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Qatar Tribune
07-07-2025
- Automotive
- Qatar Tribune
Qatar makes historic 24 Hours of Spa debut in major step for global motorsport ambition
Tribune News Network Doha In a historic milestone for Qatari motorsport, the Qatar Motor & Motorcycle Federation (QMMF), in partnership with seasoned endurance team Sainteloc Racing, made its debut at the 24 Hours of Spa. Running in the Bronze class of the 2025 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, the QMMF by Sainteloc Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II marked Qatar's first-ever entry in the fabled endurance event held at the legendary 7 km Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium's Ardennes region. The 2025 Spa grid featured a record-breaking 76 cars and approximately 280 drivers representing ten major manufacturers. Facing such formidable competition, the Qatari outfit—featuring drivers Ghanim Al Maadheed, Abdulla Al Khelaifi, Ibrahim Al Abdulghani, and guest driver Julian Hanses - delivered a commendable debut, finishing 14th in class and 46th overall. Sainteloc Racing, founded in 2004 by Sebastien Chetail in Saint‑Etienne, France, is one of the most respected GT teams in Europe. It has competed at Spa since 2012 and secured victory in 2017 with an Audi R8 LMS, becoming a top-tier competitor in GT3 endurance racing. In 2025, the team also led the opening day of the Spa prologue test, underlining its preparedness for endurance competition. Prior to Spa, the QMMF by Saintéloc squad enjoyed notable success in regional endurance events, including triumph at the 24 Hours of Dubai in the 992-class Middle East Trophy earlier this year - underscoring their pedigree in endurance racing on international terrain. This landmark entry at Spa represents more than a debut; it reflects Qatar's strategic commitment to nurturing world-class motorsport talent. Through the QMMF's partnership with elite teams like Sainteloc, Qatar continues to build a development pathway - from karting and regional series to endurance icons like Spa and beyond. With each passing race, Qatar's motorsport aspirations are tangibly unfolding, as evidenced by this historic outing. The nation is rapidly progressing towards its future in the sport.
Time of India
02-07-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
Jake Dennis and girlfriend Lexi Grace Boosey soak in Monaco sunset during romantic outing
Image credit: Jake Dennis/Instagram Jake Dennis is back from the 24 Hours of Spa race and chose to spend some quality time with his girlfriend, Lexi Grace Boosey. Before getting busy again with the Berlin E-Prix, he took time out to go sunset watching and bike riding with Boosey in Monaco. He shared a glimpse of their day out on his Instagram Stories. Jake Dennis shares a glimpse of his day out with girlfriend in Monaco On his Instagram Stories, Jake Dennis shared a picture of a bike with a Monaco number plate, accompanied by a few bike emojis. He followed it up with a wide shot of the Monaco skyline, showing a nearby swimming pool surrounded by buildings and yachts visible in the Mediterranean Sea at a distance. He also shared a picture of himself with Boosey and their pet dog. Lexi had earlier posted a birthday wish for Dennis: '30 years of you! Happy Birthday mi amor (my love), you are so loved. Look at us, just a couple of 30-somethings.' Dennis responded to her post with heart emojis. Image credit: Jake Dennis/Instagram She was among the close friends and family who joined the Andretti driver on a yacht as part of his lavish birthday celebrations. Dennis turned 30 on June 16. Jake Dennis on the track Jake Dennis recently returned from Belgium, where he took part in the Endurance Championship race — the 24 Hours of Spa. Summing up his experience and plans ahead, he wrote in an Instagram post, 'Spa 24hr over & out! Was a tough one but we still had a blast! I'll be back in BMW next month but now it's time to focus on Formula E with only 2 rounds remaining!' In the latest Formula E race in Jakarta, Jake Dennis started from pole position and was among the frontrunners. However, his lead ended after being hit by Nyck de Vries during the race. He will now compete in the Berlin double-header scheduled for July 11–13. Dennis had secured pole position in Berlin last year but couldn't convert it into a podium. Earlier in 2023, he did achieve a podium finish in Berlin. He is currently 10th in the Formula E Driver Standings with 59 points. Also Read: Jake Dennis shows off special birthday gift from girlfriend, says 'She knows me well' It will be followed by the season finale — the London double-header from July 25–27. Game On Season 1 continues with Mirabai Chanu's inspiring story. Watch Episode 2 here.
The Star
30-06-2025
- Automotive
- The Star
JMR shake off rough start to finish 12th in 24 Hours of Spa
PETALING JAYA: It wasn't the smoothest start for Johor Motorsports Racing (JMR), but the team still made a strong statement by securing a commendable 12th-place finish in the gruelling 24 Hours of Spa over the weekend. JMR, racing with their Corvette Z06 GT3.R at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, faced difficult challenges but managed to salvage a good result by finishing 12th in the Bronze Cup category after 527 laps at the circuit.
