Jim and Val tie the Knot
The happiest little news nib of the day comes from JMW Motorsport.
Nope, nothing about the new livery for the team’s Ferrari, nor the new-look driver squad recruited by Tim Sugden for the 2026 GTWC Endurance Cup.
In fact, it came as DSC popped by the team transporter to say hi to Team founder and owner Jim McWhirter, to be greeted by Jim’s long-time partner Val.
Val revealed with a huge smile that the two have (finally!) tied the knot in a discreet family service at the beautiful Bangor Castle. Congratulations, Jim and Val, from all of us.
Winklehock for HWA at N24
While DSC Academy’s Ewan Wane was busy chatting to Eastalent Racing’s Audi legend Christopher Haase, the DSC editor in chief took a few moments to catch up with Markus Winklehock, who will join Haase and Simon Reicher for the full Endurance Cup this season.
It’s not the only endurance racing we’ll see though from ‘Winky’, he’ll be back at the ‘Ring in a few weeks’ time looking to add to a record in the Nürburgring 24 Hours that includes three overall wins and a class win.
He’ll do so as one of the drivers in HWA’s eye-catching SPX campaign with two of its brand new HWA Evo-Rs, a ‘re-imagining’ of the iconic Mercedes 190E EvoII that HWA built for the DTM.
“It’s a cool car, very cool, and whilst it is not as fast as a GT3, it has plenty of power and should be a lot of fun around the Nordschleife.”
Paradine goes blue
Paradine Competition has switched to a blue livery on its #992 BMW M4 GT3 Evo for this season, as part of a new association with Blau Motorsport.
Blau Motorsport is a regular on the Brazilian national scene, racing across Stock Car, Formula 4 and GT competition.
The partnership means that Blau driver Christian Hahn will make his GT World Challenge Europe debut this weekend, driving with Robert De Haan and Ashley Sutton in the Gold Cup.
“I’m very excited about this opportunity to return to racing in Europe,” Hahn said. “My last full season there was in 2019, when I started my career in Euroformula Open. I also competed in selected GT Open races in 2020 alongside my father, the year he won the Pro-Am title.
“I believe I couldn’t have chosen a better programme for this return. The BMW is a fantastic car that I’ve always wanted to drive, and Paradine has shown through its recent results that it has great expertise with this package.”
Although a lot has been made about the clash between the GT World Challenge Europe and ELMS season openers this week, Hahn’s co-driver Sutton has had to contend with his own scheduling challenge.
The Briton missed the opening day of the Prologue to attend the British Touring Car championship’s Media Day at Brands Hatch, and is travelling to Paul Ricard to hopefully turn some laps in this morning’s session.
Verstappen lends a helping hand
Max Verstappen has spent his afternoon at the Circuit Paul Ricard taking a close interest in the progress of his 2 Seas Motorsport-run Verstappen Racing squad’s #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, ahead of the team’s first Pro class outing.
The Dutchman is currently in the midst of a three-week break from racing, between the Japanese Grand Prix at the end of March and the ADAC 24H Qualifiers on 18th and 19th April.
Cheli; Caresani added to entry
Sainteloc Racing has filled the crew of its #25 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, with Étienne Cheli joining Ezequiel Perez Companc and Ivan Klymenko in the Silver Cup entry. The 25-year-old raced for Team WRT last season and has previously won the FFSA French GT Silver drivers’ title.
At Grupo Prom Racing Team, Colin Caresani has been called up to replace the injured Ralf Aron in the Haupt Racing Team-run Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO.
The remaining ‘TBA’ spots on the entry are at Razoon – more than racing, which is yet to determine the line-up which will drive its #914 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) for the team’s Endurance Cup debut. Gerhard Tweraser and team principal Dominik Olbert drove the car yesterday, but there is no confirmation yet that either will race.
Paddock filling up
With the 59 GT World Challenge cars on track today, the task of paddock Tetris shifts to the outer areas of the Paul Ricard estate as the trucks supporting the weekend’s other grids begin to arrive, including the Lamborghini Super Trofeo, GT4 European Series and the new-for-2026 GT3 Revival Series.
The Super Trofeo Lamborghinis, which will all sport commemorative logos to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the marque’s first one-make championship, are all on-site.
Their paddock in the car park area outside the main paddock gates, ‘guarded’ on Wednesday evening by the newly-arrived safety and leading cars, which include a brand-new Temerario.
Later today, they’ll be joined on the other side of the outer paddock by the extensive grid of the GT3 Revival Series. The new series, which supports GT World Challenge at several rounds this season, is jointly promoted by SRO and Peter Auto.
Finally, GT4 European Series contenders have their paddock on the outside of the circuit, behind the start-finish straight grandstands. The 38-car grid will be almost complete by Wednesday evening.
Scrutineering
This weekend’s scrutineering is taking place in SRO’s own on-site technical centre. The GT World Challenge Europe field passed through the facility on Tuesday evening, with the support series following suit over the next couple of days.
Featured image courtesy of SRO
