Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly have joined Acura for its 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship GTP campaign with Meyer Shank Racing after leaving Cadillac and BMW. 

Two-time Daytona 24 Hours winner van der Zande has switched to the Honda brand after seven seasons with Cadillac, first with the Wayne Taylor Racing team with which he won the IMSA blue riband enduro in 2019 and ’20 and then Chip Ganassi Racing. 

Yelloly has made the move from BMW, which announced his departure on Monday, after six years as a factory driver, in which time he won the Nurburgring and Spa GT3 24-hour enduros and took a first IMSA win for the German marque’s M Hybrid V8 LMDh in IMSA last year. 

He and Van der Zande will be the full-season drivers in one of the pair of Acura ARX-06 LMDhs fielded in the GTP class by MSR, which is returning to IMSA after a one-year break. 

The other car will be shared by former MSR Indycar driver Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun, who will reprise their partnership of 2023 that yielded a controversial victory at Daytona. 

MSR was subsequently found to have manipulated information from its tyre pressure sensors, and was fined and given a points deduction but retained the win. 

The team, which was out of contract with Acura at the end of the season, was not retained as Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti undertook a planned expansion to two cars.

#60 Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06: Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun, Helio Castroneves

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WTR has now returned to Cadillac for 2025, which precipitated the return of MSR in conjunction with the Honda Racing Corporation USA organisation (formerly known as Honda Performance Development) that runs the Acura LMDh programme. 

HRC US will take a deeper role in the running of the cars at the tracks and will be responsible for engineering one of the entries in 2025. 

Van der Zande thanked Cadillac for “everything they have done for me over the past seven seasons”.

“Although it’s hard for me to leave, it’s time for a new chapter that I am really looking forward to,” he said.

“I’ve been racing against Acura for the past seven years and they’ve always been a fierce competitor, but I’m excited to now be on their side and tap into their resources and see what we can do.”

Yelloly also thanked his former employer for which he drove in the GTP ranks in 2023 and ’24 with the Rahal team. 

“They were the first to give me a chance as a works driver back in 2019, and together we celebrated many great successes,” he said.

Yelloly ends a lengthy stint as a BMW works driver to join MSR/Acura

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“I’m really excited to be joining the Acura MSR/HRC project. Clearly the team is very hungry and willing to push flat out, which sits well with me as I have the same type of mentality.”

Team boss Mike Shank said: “Putting Tom and Colin back in the driver’s seat just made sense. The two of them had an incredible season in ’23 and I think that’s just cracking the surface on what they can accomplish together. 

“And then with the addition of Renger and Nick, they both have extensive prototype experience and have shown a lot of strength the past few seasons, so I think they will be a big asset to the team.”

KEVIN HARVICKS HAPPY HOUR

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Ferrari driver coach Jock Clear is adamant Charles Leclerc is ready to deliver a world championship as soon as the team gives him the car to do it.

Leclerc emerged as one of the fastest qualifiers on the grid since joining Ferrari in 2019, racking up 26 poles so far. His number of poles contrasts with winning ‘just’ seven grands prix, which has netted the Monegasque driver a reputation of being a much better qualifier than racer.

But given a large part of Leclerc’s Ferrari career overlaps with the team having been on the back foot in race trim, particularly in 2022 and 2023, his experienced Ferrari coach Clear feels that this reputation is not warranted, certainly not in 2024.

“His reputation in qualifying has certainly been cemented over those years and people tended to say to me two or three years ago he’s nowhere near as good in the race as he is in qualifying,” Clear told the F1 Nation podcast. “Well, that’s not really fair. It’s just that he’s very, very good at qualifying.

“It’s probably true that we’ve shifted our focus slightly to making the car a better race car. Tyre management is, of course, always a hot topic. But we’ve seen Charles do some very good races. I remember back in ’22 in Austria, where Max [Verstappen] really struggled with tyre degradation, and Charles won that race with a really good drive.

“It’s not that Charles historically hasn’t been good on tyres. I think that as a combination we haven’t been focused that well on tyres.

“What we’ve seen this year is the result of us being more focused on getting the car working really well in the race and looking after those tyres, and Charles learning from previous years and honing those skills of tyre and race management. So, I think you’re just seeing a better representation of Charles as a driver and us as a race team.”

