. Defending champions Heikki Kovalainen and Kohei Hirate were fifth quickest in the #1 SARD Lexus, while the Okayama-winning #37 KeePer TOM’S duo of Ryo Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy took seventh. With all six Lexus cars making it to the Q2, only one Honda qualified in the top-eight - the Okayama pole-sitting #8 ARTA car, although Takashi Kobayashi was over a second off the pace in the NSX-GT. GT300: Mercedes leads Porsche In the … [Read more...] about Fuji Super GT: Tachikawa takes pole as Lexus dominates