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Spa 24 Hours: Lamborghini takes maiden victory
Grasser Lamborghini claimed a hard-fought maiden win at the 2025 24 Hours of Spa, as Mirko Bortolotti, Luca Engstler, and Jordan Pepper took their Huracan GT3 to the top step of the podium. The race ran uninterrupted for the final eight hours, with the last safety car disappearing after 16 hour. Instead, the closing stages were shaped by three Full Course Yellow (FCY) periods, two of which proved decisive in the battle for the win. Advertisement The pivotal moment came in the 13th FCY of the race, nearly 18 and a half hours in, as both the #63 Grasser Lamborghini and Rowe Racing's #98 BMW of Augusto Farfus, Jesse Krohn, Raffaele Marciello pitted. While BMW's pace wasn't enough to mount a real challenge, the Lamborghini emerged in the lead. Another FCY shortly after the 20-hour mark handed the top spot to the #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche Sven Muller, Patric Niederhauser and Alessio Picariello with a lucky pitstop under the caution period to set up a duel with Grasser's Lambo for victory. The Porsche held the lead for nearly two hours until disaster struck: Muller suffered a puncture in the fearsome Blanchimont section. Fortunately, he kept the car under control and was able to limp to the pits - but it was just enough for Grasser to regain the lead. But Grasser's final pitstop nearly unraveled it all, as Bortolotti lost precious seconds as his Lamborghini struggled to fire back up. Bortolotti lost six seconds in total, and the margin over the chasing Porsche was down to less than one second. #63 GRT - Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2: Mirko Bortolotti, Jordan Pepper, Luca Engstler #63 GRT - Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2: Mirko Bortolotti, Jordan Pepper, Luca Engstler But once back on track, Bortolotti controlled the lead and kept Niederhauser firmly at bay to win by 8.703s. Advertisement Lamborghini becomes the 20th different manufacturer to win the Spa 24 Hours, while it is also the first win of the event for all three drivers. Third place went to #51 AF Corse's Ferrari Alessio Rovera, Vincent Abril, and Alessandro Pier Guidi, thanks to a post-race time penalty against #98 Rowe BMW for exceeding track limits. The Ferrari had overcome an early brake issue and even went a lap down before staging a strong comeback, aided by good FCY timing. Just behind was the sister #50 Ferrari #50 Antonio Fuoco, Eliseo Donno and Arthur Leclerc, which delivered a clean race but missed the decisive FCY luck. In the Gold Cup, the #58 McLaren of Adam Smalley, Frederik Schandorff, Dean MacDonald, Louis Prette Jr was on course for class victory, until a late-race puncture struck with just eight minutes remaining. That handed the class win to the #33 Racing Aston Martin Thierry Vermeulen, Chris Lulham, and Harry King, which also emerged as the best-placed Aston overall after both Pro entries retired. Advertisement The race was marred by a terrifying high-speed accident: Laurin Heinrich, driving the #22 Schumacher-CLRT Porsche, plowed into the slowing #112 CSA McLaren with nearly 200kph speed difference. Miraculously, both drivers walked away unscathed. Read Also: How Verstappen has created an ambitious GT team ahead of new era in 2025 To read more articles visit our website.