Pole man Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari, Oscar Piastri, McLaren F1 Team, in Parc Ferme after Qualifying

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Clear believes Leclerc “will deliver” once Ferrari has everything it takes to challenge for the world championship, which hasn’t happened yet in his six-year stay at the team. Leclerc and Ferrari came closest in 2022, but were outdeveloped by Red Bull as Verstappen romped home to his second straight title, while also throwing away points through various mistakes of their own.

“He’s got what it takes to be a world champion,” Clear said. “He’s got the qualifying pace. My god, I honestly think he’s the best qualifier we’ve seen. It’s difficult to go back as far as Michael [Schumacher] and Mika [Hakkinen] and people like that, but he is the best qualifier for sure. And his race management, if you look at Monza, it’s just exceptional. When everything’s lined up, he can deliver.

“Charles hasn’t been in that situation yet. Was 2022 genuinely a chance for Ferrari to win a world championship? You have to say it was, because at one point we were 40 points ahead. But we weren’t ready as a team and Red Bull outdeveloped us by the end of the year.

“Certainly, there were things that Charles would say were not at championship level during that year, but that is exactly the point. You’re not going to win a championship until all of you are at that level.

“It’s unfair to say that Mercedes only won all those championships because they had the best car. They had the best everything. And it’s the same with Max [and Red Bull] in the last three years. When we deliver a car to consistently challenge for championship, which I think we’re on the brink of now, Charles will deliver.”

M-Sport’s driver line-up for the 2025 World Rally Championship is “totally up in the air” as speculation mounts around the future of its current lead driver Adrien Fourmaux.

The Ford squad often makes its moves in the driver market late into the year and this season is no different as it plans to field two Ford Puma Rally1 cars next year.

The decision to promote Fourmaux back to its Rally1 programme this year after his 2023 season in Rally2 has paid dividends, with the Frenchman reeling off eight top-five finishes including four podiums (Sweden, Kenya, Poland and Finland).

The run has seen the Frenchman amass only six points fewer than Ott Tanak’s 2023 tally at this stage of the campaign, having replaced the 2019 world champion this year.

Fourmaux’s impressive rise has made the 29-year-old a valuable commodity in the service park, with the 2023 British rally champion linked with a move to Hyundai to pilot the Korean marque’s third car for next season.

When asked about his team’s 2025 plans, M-Sport’s team principal Richard Millener maintains that “nothing has been signed with anybody” at the minute.

“It is totally up in the air and nothing is signed with anybody, all options on the table as usual for M-Sport at this point in the year,” Millener told Motorsport.com. “We want the strongest possible team we can get for two cars for next year and that is the goal and what we continue to push on.”

Adrien Fourmaux, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team

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The team wishes to agree a new deal with Fourmaux and has not given up on retaining his services. However, should it need to look elsewhere the squad appears to have a shortlist of options to fill its two seats.

Its other full-time driver Gregoire Munster delivered arguably his best Rally1 performance to date in Chile, where he ran as high as fourth, matching stage times at the top of the leaderboard, before finishing seventh.

The performance arrived after a inconsistent campaign to date which could bode well for his future, although Millener says the Luxembourger should remain focused on the final two rallies of the season.

“He just needs to concentrate on one rally at a time now. He shouldn’t be thinking about how he makes sure he gets a drive next year,” added Millener. “It needs to be a case of just doing the best he can on each rally and see what comes at the end of the year.”

Another driver that M-Sport is keeping an eye on is Martins Sesks following his trio of Rally1 outings with the team. The 25-year-old’s drives to fifth in Poland, followed by a podium challenge in Latvia before a mechanical issue struck, has turned heads.

Sesks admitted after his latest outing in Chile that he was unsure where his future lay.

“Like he says, he doesn’t know what is next and I don’t know what is next, there is a lot up in the air but it was good to give him that opportunity as well and now we need to see what happens in the next few weeks,” said Millener.

Outside of those two drivers, Motorsport.com expects WRC2 title contenders Oliver Solberg and Yohan Rossel to be on the team’s 2025 driver shortlist.

CCTV footage of the alleged attack on an Erebus engineer at the Bathurst 1000 has emerged which indicates the incident involved only a single person.

The team, which won the race through Brodie Kostecki and co-driver Todd Hazelwood, had its headlines taken over by reports of the incident, with details revealed on Monday’s Seven Network breakfast programme Sunrise by the reigning series champion.

“One of our crew members was unfortunately attacked last night. It’s really disappointing and really put a spoil on the evening,” Kostecki said.

“We wish Sam all the best and hopefully he recovers fast, along with his partner, Tameika.”

The engineer that suffered the alleged attack was hospitalised, with three men reported to be the aggressors.

