Aston’s tribute livery
After a 50th AMR race win (for the #98 GTE Am car) in Shanghai, Aston Martin Racing are marking another landmark this weekend with the Vantage GTE making its last appearance in GTE Pro, after 50 events and a staggering 160 race starts for the AMR team and their Vantages (including Beechdean AMR).
The cars have scored a record 36 class wins, 22 in GTE Am (a record) and 14 in GTE Pro (equalling the record of the Ferrari 458 GTE).
To mark it’s retirement from the full factory fleet AMR have produced a commemorative livery, featuring shots of all the winning drivers on the roof, including of course, the late, great Allan Simonsen.
DSC is also looking back at the history of the WEC so far with the 50th race falling at the end of the 6th season, and at the last race for now in Bahrain.
There are three ever-present drivers, Andre Lotterer, Darren Turner and Christian Ried, and three ever present teams, AF Corse, Aston Martin Racing and Proton Competition, though the Italian and German teams have appeared under several monikers apiece – We’ll be marking their achievements in the next day or two.
Ganassi on cusp of 200th win
While Aston Martin Racing reached its impressive milestone at Shanghai, another GTE Pro team is also on the verge of a significant achievement. Chip Ganassi Racing can win its 200th race on Saturday in Bahrain, after Harry Tincknell and Andy Priaulx scored the iconic American outfit’s 199th victory earlier this month in the 6 Hours of Shanghai.
The team, which was formed in 1990, won its first race in 1994. While the majority of its race wins have come in IndyCar and NASCAR, the team has competed in plenty of sportscar races over the years in Grand Am, and more recently in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and FIA WEC with Ford in GTLM/GTE.
Its biggest victory during its time in those three series was arguably its class win at Le Mans last year with the Ford GT, with Joey Hand, Dirk Muller and Sebastien Bourdais at the wheel.
Support race intrigue
The FIA WEC is supported in Bahrain by Porsche Carrera Cup Middle East, MRF Formula and partner series Formula V8 World Series.
The Formula V8 Series is supporting the WEC for the sixth time this season following Silverstone, Spa, Nurburgring, Mexico City and CoTA.
There’s bad news though for 2017 race winner (and ELMS race winner) SMP Racing’s Egor Orudzhev who currently sits 3rd in the standings and in contention for a role in the WEC rookie test on Sunday. The Russian though is unable to travel after falling victim to a throat infection.
The 2017 title winner is set to get a test in the Porsche 919 Hybrid with Pietro Fittipaldi currently 10 points in the lead.
Louise gets her tea bags!
WEC TV’s Louise Beckett once again was presented with a neatly packaged box of English Breakfast tea on arrival in the Bahrain press room, Louise once again being reminded that when Circuit MD Sheikh Salman asks for suggestions to improve their product those suggestions are taken seriously!
Dallara reveal tomorrow
The Dallara-chassied SMP Racing bound BR1 LMP1 is set to be unveiled tomorrow evening in the paddock – at least two other LMP1 announcements of significance are also set to emerge over the weekend.
The Dallara, DSC believes, has tested in Spain very recently before being airlifted to Bahrain.
Alonso watch
What news will emerge this weekend about Fernando Alonso? The double F1 World Champion will be here tomorrow as a guest of the Royal Family for what will be his second visit to Bahrain during a WEC meeting, the Spaniard in attendance back in 2015 (pictured below).
Toyota is tight lipped about anything further, but it seems highly likely that the Spanish superstar will test on Sunday, and if that happens, it is likely that Toyota will run both TS050s.
Currently full-time Toyota driver Mike Conway and Jackie Chan DC Racing’s Thomas Laurent are currently slated to run.
Is the only remaining question, not will he or won’t he race in the WEC, but rather, how soon and how often?
