This weekend the World Endurance Championship circus heads north from its short stint in Mexico City, to Austin Texas, for its fourth trip to Circuit of The Americas. The temperatures will be high, and so will the emotions, as the final sprint to the end of the 2016 season begins.
For the GTE classes, there’s plenty to get excited about. Mexico’s race saw a return to form for Aston Martin Racing, the win resulting in it leading both the Drivers and Manufacturers Championships in the GTE Pro class. And in Am, 6H Mexico was the category’s most exciting race for a long time, with Abu Dhabi Proton winning its first ever WEC race.
What will we see this time round? Last time out racing in high altitude was the challenge, this time it will be the heat. How much of an effect will it have on the teams and drivers? Only time will tell, but it’s got the potential to be both exciting and decisive for points tallies going forward whatever happens:
GTE Pro
51 | M | AF Corse | Gianmaria Bruni, James Calado | Ferrari 488 GTE
66 | M | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Olivier Pla, Stefan Mucke | Ford GT
67 | M | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Marino Franchitti, Andy Priaulx, Harry Tincknell | Ford GT
71 | M | AF Corse | Davide Rigon, Sam Bird | Ferrari 488 GTE
77 | M | Dempsey Proton | Racing Richard Lietz, Michael Christensen | Porsche 911 RSR (2016)
95 | D | Aston Martin Racing | Nicki Thiim, Marco Sorensen | Aston Martin Vantage
97 | D | Aston Martin Racing | Fernando Rees, Darren Turner | Aston Martin Vantage
In GTE Pro, the talk of the town is the Aston Martin Racing squad, which controlled proceedings in Mexico, with Darren Turner and Richie Stanaway in the #97 taking the win. A 1-2 looked inevitable before a costly off from Nicki Thiim in the second half of the race forced the #95 crew to fight back through the field to third in the class. Even after a tough start to the season trying to match AF Corse, a 1-3 seemed like a bit of a disappointment.
Results aside though, nobody could touch the Vantages on pace, despite pre-race speculation that the turbo cars would have the edge. Either way, the British crew will hope to replicate its performance in the USA, and head to China with a comfortable points lead.
Rees is subbing for Stanaway in the #97 this time round, who has a clash with the Supercars Championship race at Sandown
The only driver change in the class meanwhile, comes in AMR’s cars, with Fernando Rees returning to the wheel of the #97 Vantage, after the team decided to reduce its driver roster to two for each car to maximise seat time in the flyaways. Rees is subbing for Stanaway in the #97 this time round because the Kiwi has a clash with the Supercars Championship race at Sandown. It shouldn’t take the experienced Brazilian long to get back into the swing of things though, even after almost three months away from the series.
Ford Team Chip Ganassi UK may well have somewhat of a home-turf advantage in Texas, and its USA counterparts racing in the IMSA race as part of the double bill, but AMR’s greatest threat will likely be AF Corse’s 488s.
AF Corse, aside from Le Mans, has remained consistent at the head of the GTE field, winning at Silverstone, Spa and the Nurburgring before struggling for pace in the first trip out of Europe. Both the #51 and #71 are capable of winning races, and Gianmaria Bruni and James Calado looked particularly motivated to put their early season bad luck behind them, proving to be the faster of the two Italian entered cars last time out.
Sam Bird and Davide Rigon will hope to get the better of their teammates in the #71 though, as they’re just four points off the overall Drivers Championship leader Darren Turner.
Ford too will be eager for a good result
Ford too will be eager for a good result, after a very disappointing season for the UK division of the Ganassi team to this point. At Mexico the GTs had little to show for in regards to pace, and sit 58 points back from Aston Martin in the standings because of that. There were signs of the team being able to compete on pace during the race when the conditions were right, but it wasn’t enough to secure any silverware.
The same goes for the Dempsey Proton boys, who were more competitive in Mexico after struggling to finish anything other than last in the opening four rounds of the season. While Ford has potential to turn things around, it’s hard to envision anything other than a tough and quiet weekend for the Dempsey squad this weekend once again.
GTE Am
50 | M | Larbre Competition | Yutaka Yamagishi, Paulo Ruberti, Pierre Ragues | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R
78 | M | KCMG | Christian Ried, Wolf Henzler, Joel Camathias | Porsche 911 RSR
83 | M | AF Corse | François Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard, Rui Aguas | Ferrari 458 Italia
86 | M | Gulf Racing | Michael Wainwright, Adam Carroll, Ben Barker | Porsche 911 RSR
88 | M | Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing | Khaled Al Qubaisi, David Heinemeier Hansson, Kevin Estre | Porsche 911 RSR
98 | M | Aston Martin Racing | Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy, Mathias Lauda | Aston Martin V8 Vantage
GTE Am, unlike Pro, has a clear favourite going forward, after the #83 AF Corse Ferrari finished second in Mexico as its rivals faltered.
Heading into the Lone Star Le Mans weekend, Francois Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard and Rui Aguas have a 35-point lead over the Abu Dhabi Proton Porsche which asserted itself as the contenders after a disastrous outing for the #98 Aston and #50 Larbre Corvette.
Collard, Perrodo and Aguas haven’t been untouchable by any means this year, but have been able to consistently score points while the rest of the cars in the class have struggled to find consistency.
After taking its first win, the Abu Dhabi Porsche crew will be hungry for more. DHH has plenty of experience at CoTA, but Pat Long is replaced for this one by Kevin Estre, the Californian busy on Pirelli World Challenge duties, but the 2015 Porsche hasn’t proven to be the best package to have thus far, even with the win to its name.
After takingits first win, the Abu Dhabi Porsche crew will be hungry for more
The other Porsches in the class also looked good in Mexico, with Gulf Racing managing its best qualifying and race performance in the tough high-altitude environment. KCMG and Gulf racing will have their work cut out for them in Texas, but the look more capable of a good result going forward.
However, that requires them to fend off the Larbre Corvette and Aston Martin (which continues for the remainder of the season on Michelin rubber) in the field. Both Larbre and AMR ended up retiring from the race in Mexico, severely denting their chances of winning the title. It’ll be interesting to see how the two teams respond after a couple of weeks to reflect.
Ricky Taylor will be particularly keen to impress on home ground – What awaits for Corvette in the WEC?
The 6H Cota starts at 17:00 local time on Saturday in Austin, Texas. (UTC -6)
