A total of 37 cars across four classes are set to take part in the opening round of the 2018/19 FIA WEC ‘Super Season’, with one additional car joining the 36 previously announced full-season efforts.
The additional car comes in the LMP2 ranks, G-Drive Racing returning to the series for a one-off race as preparation for the Le Mans 24 Hours. The team has listed Roman Rusinov and ex-F1 driver Jean-Eric Vergne to drive its European Le Mans Series-bound ORECA 07 Gibson. Its final driver is yet to be confirmed.
The list also includes a number of new drivers which hadn’t been confirmed prior to the entry being published. Gabriel Aubrey will join Jackie Chan DC Racing’s #38 crew, Ford’s third drivers – Billy Johnson and Tony Kanaan – will take part, Matt Campbell has joined Dempsey Proton, and Egor Orudzhev and Matevos Isaakyan will join Stephane Sarazzin in the #17 SMP BR1 AER.
There’s still plenty of TBA’s among the teams. In addition to G-Drive’s spare seat, Jackie Chan DC Racing’s #38 ORECA has one open too. In LMP1, four of the six CEFC TRSM Racing Ginetta drivers are yet to be announced, as well as Oliver Webb’s teammates at ByKolles and one of the SMP drivers in the #11. In the GTE ranks, Dempsey Proton has a single seat still marked as open in its #77 GTE Am 911 RSR.
In GTE Pro, only six of the 10 entries will feature three-man line-ups to prepare for Le Mans as it stands. AF Corse and Porsche GT Team are set to race with two drivers in each of their cars.
The 2018 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the first of two races at Spa in the 2018/19 season, will mark the debut of a new LMP1 era, in which eight privateer LMP1 entries will do battle with Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Toyota TS050s.
In addition to the new LMP1 privateer machinery, the BMW M8 GTE, EVO-spec Ferrari 488 GTE, and 2018 Aston Martin Vantage GTE will also be making their competitive debuts at Spa. The race will mark the first WEC outings for a number of notable drivers too, including Toyota’s Fernando Alonso, DragonSpeed’s Pastor Maldonado, BMW’s Augusto Farfus and Aston Martin Racing’s Maxime Martin.
