LMGTE Pro (7 Cars)
51 AF Corse Gianmaria Bruni, Toni Vilander Ferrari 458 Italia
65 Corvette Racing Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor, Tommy Milner Chevrolet Corvette C7.R
71 AF Corse Davide Rigon, James Calado Ferrari 458 Italia
91 Porsche AG Team Manthey Richard Lietz, Jörg Bergmeister,Nick Tandy Porsche 911 RSR
92 Porsche AG Team Manthey Patrick Pilet, Frédéric Makowiecki Porsche 911 RSR
97 Aston Martin Racing Darren Turner, Stefan Mücke Aston Martin Vantage V8
99 Aston Martin Racing Alex MacDowall, Darryl O’Young,Fernando Rees Aston Martin Vantage V8
One withdrawal and one addition give us a seven car entry in Texas
Ram Racing are the missing team after the team’s owner closed down the operation post Le Mans.
The addition though is an exciting one, Corvette Racing field a third C7.R (over and above the pair that will contest the bill-sharing TUSCC race).
It’s an all American car from an All American marque and with an All American driver squad as Tommy Milner joins Ricky and Jordan Taylor in the Konica Minolta backed effort – One off or scouting mission? – We believe the former, but the Vette’s comparative pace over six hours will be very interesting indeed.
The remainder of the class entry are the season regulars
AF Corse, Ferrari and Gimmi Bruni and Toni Vilander in the #51 Ferrari 458 Italia led all three Championship standings. Their advantage in the driver standings is a substantial one (27 points) courtesy of speed, consistency and the double points winning haul at Le Mans. They have taken two wins so far this season and all three pole positions.
Behind them though Porsche are plotting. The new 911 RSR looks the full ticket but has suffered some misfortunes, the factory team though are shuffling the pack ahead of CotA with Marco Holzer, currently sitting in joint second place in the Championship alongside Fred Mako, replaced in the car by Patrick Pilet, who moves across from the sister car.
Pilet us, in turn, replaced in the #91 Porsche by none other than Richard Lietz – there’s no race seat for Holzer, who is placed on Test and Development duties!
That’s a particular surprise as Lietz is still recovering from a fractured arm suffered in a practice crash in the last TUSCC round at VIR.
Lietz is though sitting third in the points after sharing the #92 car at Le Mans and Silverstone – Porsche seem to be hedging their points scoring bets and Jorg Bergmesiter seems to without any possibility of taking the Championship if the driver squads stay like this!
Nick Tandy is named as third driver in #91 should Richard not be sufficiently recovered.
Aston Martin have had a difficult season thus far, a couple of minor BoP changes making all the difference in the world to the speed and fuel mileage for the V8 Vantage – Stefan Mucke and Darren Turner badly need a win if they are to have ny prospect whatsoever of a Championship win, at present they languish 61 points off the leading Ferrari’s total.
The sister car is further back still after the shut from Fernando Rees that ended their Le Mans 24 Hours before it even began. The Craft Bamboo boys will be keen to return to the form we saw during the race at Spa where the trio finally unlocked some real speed.
Last but by no means least comes the #71 Ferrari, another car that had woes at Le Mans, James Calado also in a monster shunt in practice that saw him out of he race, he’s back fit and well and the new for 2014 Ferrari factory duo of Calado and Davide Rigon have the #97 Aston Martin in their sights.
Points Totals post Le Mans 24 Hours
World Endurance Cup for GT Drivers (GTE Pro & Am drivers score points based on overall finishing order across both classes).
1 BRUNI G./ VILANDER T. 90
2 MAKOWIECKI F./ HOLZER M. 63
3 LIETZ R. 61
4 FISICHELLA G. 51
5 HEINEMEIER-HANSSON D. / POULSEN K. 40
6 BERGMEISTER J./ PILET P. 37
7 THIIM N. 34
8 TURNER D./ MÜCKE S. 29
9 PEREZ-COMPANC L./ CIOCI M./ VENTURI M. 28,5
10 RIED C./ AL QUBAISI K./ BACHLER K.25,5
11 RIGON D./ CALADO J. 25
12 TANDY N. 19
13 NYGAARD C./ DALLA LANA P./ LAMY P. 18
14 RODA G./ RUBERTI P. 16,5
15 MACDOWALL A./ O’YOUNG D./ REES F. 16
LM GTE Manufacturers World Cup
1 Ferrari 135
2 Porsche 123
3 Aston Martin 85
FIA Endurance Trophy for LM GTE Pro Teams
1 AF Corse 90
2 Porsche Team Manthey 69
3 Porsche Team Manthey 60
4 Aston Martin Racing 57
5 AF Corse 25
6 Aston Martin Racing 16
7 RAM Racing 8
GG
