JANUARY 6, 2016

(Ford Racing)  

Ford Chip Ganassi Racing has completed the driver lineup for its Ford GT program for the Daytona 24 Hour (Rolex 24). French driver Sébastien Bourdais joins American Joey Hand and German Dirk Müller in the No. 66 Ford GT, while German Stefan Mücke will be paired with Australian Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook, of England, in the No. 67 Ford GT.

(Ford Racing)
Ford Chip Ganassi Racing also announced that drivers Marino Franchitti, Stefan Mücke, Olivier Pla and Andy Priaulx have been selected to race the Ford GT in the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). Ford will be running two cars in the FIA World Endurance Championship and two in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. If all goes to plan, that means Ford will have a four-car effort in the GTE PRO (GTLM) class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. Mücke will join the IMSA Ford Chip Ganassi Racing squad for the Roar Before the Rolex 24 at Daytona, January 8-10.
 
2016 World Endurance Championship Schedule:

    April 17: Silverstone, Great Britain (6 Hours)

    May 7: Spa, Belgium (6 Hours)

    June 18/19: 24 Hours of Le Mans, France

    July 24: Nürburgring, Germany (6 Hours)

    September 3: Mexico City, Mexico (6 Hours)

    September 17: Circuit of the Americas, USA (6 Hours + IMSA Lone Star Le Mans)

    October 16: Fuji, Japan (6 Hours)

    November 6: Shanghai, China (6 Hours)

    November 19: Bahrain, Bahrain (6 Hours)

(Yamaha)
No, we're not making this up. SRI International and Yamaha have announced their collaboration toward the development of MOTOBOT, the first autonomous motorcycle-riding humanoid robot. Yamaha says that MOTOBOT "is designed to ride like a person in order to aid development of future motorcycles, improve motorcycle safety, and push the limits of what is possible in design and performance." The end performance goal of MOTOBOT is to be able to beat MotoGP™ world champion rider Valentino Rossi's lap times around a racetrack. Yamaha Motor launched the MOTOBOT project to pioneer a new approach to vehicle development using a humanoid robot capable of operating the motorcycle with the goal of exceeding a human – with little or no modifications made to the vehicle.

(BMW)
BMW Team Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing will debut both of its new BMW M6 GTLM class machines for the 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at the Daytona International Speedway this weekend for the annual Roar Before the Rolex 24, a three-day "mandatory" test required for all competitors (See "Fumes" -WG). Since the Bavarian Motor Works is celebrating its 100th anniversary, one of the RLL team cars will race with the No. 100. The second M6 will continue to race the No. 25 in honor of 3.0 CSL from BMW Motorsport’s first season of racing in the US in 1975. 2016 also marks the 40th anniversary of BMW’s first overall win at the 24 Hours of Daytona with a 3.0 CSL driven by Brian Redman and Peter Gregg. The two factory-supported M6 racing machines will run in bare carbon fiber this weekend. BMW will debut the 2016 commemorative liveries during the week leading up to the Rolex 24. All eight of the drivers named by BMW to race in this year’s Rolex 24 At Daytona will participate in this weekend's test. Season-long drivers Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner will be joined by BMW Motorsport DTM drivers Augusto Farfus and Bruno Spengler in the No. 25 M6. John Edwards and Lucas Luhr will drive the No. 100 M6 in 2016. They will be supported by Kuno Wittmer and IndyCar star Graham Rahal at the Rolex 24. The 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship takes the green flag on January 30th at Daytona.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
Editor-In-Chief's Note: John Thawley and I go back a long way. Our previous lives intersected for a brief, fleeting moment way back when and now here we are. John is one of the premier motorsports photojournalists in the world, and I am so very pleased that we're able to feature his prodigious talent and exceptional work in the pages of Autoextremist.com. As he does every year, John has put together a (three-page) gallery of his stunning images from the 2015 motorsports year for us. You can check it out here. -PMD

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)

Editor's Note: Watch the latest episode of AutoextremistTV on YouTube here. -WG