But CCTV footage shown on a Seven News Central West bulletin portrayed a very different story, with a young man seen hitting himself rather than sustaining an attack.

The report explained that a man was walking along hitting himself in the face before falling to the floor, with a woman following in his footsteps.

Brodie Kostecki, Todd Hazelwood, Erebus Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

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Police have confirmed the man is out of hospital and that, while the investigation remains ongoing, the force is confident no attack took place.

The incident is the latest in a turbulent year for the Erebus outfit which saw Kostecki miss the commencement of the campaign due to behind-the-scenes drama.

But he had won the Great Race with Hazelwood to give the team a first triumph in the event since 2017, when David Reynolds and Luke Youlden came out on top.

Five-time Le Mans podium finisher Richard Westbrook has called time on a career in which he was a factory driver with Porsche, General Motors, BMW, Aston Martin and Ford.

The 49-year-old Briton has announced that last weekend’s Petit Le Mans IMSA SportsCar Championship finale at Road Atlanta was his last race as a professional driver.

Westbrook’s decision to retire brings the curtain down on a career that included back-to-back Porsche Supercup titles in 2006-07 and class victories in the Sebring 12 Hours and Daytona 24 Hours enduros in 2013 and 2018 respectively.

As well as third-place finishes overall with Glickenhaus and Cadillac at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2022 and ’23, he notched up a trio of class podiums at the Circuit de la Sarthe with Porsche, Ford and Aston Martin.

Westbrook explained the time was right to call time on his career, despite having a year left to run on his contract with the JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche GTP team with which he has raced in IMSA this season.

“You can’t do it forever and at some point you have to be honest with yourself, say you’ve had a good run and pass on the baton,” Westbrook told Motorsport.com.

“This was the first season that I have felt like that: my performances were still there, but the enjoyment factor had gone a bit. I wasn’t so excited about getting in the car as I had been in the past, and if that’s the case, you have to question whether you should be doing it.

Petit Le Mans was Westbrook’s final race as a pro as he bowed out in the JDC/Miller MotorSports Porsche 963

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“I’m happy with my career and the way it has ended: I probably wasn’t going to achieve a lot more and it has been my decision to stop.”

Westbrook said that his biggest achievement was racing for 23 seasons after he started competing again following six years of inactivity after his single-seater career stalled in Formula 3 in 1996.

“I have to pinch myself sometimes what has happened over the past 20-odd years,” he explained. “Everything happened so quickly: I went from doing nothing to driving for all these manufacturers.”

Westbrook picked out his four seasons racing for Chip Ganassi Racing in IMSA in 2016-19 with the Ford GT in the GT Le Mans class as one of the best periods of his career.

“That was a special time for me,” said Westbrook, whose regular driving partner over the four years was Ryan Briscoe.

“We had a good group of people and scored a lot of wins, but unfortunately not the championship. We were second twice and it always went down to the wire – that’s one regret I will always have.

“When I look back I think I should have won more, more championships. There were big wins in IMSA, like Daytona and Sebring, but never a championship – that will always rankle.”

Westbrook formed a successful partnership at Ford with Briscoe, but the title eluded them

Photo by: Richard Dole / Motorsport Images

He singled out his second-place overall finish in the 2015 IMSA points alongside Michael Valiante with the Spirit of Daytona team when he was on the books of Chevrolet as another regret.

“We were a small operation racing against big teams like Action Express Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing and we came within three points of the championship,” he said.

Westbrook also picked the first of his two Le Mans overall podiums, notched up with Glickenhaus Racing, as another highlight.

“Jim [Glickenhaus, the marque founder] put his money where his mouth was and we achieved everything we could,” said Westbrook. “To stand on the Le Mans podium with him was really special.”

The three Le Mans podiums in class came in 2010 in GT2 with the Scuderia Italia Porsche team and in 2016 and 2020 respectively with Ford and Aston Martin in GTE Pro.

He was also a race winner in the FIA GT1 World Championship with the JRM Nissan team in 2010 and in class in FIA GTs with the Prospeed Porsche squad in 2008 and ’09.

Westbrook was a frontrunner in the Formula Opel Lotus Euroseries one-make single-seater championship in 1994-95, but a proposed F3 drive with the KMS-run Benetton Junior Team in Germany fell through for 1996.

He then stopped racing after a handful F3 races in Germany and Austria that year and didn’t resume until coming back for a short self-funded partial programme in the Supercup in 2002.