On the heels of its thrilling victory in last month’s season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona, the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R has announced 23-year-old British driver Alex Lynn will join its full-time co-drivers and brothers Ricky and Jordan Taylor for next month’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and October’s Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

Lynn completed his second season in 2016 with the French DAMS team in the GP2 Series – the recognized stepping stone to Formula One – and is also a development driver for the renowned Williams Martini Racing F1 team.

In 43 GP2 starts the past two seasons, Lynn recorded five race wins, two pole positions and three fastest race laps, and finished sixth in the final point standings both years.

“I am delighted to be making my IMSA debut with the Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R team – the racing team and carmaker who both have such an incredible heritage and passionate desire to win,” said Lynn as he joins the team to replace veteran Italian Max “The Ax” Angelelli, who retired after last month’s thrilling victory in the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona alongside the Taylor brothers and four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon. “I would like to sincerely thank (team owner) Wayne (Taylor) and Max for trusting me to join Ricky and Jordan in this incredible racecar. I look forward to learning a lot from the entire team and playing my part in building on the fantastic recent result at Daytona. I fully expect us to be fighting for wins at Sebring and Road Atlanta.”

Lynn began his single-seater career in Formula Renault UK, dominating the 2011 championship with a record 12 wins in 20 starts. He was subsequently named British Club Driver of the Year at the 2011 Autosport Awards. He moved up to British F3 the following year and finished fourth before progressing to the prestigious FIA European F3 Championship in 2013, claiming third in the standings as the highest finishing rookie. He ended the season with a dominant victory in the coveted Macau F3 Grand Prix. In 2014, Lynn wrapped up the GP3 title with a record points margin and became the first Englishman to claim the title before moving up to GP2 in 2015 and 2016.

While the bulk of his career has been spent in open-wheel cars, he is certainly no stranger to prototypes, having contested the Japan, Shanghai and Bahrain rounds of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship with the Manor Racing LMP2 team, scoring fastest race laps, lap records, pole positions and fastest stint averages along the way. He also co-drove to a second-place finish in the United Autosports LMP3 entry at December’s Gulf 12-Hour race in Abu Dhabi, qualifying on the pole and recording the fastest stint average.

“We welcome Alex to the Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R team with hopes of picking up where we left off at Daytona,” said Wayne Taylor, who will be operating without the services of Angelelli in the cockpit for the first time since 1999. “Alex is a very polished, young competitor who is cut from the same mold as Ricky and Jordan and Max in his ability to fight his way to the front and to stay there in seemingly any kind of racecar. He will be an ideal representative of this team, for Konica Minolta, for Cadillac, for all our partners.”

Chevrolet today introduced the Camaro GT4.R – a new-for-2017 and fully race-ready variant of the sixth-generation Chevrolet Camaro.

Built to global GT4 regulations, the Camaro GT4.R is eligible in the IMSA’s Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge (GS category) and the Pirelli World Challenge (GTS class), two of North America’s top GT racing championships, as well as additional GT4 series across the world. 

Developed with technical partner Pratt & Miller Engineering, the Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R is built off the Camaro ZL1 road car platform. The race-tuned, dry-sump 6.2L LT1 V8 small-block engine – developed and validated by Chevrolet Racing – delivers its power through a race proven, six-speed Xtrac sequential transmission with pneumatic paddle shift and adjustable traction control. Other notable features unique to the GT4.R include:

•    Xtrac racing limited-slip differential
•    Two-Way Adjustable Ohlins Racing Coil-Over Dampers 
•    Adjustable ABS featuring Brembo brakes with six-piston aluminum monobloc calipers in the front
•    Aerodynamic improvements developed in the wind tunnel including a new rear wing, front splitter and front diveplanes.

The racing success of the fifth-generation Camaro gave Chevrolet engineers a head start on creating a turn-key racer in the GT4.R. 

From 2010-16, the Camaro GS and Camaro Z/28.R won 55 races, two Manufacturer’s championships and five driving titles in major North American competition. The lessons and experience aided in the design and development of Chevrolet’s latest customer-driven track car

2015 IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge champions Stevenson Motorsports will make their return to the series in 2017 as the team launches an effort with the all-new Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R. Stevenson Motorsports drivers Matt Bell and Robin Liddell will share the driving duties in the all new machine, which is slated to debut at Circuit of the Americas in Round 3 of the 2017 championship.

Stevenson Motorsports made their debut in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge in 2009 with a Camaro entry, competing in the championship for seven seasons with 96 race starts. The team also successfully competed in the Rolex Series with a GT Class Camaro GT.R from 2010-2013, scoring multiple victories including dramatic wins at Montreal and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“We are really pleased to be joining Chevrolet again, it is just a natural fit for us and there is a lot of excitement about this new Camaro and the GT4 cars in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge,” said team owner Johnny Stevenson. “We’ve got an outstanding team and we are well prepared to once again be racing in both of the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge and IMSA WeatherTech events during these IMSA weekends. Hopefully we can get off to a quick start at COTA and be a factor once again this season!”

