Autoblog

Every racing fan has his favorite series. In most of the world, that'll probably be Formula One. In the United States, fans love their NASCAR. In parts of Europe they might follow DTM, but with few exceptions that's pretty much it. Except for Le Mans. Come June, everybody's attention turns to France. But that's just once a year, and sportscar racing continues around the world and around the calendar in such leagues as the LMS, ALMS and FIA GT Championship.

One of the most important endurance races of the year – the 24 Hours of Spa – just took place in Belgium at the Spa-Francorchamps this past weekend. If you follow the FIA GT series, you probably already know who won. But if you don't, follow the jump to see how the day-long race turned out.

[Source: Autosport, Image: Michel Krakowski/Getty]

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We used to think the Ferrari F430 was one of the most impressive supercars on the market, but that's only the start. The 430 Scuderia kicked it up a considerable notch. The F430 Pista, as raced in the Ferrari Challenge series, is even tauter, and the F430 GT3 is even sharper than that. At the top of the track-ready 430 line-up sits the F430 GT2, and the first 2008-spec model has just been delivered.

Changes are bound to be minimal on the 2008 version for the simple reason that the 2007 model was an unbridled success. It won the GT2 titles in both the FIA GT series and the American Le Mans Series, all while the F2007 took the Formula One title. Not a bad year, then, for racing Ferraris. But just as the F1 team is already hard at work preparing next year's grand prix car, so has Michelotto prepared an even better version of the F430 GT2 in pursuit of even more trophies in 2008.

Michelotto – which has been responsible for preparing the majority of GT racing Ferraris since the late 70s, and also had a big hand in developing the 288 GTO and F40 supercars – just handed the 2008 F430 GT2 to CR Scuderia, a team that will campaign the car next year in the FIA GT series, for an initial shakedown at the Fiorano test track, and we've got the pictures to prove it. Following the test, the car was loaded onto a truck bound for the Autosport International racing-car show in England when the car will be officially unveiled.

[Source: Italiaspeed]

click above image for 45 more desktop wallpaper-size pics

No doubt followers of FIA GT3 racing were surprised at how well the Ford GTs from Matech ran in the first two races at Silverstone earlier this month. No one, however, was prepared for the can of whoop ass they opened up in Bucarest last weekend. Despite heavy rain at times, the two Matech Ford GTs were dominant, though not both at the same time.

The first GT3 race of the weekend was won by the #34 JMB Racing Ferrari F430, but the #43 Matech Ford GT driven by Thomas Mutsch and Martin Bartek finished second, the best result in the first three races of the season for a Ford GT. The second race of the weekend, however, concluded with the #44 Matech Ford GT driven by Stefan van Campenhoudt and Romain Bera crossing the finish line first, ahead of no less than three Porsche GT3s that were chasing it down. Romain Bera was driving the Ford GT at the race's conclusion and didn't realize until after the race that one of his rear tires had gone flat near the end. Despite that and the heavy rain, Matech left Bucharest with its first win and a solid second-place finish – an amazing result considering their program is about four months old.

We've got a gallery full of gorgeous shots from the Bucharest street race, and we threw in a lot of extra pics taken of the headlining FIA GT race, as well. We wish it were easier to follow the FIA GT series from the U.S., as watching such varied marques battling on the same track would be a dream come true, or at least better than watching NASCAR's CoT turning left all day long.

[Source: FIA GT3]

A while back we posted on the impending debut of two Fords in FIA GT3 class racing – the Ford FR500GT and Ford GT. Last weekend both cars debuted simultaneously at Silverstone in the GT3 class and raced alongside other contenders like the Jaguar XKR GT3, which also debuted that weekend, the Ferrari F430 GT and Lamborghini Gallardo. The Ford factory-backed FR500GT apparently didn't make a great showing, but the two Matech Ford GTs impressed everyone by holding their own before trailing off at the end. One of the GTs actually qualified second for the race in a field of 50 GT3 cars, but it only managed to finish 16th. The GT3 class race at Silverstone was actually won in a thrilling manner by the Kessel Racing Ferrari F430 Challenge, which held off a charge at the finish by the Berg Racing Lamborghini Gallardo, finishing just a half second ahead of its Italian foe.

Check out some excellent on track photography over at Supercars.net, who had a photographer on hand during the race. The pics really tell the story.

