Round 5 of the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship sees the traveling circus visit the one new track of the year, the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Yee Ha!
And it’s likely to be a challenging environment for all, despite world leading facilities the temperature this coming weekend looks set to be well into the 90s and that, as we saw in Bahrain last year, could prove to be a real issue for some.
Remember what we said pre Interlagos? Well we’re saying the same again this time around – This is the #2 Audi’s World Championship to lose now and, despite the hiccup caused by a loose wheel, robbing the #2 crew of an opportunity to turn the screw another turn on their #1 team mates, they still very much have the upper hand with four races still to run – If COTA though sees the gap narrow once again the remainder of the season will become a test of nerves as well as pace and endurance! 4 races to go and the points lead is down to ‘just’ 22!
What Interlagos did teach us, yet again, is that anything can happen in a 6 hour race with the Audi’s dramas paling into relative insignificance against poor Stephane Sarrazin’s completely blame-free exit from the race as Dominik Kraihamer, perhaps distracted by the Toyota appearing in his mirrors, clattered the kerbs which spat hit Lotus off line and straight into the hapless Sarrazin, both cars heading straight into the barrier on the outside, and despite the Frenchman’s best efforts to get the Toyota back, they were both out of the race more or less on the spot.
What we did see though was that the Toyota’s pace is still not a match for the Audis, what we did’t see is whether the fuel efficiency advantage enjoyed by the petrol fuelled car might have payed a part later in the race.
Rebellion will have been delighted with an overall podium, and will be looking to see whether they can repeat that feat on a weekend which, until recently, would have seen the team contesting bit the ALMS race on Saturday and the WEC affair on Sunday.
LMP2 saw a dominant display in Brazil by the #25 G-Drive Delta ADR Oreca Nissan, that closed the gap to the Championship leaders, the #35 OAK Morgan Nissan, but not by enough to make them anything other than plucky chasers just yet!
That’s because the #35 boys grabbed the second step of the podium, stretching away just a little from the Pecom Oreca Nissan squad, who came away from Brazil second in the Championship after leapfrogging the #24 OAK outfit.
Greaves Motorsport see another changed line-up as Christian Zugel is joined by a returning Chris Dyson and Tom Kimber Smith – With Dyson racing looking to the future and the prospect of LMP2 racing in the USCR Chris won’t be pulling double duty, But TKS will, his Zytek Nissan run in WEC partnered with ALMS duty for CORE in their new Porsche, replacing the car heavily damaged in the Baltimore startline chaos.
The #25 Delta ADR team will be looking for better luck this time out after engine woes blunted their challenge in Brazil. Rudi Junco Jr joins Tor Graves and James Walker in the Oreca Nissan.
The Lotus LMP2 team meanwhile had an awful time in Interlagos, Kraihamer’s coming together with the Toyota and an early bath for the sister car will have given them a Samba free wekend. James Rossiter and Vitantonio Liuzzi rejoin Kevin Weeda though in the #31 car and will be looking to shine.
GTE Pro saw, as we predicted, almost everything change in the various Championship standings, Porsche had led all three going into the Brazilian race, they lead none of them now, and this despite very good Porsche pace, blunted though by an early problem (broken wheel) for the #92 car and a later minor off for the #91 car.
Not that it was incident free for the competition as Aston Martin ran well but had problems for both the #99 car (suspension failure blunting Bruno Senna’s title hopes) ad #98, (contact). The #97 car though ran well throughout and was always in contention for the win.
Ferrari meanwhile lost one car, the #71 AF Corse 458, to a serious fuel line related, fire, but saw the lead #51 car storm home to the win, albeit with the Aston in close attendance.
Ferrari then took the lead, by a scant 4 points, from Porsche in the Manufacturers standings with Aston Martin Racing turning he tables on Team Manthey in the teams standings, the Banbury boys 2 points to the good heading into this weekend with Messrs Turner and Mucke similarly a pair of points to the good over Herr Lieb and Herr Lietz.
Fred Makowiecki returns to the #99 car after missing Interlagos.
A win for the ROFGO Collection backed Aston Martin in GTE AM puts that team right back into the mix with Jamie Campbell Walter and Stuart Hall racing without Roald Goethe at Interlagos (he returns for COTA), and taking the lead when the sister Aston in the class suffered a heartbreaking failure that cost the all-Danish squad the lead, and a hatful of points.
The Aston boys now sit second in the drivers standings, 6 points off the fast and consistent IMSA Performance Porsche pairing of Vernay and Narac and it’s the Porsche team that leads the teams standings too albeit a mere two points ahead of both the Aston and the 8Star Ferrari 458
There were delays for the Larbre Corvette and retirement for the AF Corse Am Ferrari that blunted the title hope of both.
GG