The 2015 season saw Liddell and his Stevenson Motorsports co-driver Andrew Davis secure the GS championship title on the strength of four wins and four additional podiums in their No. 6 Chevy Camaro Z/28.R.

Bell and Liddell both have extensive experience in GS class competition behind the wheel of a Camaro, with six seasons under their belts as well as a combined 13 race victories for Stevenson Motorsports.

"I am so excited to be coming "home" to the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge,” said Bell. “With all the new cars and competition, I don't at all see this as a step backward from the WeatherTech Championship. Rather, I see this as an awesome opportunity to represent a company that I truly enjoy being with. The Stevenson Motorsports team had proven in their last season of GS competition that they are really second-to-none in preparation and execution in Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge racing. There's no team I'd rather be working for in that paddock. Surely they'll take everything learned the last time we ran a Camaro and apply it to the new GT4 car. I've heard some really great things about the new Gen 6 GT4 Camaro so I can't wait to try it myself! I've spent most of my career, at this point, with a bowtie on my hood and it feels great to have another opportunity to do it again! I've looked up to Robin (Liddell) the entire time I've been with Stevenson Motorsports and it's great to have a chance to finally share a GS car with him. We seem to prefer the car setup in a similar way. I think that will streamline the tuning process and give us a head start on our competition each weekend.”

Liddell and Bell, who has shown to be a record-setting qualifier, will look to bring a new chapter of success to the team with the sixth-generation 6.2L LT1 V8 Chevrolet Camaro. The GT4 machine is anticipated to make its competition debut at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas for Round 3 of the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Championship in May following an on-track testing program.

"Obviously I'm delighted to return to the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge series with Stevenson Motorsports and especially with the latest Camaro GT4 platform,” said Liddell. “After enjoying so much success with the Camaro in the past in both the GT and GS classes, it almost feels like a sort of homecoming. I know how excited John and Susan (Stevenson) are to get back to racing Camaros, especially since they have a Chevrolet dealership in their home town in Swansboro, North Carolina. To be teamed up with Matt (Bell), the guy who once had the most pole positions in the history of the series, and a team like Stevenson, seems to me to be the perfect package. Obviously it's a shame that we couldn't get out for the start of the season, but in a way it takes the pressure off and we can just focus on working with the new car and trying to win some races. I'm excited!"

In addition to the GS class program with Matt Bell and Robin Liddell sharing the No. 57 Camaro GT4.R., Stevenson Motorsports will continue to target a championship in the WeatherTech GTD class with drivers Andrew Davis and Lawson Aschenbach behind the wheel of the No. 57 Audi R8 LMS for the full season, with Matt Bell joining them for the Sebring 12 hour and Petit Le Mans. The Stevenson Motorsports 2017 IMSA GTD effort got off to a strong start at Daytona, logging a near perfect run through challenging conditions to finish on the lead lap in fourth, just five seconds shy of a class victory and .270-seconds shy of a podium finish.

Motorsports In Action (MIA) took to Daytona International Speedway the day before the Rolex 24 to contest the first round of the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge’s 2017 season.

The four-hour BMW Endurance Challenge at Daytona launch saw MIA’s pair of McLaren 570S GT4s experience a very promising introduction to the series.

Chris Green and Jesse Lazare, both from Montreal, battled for the Grand Sport (GS) class lead in the No. 69 McLaren until contact resulted in a broken radiator, unfortunately ending their race and hopes of victory with only 30 minutes remaining. In the sister No. 68 Advanced Cardiovascular Center of Tampa Bay McLaren, Ontario’s Kenny Wilden and American teammate Rodney Randall had better luck, finishing the event in ninth.

This first event of the season marked the North American endurance racing debut for Montreal-based MIA, brought together by owner and veteran driver Eric Kerub. It was an emotional first race for the team, but undoubtedly confirmed the competitiveness of its two McLarens.

“Sure, our inexperience meant that we made a few mistakes in the pits that probably cost us a few seconds, but we challenged for the podium with both cars and that’s excellent,” said Kerub. “While the contact was unfortunate and we had to pull car (No.) 69, that’s part of racing. Jesse (Lazare) fought for it and that’s great, I'm happy that he pushed to go for the win.”

Lazare, the 2016 IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama Platinum champion, went on to further prove his capabilities in the most significant way possible when he won the Rolex 24 as part of the Alegra Motorsports lineup in the GT Daytona class.

“Overall, I’m proud of all of the drivers’ skills and I now know that we’re a team that can win,” Kerub added. “We’ll analyze all the data from Daytona and work with McLaren to do even better at the next race in Sebring.”