[Source: Supercars.net]

Click on the photo for a gallery of the Elise GT1

For an all too brief period in the mid-90s, racing fans were treated to the sight of the fastest road-going exotic cars in the world competeting against each other on the world's stage. It began in 1994 with the victory of the Dauer 962LM. The 962LM was an 80's era Group C Porsche 962 that had been modified for road use, and then brought back to Le Mans under the new GT rules. Following the success of the McLaren F1 taking 1st, 3rd,4th, and 5th overall at Le Mans in 1995 with an almost stock car, many other teams started preparing cars like the Ferrari F40, Jaguar XJ220 and Lotus Esprit for the BPR GT series, which was later subsumed by the FIA..

What began with production exotics being modified with the necessary safety equipment to race, quickly evolved into manufacturers seizing an opportunity. The rules required a minimum number of road legal examples to be built and then modified for racing. Companies like Porsche and Mercedes seized on this to design pure race cars which were then dialed back just enough so they could be licensed, which ultimately resulted inthe 911 GT1 and CLK-GTR.

Lotus created a GT1 version version of the Esprit, which had been racing with some success in lower classes like GT2 and the SCCA World Challenge in the US. The then twenty-year-old Esprit just couldn't cut in the big leagues, though, so the new turbocharged V-8 was moved to a new platform. The Lotus Elise was still new to the world when Lotus decided to stretch the body longer and wider and put the V-8 in the back for the 1997 FIA GT series. The Lotus V-8 was also inadequate for competition and the race cars instead used the LT5 V-8 that Lotus had designed earlier for the Corvette ZR-1. Unfortunately, the little racers from Hethel couldn't keep up with the Germans and a lack of resources prevented adequate development so the project was largely abandoned. One of the seven Elise GT1s that were built, however, is available on eBay right now and, at the time of writing, hasn't yet hit the reserve price.

Thanks to Mike for the tip!

[Source: eBay]

While its sister ship struggled a bit, the #7 All-Inkl Racing Lamborghini Murcièlago R-GT ran strong all race, and managed to grab Lamborghini's first international racing trophy in its maiden outing. Drivers Christophe Bouchut and Stefan Mücke held off a pair of hard-charging Z06 Corvettes at Zhuhai International Circuit, with all three finishing within four seconds of each other.

The race not only marked the debut of the R-GT, but also of the FIA's new GT race format. For the 2007 season, GT races follow a new two-hour format that appears to have given organizers what they had hoped for – some really close racing. A late safety car deployment meant that pit strategy ended up being pretty important in this one, but that shouldn't take anything away from Lamborghini's impressive debut. After the final restart they rattled off a string of fastest laps to stay ahead for good. Kudos to Lambo. Check out the cool gallery available at Supercars.net by following the links.

[Source: Lamborghini via Supercars.net]

Fiat just unveiled the new Bravo hatchback, but it's not about the sit back and watch its new global Focus/Golf/etc.-fighter sink or swim. Newly incorporated separately from its sister brands, Fiat has big plans for the Bravo line-up, which, following the immense success of the Grande Punto below it, is vital to the company's continued growth.

Fiat is looking about three years down the road. That's not a very long lifecycle for a car, but Fiat plans to launch a facelifted Bravo in 2010. Planned alongside the updated hatchback are an extended wagon version plus a high-performance Bravo Abarth. Although it's becoming common practice for automakers to blur the line between large hatchbacks and sportswagons, Fiat evidently sees the addition of a distinct wagon as essential to certain key markets.

It's too early to tell at this point what kind of spice Fiat will be throwing into the facelifted Bravo to make it hot, but the company's got big plans for the Abarth brand. The badge was once an independent automaker until, as was the fate of nearly every other Italian automaker, it was bought up by Fiat, who later transformed it into its own in-house performance tuner. Now it's planning an Abarth revival. The production schedule leaked in November has a Grande Punto Abarth scheduled for release sometime this year alongside the highly-anticipated 500, which will get its own Abarth version next year. Reports now suggest that the Bravo Abarth will hit the market in 2010 alongside the wagon when the Bravo gets its facelift.

Follow the jump for new driving footage of the Fiat Bravo, courtesy of our Fiat and our friends at WorldCarFans.com.

[Source: Autovisie via Motor Authority]

Christmas is fast approaching and we may have just found the perfect gift for your favorite Corvette enthusiast. How does a one-of-a-kind racecar that is surely to become a significant part of motorsports history sound? Well, for the bargain price of $760,000 US, you can pick up the first Corvette C6R; chassis number C6R-001, in "ready to race condition."

After being campaigned in FIA GT in 2006, the car has been put up for sale by its current owner, Mike Henzemans of GLPK Carsport. Henzemans purchased the car from GM's Chevrolet Corvette Racing team at the end of the 2005 season and has campaigned it privately in the meantime.

Let's see Santa deliver that without waking the neighbors!

See the advertisement for the car after the jump!

[Source: Winding Road]