New York Times
11-03-2025
- Automotive
- New York Times
Nick Tandy, the Farmer, Is Now Also the Endurance Champion Driver
For a farmer, Nick Tandy has not done too badly for himself in motorsport. In January, Tandy made history by becoming the first driver to win the grand slam of 24-hour racing with his victory at Daytona. It added to his wins in previous years at Le Mans, Spa and Nürburgring, all with Porsche. 'For the last three years, I've been trying desperately to win it,' Tandy said in an interview in February, referring to his win at Daytona with Porsche Penske Motorsport. 'This year it's come true. 'Honestly, you don't really think about the size of the achievement until people start talking about it, or asking questions about it. It's a massive thing for me because it's my world and it's what I do, but I'm just one person in that massive world.' Tandy said he did not realize the scale of his achievements until the following weeks. 'It brought home what I've done, something that nobody's ever done, let alone a little farmer from the north of Bedfordshire that just decided to go racing one day,' he said, referring to a county in England. Tandy, 40, has followed his father, Joe, into farming. When not at a racetrack, Tandy supports his father in running a 250-acre farm, swapping the 205 m.p.h. top speed of his Porsche 963 for the snail's pace of a combine harvester. 'If you look at history, there have been a lot of farming families that have gotten into motorsport, Jim Clark probably being one of the most famous,' he said. Clark won two Formula 1 drivers' championships in the 1960s. 'The good thing I find is when I go racing, I pack my bags, leave my house, and I'm in race mode, and then when I return, I switch off with the farming. It gives me the time off to decompress and to regather my strength for the pressure, hard work and energy involved in top-level professional sport.' After winning the Petit Le Mans in 2013, at the Road Atlanta track in Georgia, Tandy triumphed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2015. A win at the Nürburgring 24 Hours followed in 2018 and the 24 Hours of Spa two years later. Although he took a class victory at Daytona on his first outing in 2014, it has been a long wait to complete the set. Tandy said winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans was 'all my goals and dreams achieved at that point, but then you think, 'Oh, what comes next?'' After he won at Spa, he said, 'a journalist said to me, 'No one's ever won the four 24-hour races outright in history. I thought, 'There's a target, there's a goal.'' Tandy raced in Porsches from 2009 to 2012, then became a works driver the following year. After two years with Corvette in 2021 and 2022, he returned to Porsche as it again embarked on a full-time program in the I.M.S.A. WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. At the third attempt, Tandy triumphed at Daytona alongside his teammates Felipe Nasr of Brazil and Laurens Vanthoor of Belgium. Tandy and Nasr will be teammates for the remainder of this year's International Motor Sports Association calendar, starting with the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Nasr, a Formula 1 driver with Sauber in 2015 and 2016, is a three-time I.M.S.A. champion and a two-time winner at Sebring. 'Nick has the grand slam of motor racing pretty much because he won all the most famous 24-hour races available,' Nasr said in an interview in February. 'I told Nick after we won at Daytona, 'Hey, you've got to help me win Le Mans now because you've got it all. It's my turn to ask you a favor.'' Nasr has not won at Le Mans, in any class, in five attempts. Nasr said it was a measure of Tandy's character as a driver that, with four hours remaining at Daytona, they discussed who would take the final stint. Despite what was at stake for Tandy, he let Nasr take the wheel. 'I asked him if he wanted to close the race,' Nasr said. 'He stood, and I could see he was thinking, but then after a couple of seconds he looked right into my eyes and said, 'Felipe, you're going to jump in this car and you're going to drive the hell out of it until the end. You're going to finish the race.' That was really nice. 'I have huge respect for Nick and the achievements in his career. There was no doubt he could have done the job as well, so for him to say, 'Felipe, you're going to go out there and win this race for us,' that was really cool. That was one of the coolest moments I've seen in racing.' Nasr's I.M.S.A. championship victories in 2018, 2021 and last year have been with different teammates. Although he successfully partnered with Dane Cameron of the United States at Porsche Penske Motorsport in 2024, he saw no issue switching to Tandy this season. 'The good thing about being involved with Porsche Penske Motorsport is that it has a great portfolio of drivers it can play between the series, either I.M.S.A. or W.E.C.,' Nasr said, referring to the World Endurance Championship. 'That's something I have full trust in the team. 'Dane and the team went different paths so they came up with the idea of putting me and Nick in the car, the older guys in the program, let's say, with this mix of experience and knowledge of the series.' Tandy has never won the I.M.S.A. drivers' championship in nine attempts. He finished second to Nasr and Cameron last year in partnership with Mathieu Jaminet of France. 'It's funny, but I probably had more battles with Nick on the track last year than I had with any other driver,' Nasr said. 'Now we are racing together, and despite all our successes, we are both hungry for more.' Jonathan Diuguid, the Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director, said in an interview in February that Tandy and Nasr 'have clicked right away and have been successful right off the bat. It goes to show that hopefully, we made the right decision for the rest of the season.' Diuguid said Tandy's success in the four 24-hour races was because of 'a comprehensive understanding of what it takes to be successful in endurance racing. 'It's not just about cranking out the lap time, managing the traffic, taking care of the car or dealing with conditions. It's all of these things. For him to succeed in those four races like that is a massive achievement and something I know he doesn't take for granted.' Sebring is the next box to tick for Tandy. He had G.T.L.M. class wins in 2018, 2019 and 2020, but overall victory has eluded him. With Porsche Penske Motorsport he was third in 2023 and ninth last year. 'I've been lucky enough to win Sebring three times in the GT class,' Tandy said. 'Sebring, overall, would complete the so-called triple crown of events, which is Sebring, Daytona and Le Mans. 'It would also finalize the big six of multihour endurance races, which includes the big four 24-hour events and Petit Le Mans, which is 10 hours. I'm more confident this year than the last two years, and we nearly won the last two years.'
