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SMP Racing has withdrawn its pair of LMP1 entries from the 2019/20 World Endurance Championship season.
The Russian outfit, with whom Jenson Button had contested a part season, previously pledged to continue with its BR Engineering BR1-AERS for the upcoming campaign. However, just over two weeks ahead of the pre-season Prologue, SMP announced it will not take part. Its departure leaves only six cars entered by three teams in the LMP1 division, with only Rebellion Racing and Team LNT remaining on the entry list alongside Toyota… Marta Garcia took her maiden W Series win in commanding style at the Norisring last weekend, ahead of championship contenders Beitske Visser and Jamie Chadwick. Garcia got a rapid start from pole and was untroubled from then on. Chadwick lined up second but a slow getaway helped fifth-placed Visser get ahead… Oliver Jarvis and Tristan Nunez handed Mazda its second IMSA Sportscar Championship victory in as many weeks at Mosport. The #77 Team Joest Mazda ran second to the sister car of Harry Tincknell and Jonathan Bomarito for much of the race but assumed the lead following a slow final pitstop for the #55 machine in the last hour... Tiago Monteiro claimed his first win since his comeback from a serious injury in the final World Touring Car Cup race at Vila Real. Monteiro took his Honda Civic Type R to victory from Yvan Muller to become the 11th different 2019 winner, and it was his first triumph since his testing crash at Barcelona almost two years ago. Norbert Michelisz’s Hyundai eased to a lights-to-flag victory in the opening race, while Cupra driver Mikel Azcona claimed his first WTCR victory in race two after a joker lap mistake from Ma Qing Hua… BMW’S Bruno Spengler took a comfortable victory in the second DTM race at the Norisring to end a two-year victory drought. Spengler claimed the lead with a clean run through the first sequence of corners and, despite a brief challenge from Jamie Green in the second half of the race, always appeared in control. In the opener, Rene Rast recovered from stalling on the grid to take a dramatic victory for Audi… Shane van Gisbergen prevailed in a wild second Supercars encounter at Townsville that ended under the safety car due to a pitlane fire, sparked by a fuel rig failure at Brad Jones Racing. Earlier,
Scott Mclaughlin claimed his 13th win of the season in race one… Justin Haley claimed a shock victory at Daytona in just his third NASCAR Cup start, after the race was truncated by stormy weather that wrong-footed Kurt Busch. A strategic gamble following a multiple car pile-up propelled Spire Motorsports’ Haley to victory.